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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:48:25 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:48:25 -0700 |
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+ text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + padding: 0 0 0 0; + margin: 0 0 0 -7.5em; } + p.dlg .pgnm:before { content: "[" attr(id) "]"; } + + /* XML end ]]> */ + /*old browser end */ --> + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of John Dryden, Volume 5 (of 18) +by John Dryden + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of John Dryden, Volume 5 (of 18) + Amboyna; The state of Innocence; Aureng-Zebe; All for Love + +Author: John Dryden + +Editor: Walter Scott (1771-1832) + +Release Date: July 5, 2005 [EBook #16208] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Fred Robinson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p class="ctr"><br />THE</p> +<h1 class="nomarg">WORKS</h1> +<p class="ctr">OF</p> +<h2 class="nomarg">JOHN DRYDEN,</h2> +<p class="ctr">NOW FIRST COLLECTED</p> +<h3 class="nomarg"><i>IN EIGHTEEN VOLUMES.</i></h3> + +<p class="ctr"><br />ILLUSTRATED</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">WITH NOTES,</h3> +<p class="ctr">HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, AND EXPLANATORY,</p> +<p class="ctr">AND</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR,</h3> +<p class="ctr">BY</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">WALTER SCOTT, <span class="smcap">Esq.</span></h3> + +<h3>VOL. V.</h3> +<h3>LONDON:</h3> + +<p class="ctr">PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, ALBEMARLE STREET,<br /> +BY JAMES BALLANTYNE AND CO. EDINBURGH.</p> + +<h3>1808.</h3> +<hr class="large" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<p class="ctr">OF</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">VOLUME FIFTH.</h3> + +<div><ul class="toc"> +<li><a href="#page_001">Amboyna; or the Cruelties of the Dutch to the English Merchants, a Tragedy</a></li> +<li><ul class="toc"> +<li><a href="#page_005">Epistle Dedicatory to Lord Clifford of Chudleigh</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_010">[Text of the play]</a></li> +</ul></li> + +<li style="margin-top: 1em;"><a href="#page_089">The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man, an Opera</a></li> +<li><ul class="toc"> +<li><a href="#page_095">Epistle Dedicatory to her Royal Highness the Duchess</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_105">Preface.—The Author's Apology for Heroic Poetry, and Poetic Licence</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_119">[Text of the play]</a></li> +</ul></li> + +<li style="margin-top: 1em;"><a href="#page_167">Aureng-Zebe, a Tragedy</a></li> +<li><ul class="toc"> +<li><a href="#page_174">Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Mulgrave</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_188">[Text of the play]</a></li> +</ul></li> + +<li style="margin-top: 1em;"><a href="#page_285">All for Love, or the World Well Lost, a Tragedy</a></li> +<li><ul class="toc"> +<li><a href="#page_296">Epistle Dedicatory to the Earl of Danby</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_306">Preface</a></li> +<li><a href="#page_321">[Text of the play]</a></li> +</ul></li> +</ul></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div><a class="pgnm" name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></div> + +<h2 class="chap">AMBOYNA:</h2> +<p class="ctr">OR, THE</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">CRUELTIES OF THE DUTCH</h3> +<p class="ctr">TO THE</p> +<h3 class="nomarg"><i>ENGLISH MERCHANTS.</i></h3> + +<h3>A TRAGEDY.</h3> + +<div class="ctr"> +<table class="ctr" summary="Epigram"> +<tr><td><p class="epigram">—<i>Manet altâ mente repostum.</i></p></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_003" name="page_003"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">AMBOYNA.</h3> + +<p>The tragedy of Amboyna, as it was justly termed by the English +of the seventeenth century, was of itself too dreadful to be +heightened by the mimic horrors of the stage. The reader may +be reminded, that by three several treaties in the years 1613, 1615, +and 1619, it was agreed betwixt England and Holland, that the +English should enjoy one-third of the trade of the spice islands. +For this purpose, factories were established on behalf of the English +East India Company at the Molucca Islands, at Banda, and +at Amboyna. At the latter island the Dutch had a castle, with +a garrison, both of Europeans and natives. It has been always +remarked, that the Dutchman, in his eastern settlements, loses +the mercantile probity of his European character, while he retains +its cold-blooded phlegm and avaricious selfishness. Of this the Amboyna +government gave a notable proof. About the 11th of Feb. +1622, old stile, under pretence of a plot laid between the English +of the factory and some Japanese soldiers to seize the castle, the former +were arrested by the Dutch, and subjected to the most horrible +tortures, to extort confession of their pretended guilt. Upon some +they poured water into a cloth previously secured round their +necks and shoulders, until suffocation ensued; others were tortured +with lighted matches, and torches applied to the most tender +and sensible parts of the body. But I will not pollute my page +with this monstrous and disgusting detail. Upon confessions, inconsistent +with each other, with common sense and ordinary probability, +extorted also by torments of the mind or body, or both, +Captain Gabriel Towerson, and nine other English merchants of +consideration, were executed; and, to add insult to atrocity, the +bloody cloth, on which Towerson kneeled at his death, was put +down to the account of the English Company. The reader may +find the whole history in the second volume of Purchas's "Pilgrim." +The news of this horrible massacre reached King James, while he +was negociating with the Dutch concerning the assistance which +they then implored against the Spaniards; and the affairs of his son-in-law, +the Elector Palatine, appeared to render an union with Holland +so peremptorily necessary, that the massacre of Amboyna +was allowed to remain unrevenged.</p> + +<p>But the Dutch war, which was declared in 1672, the object +of which seems to have been the annihilation of the United +Provinces as an independent state, a century sooner than Providence +had decreed that calamitous event, met with great opposition +in England, and every engine was put to work to satisfy the people +of the truth of the Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury's averment, that +<a class="pgnm" id="page_004" name="page_004"></a> +the "States of Holland were England's eternal enemies, both by interest +and inclination." Dryden, with the avowed intention of exasperating +the nation against the Dutch, assumed from choice, or +by command, the unpromising subject of the Amboyna massacre +as the foundation of the following play. Exclusive of the horrible +nature of the subject, the colours are laid on too thick to produce +the desired effect. The monstrous caricatures, which are exhibited +as just paintings of the Dutch character, unrelieved even by +the grandeur of wickedness, and degraded into actual brutality, +must have produced disgust, instead of an animated hatred and +detestation. For the horrible spectacle of tortures and mangled +limbs exhibited on the stage, the author might plead the 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<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_1-1">[1]</a>." The +rape of Isabinda is stated by Langbaine to have been borrowed +from a novel in the Decamerone of Cinthio Giraldi.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Amboy_1-1" name="Amboy_1-1"></a>This extraordinary kitchen scene did not escape the ridicule of the wits +of that merry age. + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">O greater cruelty yet,</p> +<p class="i2">Like a pig upon a spit;</p> +<p>Here lies one there, another boiled to jelly;</p> +<p class="i2">Just as the people stare</p> +<p class="i2">At an ox in the fair,</p> +<p>Roasted whole, with a pudding in's belly.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2">A little further in,</p> +<p class="i2">Hung a third by his chin,</p> +<p>And a fourth cut all in quarters.</p> +<p class="i2">O that Fox had now been living,</p> +<p class="i2">They had been sure of heaven,</p> +<p>Or, at the least, been some of his martyrs.</p> +</div> +</div> +</li> +</ol></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_005" name="page_005"></a></div> + + + + +<h3 class="chap">TO +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE +THE +LORD CLIFFORD +OF +CHUDLEIGH<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_2-1">[1]</a>.</h3> + + +<p class="smcap noind">My Lord,</p> + +<p>After so many favours, and those so great, conferred +on me by your lordship these many years,—which +I may call more properly one continued act +of your generosity and goodness,—I know not whether +<a class="pgnm" id="page_006" name="page_006"></a> +I should appear either more ungrateful in my +silence, or more extravagantly vain in my endeavours +to acknowledge them: For, since all acknowledgements +bear a face of payment, it may be +thought, that I have flattered myself into an opinion +of being able to return some part of my obligements +to you;—the just despair of which attempt, +and the due veneration I have for his person, to +whom I must address, have almost driven me to receive +only with a profound submission the effects of +that virtue, which is never to be comprehended but +by admiration; and the greatest note of admiration +is silence. It is that noble passion, to which +poets raise their audience in highest subjects, and +they have then gained over them the greatest victory, +when they are ravished into a pleasure which +is not to be expressed by words. To this pitch, +my lord, the sense of my gratitude had almost raised +me: to receive your favours, as the Jews of old +received their law, with a mute wonder; to think, +that the loudness of acclamation was only the praise +of men to men, and that the secret homage of the +soul was a greater mark of reverence, than an outward +ceremonious joy, which might be counterfeit, +and must be irreverent in its tumult. Neither, my +lord, have I a particular right to pay you my acknowledgements: +You have been a good so universal, +that almost every man in the three nations may +think me injurious to his propriety, that I invade +your praises, in undertaking to celebrate them alone; +and that I have assumed to myself a patron, who +was no more to be circumscribed than the sun and +elements, which are of public benefit to human +kind.</p> + +<p>As it was much in your power to oblige all who +could pretend to merit from the public, so it was +more in your nature and inclination. If any went +<a class="pgnm" id="page_007" name="page_007"></a> +ill-satisfied from the treasury, while it was in your +lordship's management, it proclaimed the want of +desert, and not of friends: You distributed your +master's favour with so equal hands, that justice +herself could not have held the scales more even; +but with that natural propensity to do good, that +had that treasure been your own, your inclination +to bounty must have ruined you. No man attended +to be denied: No man bribed for expedition: +Want and desert were pleas sufficient. By your +own integrity, and your prudent choice of those +whom you employed, the king gave all that he intended; +and gratuities to his officers made not vain +his bounty. This, my lord, you were in your public +capacity of high treasurer, to which you ascended +by such degrees, that your royal master saw +your virtues still growing to his favours, faster +than they could rise to you. Both at home and +abroad, with your sword and with your counsel, +you have served him with unbiassed honour, and +unshaken resolution; making his greatness, and the +true interest of your country, the standard and measure +of your actions. Fortune may desert the wise +and brave, but true virtue never will forsake itself<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_2-2">[2]</a>. +It is the interest of the world, that virtuous men +should attain to greatness, because it gives them the +power of doing good: But when, by the iniquity of +the times, they are brought to that extremity, that +they must either quit their virtue or their fortune, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_008" name="page_008"></a> +they owe themselves so much, as to retire to the +private exercise of their honour;—to be great within, +and by the constancy of their resolutions, to +teach the inferior world how they ought to judge +of such principles, which are asserted with so generous +and so unconstrained a trial.</p> + +<p>But this voluntary neglect of honours has been of +rare example in the world<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_2-3">[3]</a>: Few men have frowned +first upon fortune, and precipitated themselves +from the top of her wheel, before they felt at least +the declination of it. We read not of many emperors +like Dioclesian and Charles the Fifth, who +have preferred a garden and a cloister before a +crowd of followers, and the troublesome glory of an +active life, which robs the possessor of his rest and +quiet, to secure the safety and happiness of others. +Seneca, with the help of his philosophy, could never +attain to that pitch of virtue: He only endeavoured +to prevent his fall by descending first, and offered +to resign that wealth which he knew he could no +longer hold; he would only have made a present +to his master of what he foresaw would become his +prey; he strove to avoid the jealousy of a tyrant,—you +dismissed yourself from the attendance and privacy +of a gracious king. Our age has afforded us +many examples of a contrary nature; but your lordship +is the only one of this. It is easy to discover +in all governments, those who wait so close on fortune, +that they are never to be shaken off at any +turn: Such who seem to have taken up a resolution +of being great; to continue their stations on the +theatre of business; to change with the scene, and +shift the vizard for another part—these men condemn +<a class="pgnm" id="page_009" name="page_009"></a> +in their discourses that virtue which they +dare not practise: But the sober part of this present +age, and impartial posterity, will do right, both to +your lordship and to them: And, when they read +on what accounts, and with how much magnanimity, +you quitted those honours, to which the highest +ambition of an English subject could aspire, will +apply to you, with much more reason, what the +historian said of a Roman emperor, "<i>Multi diutius +imperium tenuerunt; nemo fortius reliquit.</i>"</p> + +<p>To this retirement of your lordship, I wish I +could bring a better entertainment than this play; +which, though it succeeded on the stage, will scarcely +bear a serious perusal; it being contrived and +written in a month, the subject barren, the persons +low, and the writing not heightened with many laboured +scenes. The consideration of these defects +ought to have prescribed more modesty to the author, +than to have presented it to that person in +the world for whom he has the greatest honour, +and of whose patronage the best of his endeavours +had been unworthy: But I had not satisfied myself +in staying longer, and could never have paid the +debt with a much better play. As it is, the meanness +of it will shew; at least, that I pretend not by +it to make any manner of return for your favours; +and that I only give you a new occasion of exercising +your goodness to me, in pardoning the failings +and imperfections of,</p> + +<p class="sig i1 smcap">My Lord,</p> +<p class="sig i2">Your Lordship's</p> +<p class="sig i3">Most humble, most obliged,</p> +<p class="sig i4">Most obedient servant,</p> +<p class="sig i5 smcap">John Dryden.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Amboy_2-1" name="Amboy_2-1"></a>Sir Thomas Clifford, just then created Lord Clifford of Chudleigh, +and appointed Lord High Treasurer, was one of the six ministers, +the initials of whose names furnished the word <i>Cabal</i>, by +which their junto was distinguished. He was the most virtuous +and honest of the junto, but a Catholic; and, what was then synonymous, +a warm advocate for arbitrary power. He is said to +have won his promotion by advising the desperate measure of shutting +the Exchequer in 1671, the hint of which he is said to have +stolen from Shaftesbury. This piece may have been undertaken +by his command; for, even at the very time of the triple alliance, +he is reported to have said, "For all this, we must have another +Dutch war." Upon the defection of Lord Shaftesbury from the +court party, and the passing of the test act, Lord Clifford resigned +his office, retired to the country, and died in September 1673, +shortly after receiving this dedication.</li> + +<li><a id="Amboy_2-2" name="Amboy_2-2"></a>In this case, Dryden's praise, which did not always occur, +survived the temporary occasion. Even in a little satirical effusion, +he tells us, + +<div class="poem" style="margin-top: 1em;"> +<p>Clifford was fierce and brave.</p> +</div> + +<p>Clifford had been comptroller and treasurer of the household, +and one of the commissioners of the treasury; he had served in the +Dutch wars.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Amboy_2-3" name="Amboy_2-3"></a>Alluding to Lord Clifford's resignation of an office he could +not hold without a change of religion.</li> +</ol> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_010" name="page_010"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">PROLOGUE.</h3> + + +<p class="ctr"><i>This poem was written as far back as 1662, and was then +termed a Satire against the Dutch.</i></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>As needy gallants in the scriveners' hands,</p> +<p>Court the rich knave that gripes their mortgaged lands,</p> +<p>The first fat buck of all the season's sent,</p> +<p>And keeper takes no fee in compliment:</p> +<p>The dotage of some Englishmen is such</p> +<p>To fawn on those who ruin them—the Dutch.</p> +<p>They shall have all, rather than make a war</p> +<p>With those who of the same religion are.</p> +<p>The Straits, the Guinea trade, the herrings too,</p> +<p>Nay, to keep friendship, they shall pickle you.</p> +<p>Some are resolved not to find out the cheat,</p> +<p>But, cuckold like, love him who does the feat:</p> +<p>What injuries soe'er upon us fall,</p> +<p>Yet, still, The same religion, answers all:</p> +<p>Religion wheedled you to civil war,</p> +<p>Drew English blood, and Dutchmen's now would spare:</p> +<p>Be gulled no longer, for you'll find it true,</p> +<p>They have no more religion, faith—than you;</p> +<p>Interest's the god they worship in their state;</p> +<p>And you, I take it, have not much of that.</p> +<p>Well, monarchies may own religion's name,</p> +<p>But states are atheists in their very frame.</p> +<p>They share a sin, and such proportions fall,</p> +<p>That, like a stink, 'tis nothing to them all.</p> +<p>How they love England, you shall see this day;</p> +<p>No map shews Holland truer than our play:</p> +<p>Their pictures and inscriptions well we know<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_3-1">[1]</a>;</p> +<p>We may be bold one medal sure to show.</p> +<p>View then their falsehoods, rapine, cruelty;</p> +<p>And think what once they were, they still would be:</p> +<p>But hope not either language, plot, or art;</p> +<p>'Twas writ in haste, but with an English heart:</p> +<p>And least hope wit; in Dutchmen that would be</p> +<p>As much improper, as would honesty.</p> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Amboy_3-1" name="Amboy_3-1"></a>Amongst the pretexts for making war on the states of Holland were alleged +their striking certain satirical medals, and engraving prints in ridicule +of Charles II. See his proclamation of war in 1671-2.</li> +</ol></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_012" name="page_012"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.</h3> + +<p class="noind" style="margin-bottom: 0;"><i>Captain</i> <span class="smcap">Gabriel Towerson.</span></p> +<table class="dpgrp" summary="Beamont and Collins"> +<tr><td><i>Mr</i> <span class="smcap">Beamont,</span><br /> +<i>Mr</i> <span class="smcap">Collins,</span></td> +<td>}<br /> +}</td> +<td><i>English Merchants, his Friends.</i></td> +</tr> +</table> +<p class="noind" style="margin-top: 0;"><i>Captain</i> <span class="smcap">Middleton,</span> <i>an English Sea Captain.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Perez,</span> <i>a Spanish Captain.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Harman</span> <i>Senior, Governor of Amboyna.</i><br /> +<i>The Fiscal.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Harman</span> <i>Junior, Son to the Governor.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Van Herring,</span> <i>a Dutch Merchant.</i></p> + +<p class="noind"><span class="smcap">Isabinda,</span> <i>betrothed to</i> <span class="smcap">Towerson,</span> <i>an Indian Lady.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Julia,</span> <i>Wife to</i> <span class="smcap">Perez.</span><br /> +<i>An English Woman.</i><br /> +<i>Page to</i> <span class="smcap">Towerson.</span><br /> +<i>A Skipper.</i><br /> +<i>Two Dutch Merchants.</i></p> + +<p>SCENE—<i>Amboyna.</i></p> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_013" name="page_013"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">AMBOYNA.</h3> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT I.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>A Castle on the Sea.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Senior, the Governor, the Fiscal, +and <span class="cnm">Van Herring:</span> Guards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> A happy day to our noble governor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Morrow, Fiscal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Did the last ships, which came from +Holland to these parts, bring us no news of moment?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Yes, the best that ever came into Amboyna, +since we set footing here; I mean as to our interest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> I wonder much my letters then gave me so +short accounts; they only said the Orange party +was grown strong again, since Barnevelt had suffered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Mine inform me farther, the price of +pepper, and of other spices, was raised of late in +Europe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> I wish that news may hold; but much suspect +it, while the English maintain their factories +among us in Amboyna, or in the neighbouring plantations +of Seran.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_014" name="page_014"></a> +<span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Still I have news that tickles me within; +ha, ha, ha! I'faith it does, and will do you, and all +our countrymen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Pr'ythee do not torture us, but tell it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Whence comes this news?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> From England.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Is their East India fleet bound outward for +these parts, or cast away, or met at sea by pirates?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Better, much better yet; ha, ha, ha!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Now am I famished for my part of the +laughter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Then, my brave governor, if you're a true +Dutchman, I'll make your fat sides heave with the +conceit on't, 'till you're blown like a pair of large +smith's bellows; here, look upon this paper.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> [<span class="sdm">reading.</span>] <i>You may remember we did endamage +the English East-India Company the value of five +hundred thousand pounds, all in one year; a treaty is now +signed, in which the business is ta'en up for fourscore +thousand.</i>—This is news indeed: would I were upon +the castle-wall, that I might throw my cap into +the sea, and my gold chain after it! this is golden +news, boys.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> This is news would kindle a thousand +bonfires, and make us piss them out again in Rhenish +wine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Send presently to all our factories, acquaint +them with these blessed tidings: If we can 'scape +so cheap, 'twill be no matter what villanies henceforth +we put in practice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Hum! why this now gives encouragement +to a certain plot, which I have been long brewing, +against these skellum English. I almost have it here +in pericranio, and 'tis a sound one, 'faith; no less +than to cut all their throats, and seize all their effects +within this island. I warrant you we may +compound again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_015" name="page_015"></a> +<span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Seizing their factories I like well enough, +it has some savour in't; but for this whoreson cutting +of throats, it goes a little against the grain, because +'tis so notoriously known in Christendom, that they +have preserved ours from being cut by the Spaniards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Hang them, base English starts, let them +e'en take their part of their own old proverb—Save a +thief from the gallows; they would needs protect +us rebels, and see what comes to themselves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You're i'the right on't, noble Harman; their +assistance, which was a mercy and a providence to +us, shall be a judgment upon them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> A little favour would do well; though +not that I would stop the current of your wit, or +any other plot, to do them mischief; but they were +first discoverers of this isle, first traded hither, and +showed us the way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> I grant you that; nay more, that, by composition +made after many long and tedious quarrels, +they were to have a third part of the traffic, we to +build forts, and they to contribute to the charge.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Which we have so increased each year upon +them, we being in power, and therefore judges of +the cost, that we exact whatever we please, still +more than half the charge; and on pretence of their +non-payment, or the least delay, do often stop their +ships, detain their goods, and drag them into prisons, +while our commodities go on before, and still forestall +their markets.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> These, I confess, are pretty tricks, but will not +do our business; we must ourselves be ruined at +long run, if they have any trade here; I know our +charge at length will eat us out: I would not let +these English from this isle have cloves enough to +stick an orange with, not one to throw into their +bottle-ale.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> But to bring this about now, there's the +cunning.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_016" name="page_016"></a> +<span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Let me alone awhile; I have it, as I told you, +here; mean time we must put on a seeming kindness, +call them our benefactors and dear brethren, pipe +them within the danger of our net, and then we'll +draw it o'er them: When they're in, no mercy, that's +my maxim.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Nay, brother, I am not too obstinate +for saving Englishmen, 'twas but a qualm of conscience, +which profit will dispel: I have as true a +Dutch antipathy to England, as the proudest <i>he</i> in +Amsterdam; that's a bold word now.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> We are secure of our superiors there. Well, +they may give the king of Great Britain a verbal +satisfaction, and with submissive fawning promises, +make shew to punish us; but interest is their god +as well as ours. To that almighty, they will sacrifice +a thousand English lives, and break a hundred thousand +oaths, ere they will punish those that make them +rich, and pull their rivals down.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Guns go off within.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Heard you those guns?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Most plainly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> The sound comes from the port; some ship +arrived salutes the castle, and I hope brings more +good news from Holland.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Guns again.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Now they answer them from the fortress.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Beamont</span> and <span class="cnm">Collins.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Beamont and Collins, English merchants +both; perhaps they'll certify us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Captain Harman van Spelt, good day to you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Dear, kind Mr Beamont, a thousand and a +thousand good days to you, and all our friends the +English.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Came you from the port, gentlemen?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> We did; and saw arrive, our honest, and our +gallant countryman, brave captain Gabriel Towerson.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Sent to these parts from our employers of +<a class="pgnm" id="page_017" name="page_017"></a> +the East India company in England, as general of +the voyage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Is the brave Towerson returned?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> The same, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> He shall be nobly welcome. He has already +spent twelve years upon, or near, these rich Molucca +isles, and home returned with honour and great +wealth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> The devil give him joy of both, or I will for +him.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> He's my particular friend; I lived with him, +both at Tencrate, Tydore, and at Seran.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Did he not leave a mistress in these +parts, a native of this island of Amboyna?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> He did; I think they call her Isabinda, who +received baptism for his sake, before he hence departed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> 'Tis much against the will of all her friends, +she loves your countryman, but they are not disposers +of her person; she's beauteous, rich, and young, +and Towerson well deserves her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I think, without flattery to my friend, he +does. Were I to chuse, of all mankind, a man, on +whom I would rely for faith and counsel, or more, +whose personal aid I would invite, in any worthy +cause, to second me, it should be only Gabriel Towerson; +daring he is, and thereto fortunate; yet soft, +and apt to pity the distressed, and liberal to relieve +them: I have seen him not alone to pardon foes, +but by his bounty win them to his love: If he has +any fault, 'tis only that to which great minds can +only subject be—he thinks all honest, 'cause himself +is so, and therefore none suspects.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> I like him well for that; this fault of his +great mind, as Beamont calls it, may give him cause +to wish he was more wary, when it shall be too late.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> I was in some small hope, this ship had +<a class="pgnm" id="page_018" name="page_018"></a> +been of our own country, and brought back my son; +for much about this season I expect him. Good-morrow, +gentlemen; I go to fill a brendice to my +noble captain's health, pray tell him so; the youth +of our Amboyna I'll send before, to welcome him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> We'll stay, and meet him here. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Harman, Fiscal,</span> and <span class="cnm">Van Herring.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I do not like these fleering Dutchmen, +they overact their kindness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> I know not what to think of them; that old +fat governor, Harman van Spelt, I have known long; +they say he was a cooper in his country, and took +the measure of his hoops for tuns by his own belly: +I love him not, he makes a jest of men in misery; +the first fat merry fool I ever knew, that was ill-natured.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> He's absolutely governed by this Fiscal, +who was, as I have heard, an ignorant advocate in +Rotterdam, such as in England we call a petty-fogging +rogue; one that knows nothing, but the worst +part of the law, its tricks and snares: I fear he hates +us English mortally. Pray heaven we feel not the +effects on't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> Neither he, nor Harman, will dare to shew their +malice to us, now Towerson is come. For though, +'tis true, we have no castle here, he has an awe upon +them in his worth, which they both fear and reverence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I wish it so may prove; my mind is a bad +prophet to me, and what it does forbode of ill, it +seldom fails to pay me. Here he comes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> And in his company young Harman, son to +our Dutch governor. I wonder how they met.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Towerson, Harman</span> Junior, and a Skipper.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> [<span class="sdm">Entering, to the Skipper.</span>] These letters see +conveyed with speed to our plantation. This to +<a class="pgnm" id="page_019" name="page_019"></a> +Cambello, and to Hitto this, this other to Loho. Tell +them, their friends in England greet them well; and +when I left them, were in perfect health.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Skip.</span> Sir, you shall be obeyed.<span class="sdr">[Exit Skipper.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I heartily rejoice that our employers have +chose you for this place: a better choice they never +could have made, or for themselves, or me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> This I am sure of, that our English factories +in all these parts have wished you long the man, and +none could be so welcome to their hearts.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> And let me speak for my countrymen, +the Dutch; I have heard my father say, he's your +sworn brother: And this late accident at sea, when +you relieved me from the pirates, and brought my +ship in safety off, I hope will well secure you of our +gratitude.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You over-rate a little courtesy: In your deliverance +I did no more, than what I had myself +from you expected: The common ties of our religion, +and those, yet more particular, of peace and +strict commerce betwixt us and your nation, exacted +all I did, or could have done. [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Beamont.</span></span>] +For you, my friend, let me ne'er breathe our English +air again, but I more joy to see you, than myself to +have escaped the storm that tossed me long, doubling +the Cape, and all the sultry heats, in passing twice +the Line: For now I have you here, methinks this +happiness should not be bought at a less price.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I'll leave you with your friends; my +duty binds me to hasten to receive a father's blessing.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> You are so much a friend, that I must tax +you for being a slack lover. You have not yet enquired +of Isabinda.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> No; I durst not, friend, I durst not. I love +too well, and fear to know my doom; there's hope +in doubt; but yet I fixed my eyes on yours, I looked +<a class="pgnm" id="page_020" name="page_020"></a> +with earnestness, and asked with them: If aught +of ill had happened, sure I had met it there; and +since, methinks, I did not, I have now recovered +courage, and resolve to urge it from you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Your Isabinda then—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You have said all in that, my Isabinda, if +she still be so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Enjoys as much of health, as fear for you, +and sorrow for your absence, would permit.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Music within.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> Hark, music I think approaching.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> 'Tis from our factory; some sudden entertainment +I believe, designed for your return.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Amboyners, Men and Women, with Timbrels +before them. A Dance.</p> + +<p class="sdn">After the Dance,</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Senior, <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior, <span class="cnm">Fiscal,</span> +and <span class="cnm">Van Herring.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> [<span class="sdm">Embracing <span class="cnm">Towerson.</span></span>] O my sworn +brother, my dear captain Towerson! the man whom +I love better than a stiff gale, when I am becalmed +at sea; to whom I have received the sacrament, +never to be false-hearted.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You ne'er shall have occasion on my part: +The like I promise for our factories, while I continue +here: This isle yields spice enough for both; and +Europe, ports, and chapmen, where to vend them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> It does, it does; we have enough, if we +can be contented.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> And, sir, why should we not? What mean +these endless jars of trading nations? 'Tis true, the +world was never large enough for avarice or ambition; +but those who can be pleased with moderate +gain, may have the ends of nature, not to want: +Nay, even its luxuries may be supplied from her +<a class="pgnm" id="page_021" name="page_021"></a> +o'erflowing bounties in these parts; from whence +she yearly sends spices and gums, the food of +heaven in sacrifice: And, besides these, her gems of +the richest value, for ornament, more than necessity.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> You are i'the right; we must be very +friends, i'faith we must; I have an old Dutch heart, +as true and trusty as your English oak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> We can never forget the patronage of your +Elizabeth, of famous memory; when from the yoke +of Spain, and Alva's pride, her potent succours, and +her well-timed bounty, freed us, and gave us credit +in the world.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> For this we only ask a fair commerce, and +friendliness of conversation here: And what our several +treaties bind us to, you shall, while Towerson +lives, see so performed, as fits a subject to an English +king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Now, by my faith, you ask too little, +friend; we must have more than bare commerce +betwixt us: Receive me to your bosom; by this +beard, I will never deceive you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I do not like his oath, there's treachery in +that Judas-coloured beard.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Pray use me as your servant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> And me too, captain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I receive you both as jewels, which I'll wear +in either ear, and never part with you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> I cannot do enough for him, to whom +I owe my son.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Nor I, till fortune send me such another +brave occasion of fighting so for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Captain, very shortly we must use your +head in a certain business; ha, ha, ha, my dear captain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> We must use your head, indeed, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Sir, command me, and take it as a debt I +owe your love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_022" name="page_022"></a> +<span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Talk not of debt, for I must have your +heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Your heart, indeed, good captain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> You are weary now, I know, sea-beat +and weary; 'tis time we respite further ceremony; +besides, I see one coming, whom I know you long +to embrace, and I should be unkind to keep you +from her arms.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Isabinda</span> and <span class="cnm">Julia.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Do I hold my love, do I embrace him after +a tedious absence of three years? Are you indeed returned, +are you the same? Do you still love your +Isabinda? Speak before I ask you twenty questions +more: For I have so much love, and so much joy, +that if you don't love as well as I, I shall appear +distracted.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> We meet then both out of ourselves, for I +am nothing else but love and joy; and to take care +of my discretion now, would make me much unworthy +of that passion, to which you set no bounds.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> How could you be so long away?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> How can you think I was? I still was here, +still with you, never absent in my mind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> She is a most charming creature; I +wish I had not seen her.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Now I shall love your God, because I see +that he takes care of lovers: But, my dear Englishman, +I pr'ythee let it be our last of absence; I cannot +bear another parting from thee, nor promise +thee to live three other years, if thou again goest +hence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I never will without you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> I said before, we should but trouble ye.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You make me blush; but if you ever were +a lover, sir, you will forgive a folly, which is sweet, +though, I confess, 'ts much extravagant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_023" name="page_023"></a> +<span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> He has but too much cause for this +excess of joy; oh happy, happy Englishman! but I +unfortunate!<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Now, when you please, lead on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> This day you shall be feasted at the castle,<br /> +Where our great guns shall loudly speak your welcome.<br /> +All signs of joy shall through the isle be shewn,<br /> +Whilst in full rummers we our friendship crown.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + + +<h4 class="scn">ACT II. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Isabinda,</span> and <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> This to me, from you, against your friend!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Have I not eyes? are you not fair? +Why does it seem so strange?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Come, it is a plot betwixt you: My Englishman +is jealous, and has sent you to try my faith: +he might have spared the experiment, after a three +years absence; that was a proof sufficient of my +constancy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I heard him say he never had returned, +but that his masters of the East India company +preferred him large conditions.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> You do bely him basely.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> As much as I do you, in saying you +are fair; or as I do myself, when I declare I die for +you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> If this be earnest, you have done a most +unmanly and ungrateful part, to court the intended +wife of him, to whom you are most obliged.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Leave me to answer that: Assure +yourself I love you violently, and, if you are wise, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_024" name="page_024"></a> +you will make some difference betwixt Towerson +and me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Yes, I shall make a difference, but not to +your advantage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You must, or falsify your knowledge; +an Englishman, part captain, and part merchant; +his nation of declining interest here: Consider +this, and weigh against that fellow, not me, +but any, the least and meanest Dutchman in this +isle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I do not weigh by bulk: I know your +countrymen have the advantage there.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Hold back your hand, from firming +of your faith; you will thank me in a little time, +for staying you so kindly from embarking in his +ruin.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> His fortune is not so contemptible as you +would make it seem.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Wait but one month for the event.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I will not wait one day, though I were +sure to sink with him the next: So well I love my +Towerson, I will not lose another sun, for fear he +should not rise to-morrow. For yourself, pray rest +assured, of all mankind, you should not be my +choice, after an act of such ingratitude.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You may repent your scorn at leisure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Never, unless I married you.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Towerson.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Now, my dear Isabinda, I dare pronounce +myself most happy: Since I have gained your kindred, +all difficulties cease.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I wish we find it so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Why, is aught happened since I saw you +last? Methinks a sadness dwells upon your brow, +like that I saw before my last long absence. You +<a class="pgnm" id="page_025" name="page_025"></a> +do not speak: My friend dumb too? Nay then, I +fear some more than ordinary cause produces this.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You have no reason, Towerson, to +be sad; you are the happy man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> If I have any, you must needs have some.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> No, you are loved, and I am bid +despair.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Time and your services will perhaps make +you as happy, as I am in my Isabinda's love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I thought I spoke so plain, I might be +understood; but since I did not, I must tell you, +Towerson, I wear the title of your friend no longer, +because I am your rival.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Is this true, Isabinda?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I should not, I confess, have told you first, +because I would not give you that disquiet; but +since he has, it is too sad a truth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Leave us, my dear, a little to ourselves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I fear you will quarrel, for he seemed incensed, +and threatened you with ruin. <span class="sdr">[To him aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> 'Tis to prevent an ill, which may be fatal +to us both, that I would speak with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Swear to me, by your love, you will not fight.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Fear not, my Isabinda; things are not +grown to that extremity.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I leave you, but I doubt the consequence. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Isab.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I want a name to call you by; friend, you +declare you are not, and to rival, I am not yet +enough accustomed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Now I consider on it, it shall be yet +in your free choice, to call me one or other; for, +Towerson, I do not decline your friendship, but +then yield Isabinda to me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Yield Isabinda to you?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Yes, and preserve the blessing of my +friendship; I'll make my father yours; your factories +<a class="pgnm" id="page_026" name="page_026"></a> +shall be no more oppressed, but thrive in all advantages +with ours; your gain shall be beyond +what you could hope for from the treaty: In all +the traffic of these eastern parts, ye shall—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Hold! you mistake me, Harman, I never +gave you just occasion to think I would make merchandize +of love; Isabinda, you know, is mine, contracted +to me ere I went for England, and must be +so till death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> She must not, Towerson; you know +you are not strongest in these parts, and it will be +ill contesting with your masters.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Our masters? Harman, you durst not once +have named that word, in any part of Europe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Here I both dare and will; you have no +castles in Amboyna.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Though we have not, we yet have English +hearts, and courages not to endure affronts.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> They may be tried.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Your father sure will not maintain you in +this insolence; I know he is too honest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Assure yourself he will espouse my +quarrel.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> We would complain to England.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Your countrymen have tried that +course so often, methinks they should grow wiser, +and desist: But now there is no need of troubling +any others but ourselves; the sum of all is this, you +either must resign me Isabinda, or instantly resolve +to clear your title to her by your sword.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I will do neither now.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Then I'll believe you dare not fight me +fairly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You know I durst have fought, though I +am not vain enough to boast it, nor would upbraid +you with remembrance of it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You destroy your benefit with rehearsal +<a class="pgnm" id="page_027" name="page_027"></a> +of it; but that was in a ship, backed by your +men; single duel is a fairer trial of your courage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I'm not to be provoked out of my temper: +Here I am a public person, entrusted by my king +and my employers, and should I kill you, Harman—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Oh never think you can, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I should betray my countrymen to suffer, +not only worse indignities than those they have already +borne, but, for aught I know, might give them +up to general imprisonment, perhaps betray them +to a massacre.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> These are but pitiful and weak excuses; +I'll force you to confess you dare not fight; you shall +have provocations.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I will not stay to take them. Only this before +I go; if you are truly gallant, insult not where +you have power, but keep your quarrel secret; we +may have time and place out of this island: Meanwhile, +I go to marry Isabinda, that you shall see +I dare.—No more, follow me not an inch beyond +this place, no not an inch. Adieu.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Towerson.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Thou goest to thy grave, or I to mine. +<span class="sdr">[Is going after him.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Whither so fast, mynheer?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> After that English dog, whom I believe +you saw.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Whom, Towerson?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Yes, let me go, I'll have his blood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Let me advise you first; you young men +are so violently hot.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I say I'll have his blood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> To have his blood is not amiss, so far I go +with you; but take me with you further for the +means: First, what's the injury?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Not to detain you with a tedious +<a class="pgnm" id="page_028" name="page_028"></a> +story, I love his mistress, courted her, was slighted; +into the heat of this he came; I offered him the +best advantages he could or to himself propose, or +to his nation, would he quit her love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> So far you are prudent, for she is exceeding +rich.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> He refused all; then I threatened him +with my father's power.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> That was unwisely done; your father, underhand, +may do a mischief, but it is too gross aboveboard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> At last, nought else prevailing, I defied +him to single duel; this he refused, and I believe +it was fear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> No, no, mistake him not, it is a stout whoreson. +You did ill to press him, it will not sound well +in Europe; he being here a public minister, having +no means of 'scaping should he kill you, besides exposing +all his countrymen to a revenge.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> That's all one; I'm resolved I will +pursue my course, and fight him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Pursue your end, that's to enjoy the woman +and her wealth; I would, like you, have Towerson +despatched,—for, as I am a true Dutchman, I +do hate him,—but I would convey him smoothly out +of the world, and without noise; they will say we +are ungrateful else in England, and barbarously +cruel; now I could swallow down the <i>thing</i> ingratitude +and the <i>thing</i> murder, but the names are +odious.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> What would you have me do then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Let him enjoy his love a little while, it will +break no squares in the long run of a man's life; +you shall have enough of her, and in convenient time.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I cannot bear he should enjoy her +first; no, it is determined; I will kill him bravely.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Ay, a right young man's bravery, that's +<a class="pgnm" id="page_029" name="page_029"></a> +folly: Let me alone, something I'll put in practice, +to rid you of this rival ere he marries, without your +once appearing in it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> If I durst trust you now?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> If you believe that I have wit, or love you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Well, sir, you have prevailed; be +speedy, for once I will rely on you. Farewell.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Harman.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> This hopeful business will be quickly spoiled, +if I not take exceeding care of it.—Stay,—Towerson +to be killed, and privately, that must be laid +down as the groundwork, for stronger reasons than +a young man's passion; but who shall do it? No +Englishman will, and much I fear, no Dutchman +dares attempt it.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Perez.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Well said, in faith, old Devil! Let thee alone, when +once a man is plotting villany, to find him a fit +instrument. This Spanish captain, who commands +our slaves, is bold enough, and is beside in want, +and proud enough to think he merits wealth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> This Fiscal loves my wife; I am jealous of +him, and yet must speak him fair to get my pay; +O, there is the devil for a Castilian, to stoop to one +of his own master's rebels, who has, or who designs +to cuckold him.—[<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>]—[<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></span>] I come to +kiss your hand again, sir; six months I am in arrear; +I must not starve, and Spaniards cannot beg.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> I have been a better friend to you, than perhaps +you think, captain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I fear you have indeed.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> And faithfully solicited your business; send +but your wife to-morrow morning early, the money +shall be ready.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> What if I come myself?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Why ye may have it, if you come yourself, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_030" name="page_030"></a> +captain; but in case your occasions should call you +any other way, you dare trust her to receive it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> She has no skill in money.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> It shall be told into her hand, or given her +upon honour, in a lump: but, captain, you were +saying you did want; now I should think three +hundred doubloons would do you no great harm; +they will serve to make you merry on the watch.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Must they be told into my wife's hand, too?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> No, those you may receive yourself, if you +dare merit them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I am a Spaniard, sir; that implies honour: I +dare all that is possible.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Then you dare kill a man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> So it be fairly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> But what if he will not be so civil to be +killed that way? He is a sturdy fellow, I know you +stout, and do not question your valour; but I would +make sure work, and not endanger you, who are my +friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I fear the governor will execute me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> The governor will thank you; 'Tis he shall +be your pay-master; you shall have your pardon +drawn up beforehand; and remember, no transitory +sum, three hundred quadruples in your own country +gold.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Well, name your man.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Julia.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Your wife comes, take it in whisper. +<span class="sdr">[They whisper.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Yonder is my master, and my Dutch servant; +how lovingly they talk in private! if I did +not know my Don's temper to be monstrously jealous, +I should think, they were driving a secret bargain +for my body; but <i>cuerpo</i> is not to be digested by +my Castilian. <i>Mi Moher</i>, my wife, and my mistress! +<a class="pgnm" id="page_031" name="page_031"></a> +he lays the emphasis on me, as if to cuckold him +were a worse sin, than breaking the commandment. +If my English lover, Beamont, my Dutch love, the +Fiscal, and my Spanish husband, were painted in a +piece, with me amongst them, they would make a +pretty emblem of the two nations that cuckold his +Catholic majesty in his Indies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You will undertake it then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I have served under Towerson as his lieutenant, +served him well, and, though I say it, bravely; +yet never have been rewarded, though he promised +largely; 'tis resolved, I'll do it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> And swear secresy?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> By this beard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Go wait upon the governor from me, confer +with him about it in my name, this seal will give +you credit.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Gives him his seal.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I go. [<span class="sdm">Goes a step or two, while the other approaches +his wife.</span>] What shall I be, before I come +again?<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Now, my fair mistress, we shall have the +opportunity which I have long desired.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Julia.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> The governor is now a-sleeping; this is his +hour of afternoon's repose, I'll go when he is awake.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Returning.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> He slept early this afternoon; I left him +newly waked.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Well, I go then, but with an aching heart.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> So, at length he's gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> But you may find he was jealous, by his delay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> If I were as you, I would give evident +proofs, should cure him of that disease for ever +after.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_032" name="page_032"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Perez</span> again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I have considered on't, and if you would +go along with me to the governor, it would do +much better.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> No, no, that would make the matter more +suspicious. The devil take thee for an impertinent +cuckold!<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Well, I must go then.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Perez.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Nay, there was never the like of him; but it +shall not serve his turn, we'll cuckold him most furiously.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Perez</span> again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I had forgot one thing; dear sweet-heart, +go home quickly, and oversee our business; it won't +go forward without one of us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> I warrant you, take no care of your business; +leave it to me, I'll put it forward in your absence: +Go, go, you'll lose your opportunity; I'll be +at home before you, and sup with you to-night.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> You shall be welcome, but—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Three hundred quadruples.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> That's true, but—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> But three hundred quadruples.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> The devil take the quadruples!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Beamont.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> There's my cuckold that must be, and my +fellow swaggerer, the Dutchman, with my mistress: +my nose is wiped to-day; I must retire, for the Spaniard +is jealous of me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Oh, Mr Beamont, I'm to ask a favour of +you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> This is unusual; pray command it, signior.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I am going upon urgent business; pray sup +<a class="pgnm" id="page_033" name="page_033"></a> +with me to-night, and, in the meantime, bear my +worthy friend here company.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> With all my heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> So, now I am secure; though I dare not +trust her with one of them, I may with both; +they'll hinder one another, and preserve my honour +into the bargain.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Now, Mr Fiscal, you are the happy man +with the ladies, and have got the precedence of +traffic here too; you've the Indies in your arms, +yet I hope a poor Englishman may come in for a +third part of the merchandise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Oh, sir, in these commodities, here's enough +for both; here's mace for you, and nutmeg for me, in +the same fruit, and yet the owner has to spare for +other friends too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> My husband's plantation is like to thrive well +betwixt you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Horn him; he deserves not so much happiness +as he enjoys in you; he's jealous.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> 'Tis no wonder if a Spaniard looks yellow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Betwixt you and me, 'tis a little kind of +venture that we make, in doing this Don's drudgery +for him; for the whole nation of them is generally +so pocky, that 'tis no longer a disease, but a second +nature in them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> I have heard indeed, that 'tis incorporated +among them, as deeply as the Moors and Jews are; +there's scarce a family, but 'tis crept into their blood, +like the new Christians.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Come, I'll have no whispering betwixt you; +I know you were talking of my husband, because +my nose itches.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Faith, madam, I was speaking in favour +of your nation: What pleasant lives I have known +Spaniards to live in England.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> If you love me, let me hear a little.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_034" name="page_034"></a> +<span class="cnm">Beam.</span> We observed them to have much of the +nature of our flies; they buzzed abroad a month +or two in the summer, would venture about dog-days +to take the air in the Park, but all the winter +slept like dormice; and, if they ever appeared in public +after Michaelmas, their faces shewed the difference +betwixt their country and ours, for they look +in Spain as if they were roasted, and in England as +if they were sodden.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> I'll not believe your description.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Yet our observations of them in Holland +are not much unlike it. I've known a great Don at +the Hague, with the gentleman of his horse, his major +domo, and two secretaries, all dine at four tables, +on the quarters of a single pullet: The victuals +of the under servants were weighed out in +ounces, by the Don himself; with so much garlic +in the other scale: A thin slice of bacon went +through the family a week together; for it was +daily put into the pot for pottage; was served in +the midst of the dish at dinners, and taken out and +weighed by the steward, at the end of every meal, +to see how much it lost; till, at length, looking at +it against the sun, it appeared transparent, and then +he would have whipped it up, as his own fees, at a +morsel; but that his lord barred the dice, and reckoned +it to him for a part of his board wages.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> In few words, madam, the general notion +we had of them, was, that they were very frugal of +their Spanish coin, and very liberal of their Neapolitan.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> I see, gentlemen, you are in the way of rallying; +therefore let me be no hinderance to your +sport; do as much for one another as you have done +for our nation. Pray, Mynheer Fiscal, what think +you of the English?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Oh, I have an honour for the country.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_035" name="page_035"></a> +<span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I beseech you, leave your ceremony; we +can hear of our faults without choler; therefore +speak of us with a true Amsterdam spirit, and do +not spare us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Since you command me, sir, 'tis said of +you, I know not how truly, that for your fishery at +home, you're like dogs in the manger, you will neither +manage it yourselves, nor permit your neighbours; +so that for your sovereignty of the narrow +seas, if the inhabitants of them, the herrings, were +capable of being judges, they would certainly award +it to the English, because they were then sure to +live undisturbed, and quiet under you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Very good; proceed, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> 'Tis true, you gave us aid in our time of need, +but you paid yourselves with our cautionary towns: +And, that you have since delivered them up, we +can never give sufficient commendation, either to +your honesty, or to your wit; for both which qualities +you have purchased such an immortal fame, +that all nations are instructed how to deal with you +another time.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> A most grateful acknowledgment; sweet +sir, go on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> For your trade abroad, if you should obtain +it, you are so horribly expensive, that you would +undo yourselves and all Christendom; for you +would sink under your very profit, and the gains +of the universal world would beggar you: You devour +a voyage to the Indies, by the multitude of +mouths with which you man your vessels: Providence +has contrived it well, that the Indies are managed +by us, an industrious and frugal people, who +distribute its merchandise to the rest of Europe, +and suffer it not to be consumed in England, that +the other members might be starved, while you of +<a class="pgnm" id="page_036" name="page_036"></a> +Great Britain, as you call it, like a rickety head, +would only swell and grow bigger by it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> I have heard enough of England; have you +nothing to return upon the Netherlands?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Faith, very little to any purpose; he has +been beforehand with us, as his countrymen are in +their trade, and taken up so many vices for the use +of England, that he has left almost none for the +Low Countries.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Come, a word, however.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> In the first place, you shewed your ambition +when you began to be a state: For not +being gentlemen, you have stolen the arms of the +best families of Europe; and wanting a name, you +made bold with the first of the divine attributes, +and called yourselves the High and Mighty: though, +let me tell you, that, besides the blasphemy, the title +is ridiculous; for High is no more proper for the +Netherlands, than Mighty is for seven little rascally +provinces, no bigger in all than a shire in England. +For my main theme, your ingratitude, you have in +part acknowledged it, by your laughing at our easy +delivery of your cautionary towns: The best is, we +are used by you as well as your own princes of the +house of Orange: We and they have set you up, +and you undermine their power, and circumvent our +trade.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> And good reason, if our interest requires it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> That leads me to your religion, which is +only made up of interest: At home, you tolerate +all worships in them who can pay for it; and +abroad, you were lately so civil to the emperor of +Pegu, as to do open sacrifice to his idols.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Yes, and by the same token, you English +were such precise fools as to refuse it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> For frugality in trading, we confess we +cannot compare with you; for our merchants live +<a class="pgnm" id="page_037" name="page_037"></a> +like noblemen; your gentlemen, if you have any, +live like boors. You traffic for all the rarities of the +world, and dare use none of them yourselves; so +that, in effect, you are the mill-horses of mankind, +that labour only for the wretched provender you +eat: A pot of butter and a pickled herring is all +your riches; and, in short, you have a good title to +cheat all Europe, because, in the first place, you cozen +your own backs and bellies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> We may enjoy more whenever we please.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Your liberty is a grosser cheat than any +of the rest; for you are ten times more taxed than +any people in Christendom: You never keep any +league with foreign princes; you flatter our kings, +and ruin their subjects; you never denied us satisfaction +at home for injuries, nor ever gave it us +abroad.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You must make yourselves more feared, +when you expect it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> And I prophecy that time will come, when +some generous monarch of our island will undertake +our quarrel, reassume the fishery of our seas, +and make them as considerable to the English, as +the Indies are to you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Before that comes to pass, you may repent +your over-lavish tongue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I was no more in earnest than you were.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Pray let this go no further; my husband has +invited both to supper.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> If you please, I'll fall to before he comes; +or, at least, while he is conferring in private with +the Fiscal.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Aside to her.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Their private businesses let them agree;<br /> +The Dutch for him, the Englishman for me.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_038" name="page_038"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT III. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Perez.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> True, the reward proposed is great enough, +I want it too; besides, this Englishman has never +paid me since, as his lieutenant, I served him once +against the Turk at sea; yet he confessed I did my +duty well, when twice I cleared our decks; he has +long promised me, but what are promises to starving +men? this is his house, he may walk out this +morning.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter a Page, and another Servant, walking by, not +seeing him.</p> + +<p class="dlg">These belong to him; I'll hide till they are past.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> He sleeps soundly for a man who is to be +married when he wakes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Page.</span> He does well to take his time; for he does +not know, when he's married, whether ever he shall +have a sound sleep again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> He bid we should not wake him; but some +of us, in good manners, should have staid, and not +have left him quite alone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Page.</span> In good manners, I should indeed; but +I'll venture a master's anger at any time for a mistress, +and that's my case at present.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serv.</span> I'll tempt as great a danger as that comes +to, for good old English fellowship; I am invited +to a morning's draught.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Page.</span> Good-morrow, brother, good-morrow; by +that time you have filled your belly, and I have +emptied mine, it will be time to meet at home again.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt severally.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_039" name="page_039"></a> +<span class="cnm">Per.</span> So, this makes well for my design; he's left +alone, unguarded, and asleep: Satan, thou art a +bounteous friend, and liberal of occasions to do +mischief; my pardon I have ready, if I am taken, +my money half beforehand: up, Perez, rouse thy +Spanish courage up; if he should wake, I think I +dare attempt him; then my revenge is nobler, and +revenge, to injured men, is full as sweet as profit.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span><br /></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Scene</span> drawn, discovers <span class="cnm">Towerson</span> asleep on a +Couch in his Night-gown. A Table by him; Pen, +Ink, and Paper on it.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Perez</span> with a Dagger.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Asleep, as I imagined, and as fast as all the +plummets of eternal night were hung upon his +temples. Oh that some courteous dæmon, in the +other world, would let him know, 'twas Perez sent +him thither! A paper by him too! He little thinks +it is his testament; the last he e'er shall make: I'll +read it first. [<span class="sdm">Takes it up.</span>] Oh, by the inscription, +'tis a memorial of what he means to do this day: +What's here? My name in the first line! I'll read it. +[<span class="sdm">Reads.</span>] <i>Memorandum, That my first action this +morning shall be, to find out my true and valiant lieutenant, +captain Perez; and, as a testimony of my gratitude +for his honourable services, to bestow on him five +hundred English pounds, making my just excuse, I had +it not before within my power to reward him.</i> [<span class="sdm">Lays +down the paper.</span>] And was it then for this I sought +his life? Oh base, degenerate Spaniard! Hadst thou +done it, thou hadst been worse than damned: Heaven +took more care of me, than I of him, to expose +this paper to my timely view. Sleep on, thou honourable +<a class="pgnm" id="page_040" name="page_040"></a> +Englishman; I'll sooner now pierce my +own breast than thine: See, he smiles too in his +slumber, as if his guardian angel, in a dream, told +him, he was secure: I'll give him warning though, +to prevent danger from another hand.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Writes on <span class="cnm">Towerson's</span> paper, then sticks his +dagger in it.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="i1">Stick there, that when he wakens, he may know,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">To his own virtue he his life does owe.</span><span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Perez.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Towerson</span> awakens.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I have o'erslept my hour this morning, if +to enjoy a pleasing dream can be to sleep too long. +Methought my dear Isabinda and myself were lying +in an arbour, wreathed about with myrtle and +with cypress; my rival Harman, reconciled again +to his friendship, strewed us with flowers, and put +on each a crimson-coloured garment, in which we +straightway mounted to the skies; and with us, +many of my English friends, all clad in the same +robes. If dreams have any meaning, sure this portends +some good.—What's that I see! A dagger +stuck into the paper of my memorials, and writ below—<i>Thy +virtue saved thy life!</i> It seems some one +has been within my chamber whilst I slept: Something +of consequence hangs upon this accident. +What, ho! who waits without? None answer me? +Are ye all dead? What, ho!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Beamont.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> How is it, friend? I thought, entering +your house, I heard you call.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I did, but as it seems without effect; none +of my servants are within reach of my voice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> You seem amazed at somewhat?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> A little discomposed: read that, and see if +<a class="pgnm" id="page_041" name="page_041"></a> +I have no occasion; that dagger was stuck there, +by him who writ it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I must confess you have too just a cause: +I am myself surprised at an event so strange.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I know not who can be my enemy within +this island, except my rival Harman; and for him, +I truly did relate what passed betwixt us yesterday.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> You bore yourself in that as it became +you, as one who was a witness to himself of his own +courage; and while, by necessary care of others, +you were forced to decline fighting, shewed how +much you did despise the man who sought the +quarrel: 'Twas base in him, so backed as he is here, +to offer it, much more to press you to it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I may find a foot of ground in Europe to +tell the insulting youth, he better had provoked +some other man; but sure I cannot think 'twas he +who left that dagger there.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> No, for it seems too great a nobleness of +spirit, for one like him to practise: 'Twas certainly +an enemy, who came to take your sleeping life; +but thus to leave unfinished the design, proclaims +the act no Dutchman's.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow</span> That time will best discover; I'll think no +further of it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I confess you have more pleasing thoughts +to employ your mind at present; I left your bride +just ready for the temple, and came to call you to +her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I'll straight attend you thither.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Sen. <span class="cnm">Fiscal,</span> and <span class="cnm">Van Herring.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Remember, sir, what I advised you; you +must seemingly make up the business.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Har.</span> Sen.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> I warrant you.—What, my brave bonny +<a class="pgnm" id="page_042" name="page_042"></a> +bridegroom, not yet dressed? You are a lazy lover; +I must chide you.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Towerson.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I was just preparing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> I must prevent part of the ceremony: +You thought to go to her; she is by this time at +the castle, where she is invited with our common +friends; for you shall give me leave, if you so +please, to entertain you both.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I have some reasons, why I must refuse the +honour you intend me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> You must have none: What! my old +friend steal a wedding from me? In troth, you +wrong our friendship.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> [<span class="sdm">To him aside.</span>] Sir, go not to the castle; +you cannot, in honour, accept an invitation from +the father, after an affront from the son.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Once more I beg your pardon, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Come, come, I know your reason of +refusal, but it must not prevail: My son has been +to blame; I'll not maintain him in the least neglect, +which he should show to any Englishman, +much less to you, the best and most esteemed of all +my friends.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I should be willing, sir, to think it was a +young man's rashness, or perhaps the rage of a successless +rival; yet he might have spared some words.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Friend, he shall ask your pardon, or +I'll no longer own him; what, ungrateful to a man, +whose valour has preserved him? He shall do it, he +shall indeed; I'll make you friends upon your own +conditions; he's at the door, pray let him be admitted; +this is a day of general jubilee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You command here, you know, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> I'll call him in; I am sure he will be proud, +at any rate, to redeem your kind opinion of him.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_043" name="page_043"></a> +<span class="cnm">Fiscal</span> re-enters, with <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Sir, my father, I hope, has in part satisfied +you, that what I spoke was only an effect of +sudden passion, of which I am now ashamed; and +desire it may be no longer lodged in your remembrance, +than it is now in my intention to do you +any injury.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Your father may command me to more difficult +employments, than to receive the friendship +of a man, of whom I did not willingly embrace an +ill opinion.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Nothing henceforward shall have power +to take from me that happiness, in which you are so +generously pleased to reinstate me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Why this is as it should be; trust me, +I weep for joy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Towerson is easy, and too credulous. I +fear 'tis all dissembled on their parts. +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Now set we forward to the castle; the +bride is there before us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Sir, I wait you. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Sen. <span class="cnm">Towerson, Beamont,</span> +and <span class="cnm">Van Herring.</span></span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Captain <span class="cnm">Perez.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Now, captain, when perform you what you +promised, concerning Towerson's death?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Never.—There, Judas, take your hire of +blood again.<span class="sdr">[Throws him a purse.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Your reason for this sudden change?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I cannot own the name of man, and do it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Your head shall answer the neglect of +what you were commanded.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> If it must, I cannot shun my destiny.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Harman, you are too rash; pray hear his +reasons first.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_044" name="page_044"></a> +<span class="cnm">Per.</span> I have them to myself, I'll give you none.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> None? that's hard; well, you can be secret, +captain, for your own sake, I hope?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> That I have sworn already, my oath binds me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> That's enough: we have now chang'd our +minds, and do not wish his death,—at least as you +shall know.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I am glad on't, for he's a brave and worthy +gentleman; I would not for the wealth of both the +Indies have had his blood upon my soul to answer.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside to <span class="cnm">Harman.</span></span>] I shall find a time to +take back our secret from him, at the price of his +life, when he least dreams of it; meantime 'tis fit +we speak him fair. [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Perez.</span></span>] Captain, a reward +attends you, greater than you could hope; we only +meant to try your honesty. I am more than satisfied +of your reasons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> I still shall labour to deserve your kindness +in any honourable way.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Perez.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I told you that this Spaniard had not +courage enough for such an enterprise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> He rather had too much of honesty.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Oh, you have ruined me; you promised +me this day the death of Towerson, and now, instead +of that, I see him happy! I'll go and fight him +yet; I swear he never shall enjoy her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> He shall not, that I swear with you; but you +are too rash, the business can never be done your +way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I'll trust no other arm but my own +with it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Yes, mine you shall, I'll help you. This +evening, as he goes from the castle, we'll find some +way to meet him in the dark, and then make sure +of him for getting maidenheads to-night; to-morrow +I'll bestow a pill upon my Spanish Don, lest he discover +what he knows.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Give me your hand, you'll help me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_045" name="page_045"></a> +<span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> By all my hopes I will: in the mean time, +with a feigned mirth 'tis fit we gild our faces; the +truth is, that we may smile in earnest, when we +look upon the Englishman, and think how we will +use him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Agreed; come to the castle.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE III.—<i>The Castle.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Senior, <span class="cnm">Towerson,</span> and <span class="cnm">Isabinda, +Beamont, Collins, Van Herring.</span> They seat +themselves.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<h4>EPITHALAMIUM.</h4> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p>The day is come, I see it rise,</p> +<p>Betwixt the bride and bridegroom's eyes;</p> +<p>That golden day they wished so long,</p> +<p>Love picked it out amidst the throng;</p> +<p>He destined to himself this sun,</p> +<p>And took the reins, and drove him on;</p> +<p>In his own beams he drest him bright,</p> +<p>Yet bid him bring a better night.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p>The day you wished arrived at last,</p> +<p>You wish as much that it were past;</p> +<p>One minute more, and night will hide</p> +<p>The bridegroom and the blushing bride.</p> +<p>The virgin now to bed does go—</p> +<p>Take care, oh youth, she rise not so—</p> +<p>She pants and trembles at her doom,</p> +<p>And fears and wishes thou wouldst come.</p> +</div> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p>The bridegroom comes, he comes apace,</p> +<p>With love and fury in his face;</p> +<p>She shrinks away, he close pursues,</p> +<p>And prayers and threats at once does use.</p> +<p>She, softly sighing, begs delay,</p> +<p>And with her hand puts his away;</p> +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_046" name="page_046"></a> +Now out aloud for help she cries,</p> +<p>And now despairing shuts her eyes.</p> +</div></div> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> I like this song, 'twas sprightly; it +would restore me twenty years of youth, had I but +such a bride.</p> + +<p class="sdn">A Dance.</p> + +<p class="sdn">After the Dance, enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior, and <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Come, let me have the Sea-Fight; I like +that better than a thousand of your wanton epithalamiums.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> He means that fight, in which he freed +me from the pirates.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Pr'ythee, friend, oblige me, and call not for +that song; 'twill breed ill blood. +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Beamont.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Pr'ythee be not scrupulous, ye fought it +bravely. Young Harman is ungrateful, if he does +not acknowledge it. I say, sing me the Sea-Fight.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<h4>THE SEA-FIGHT.</h4> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p>Who ever saw a noble sight,</p> +<p>That never viewed a brave sea-fight!</p> +<p>Hang up your bloody colours in the air,</p> +<p>Up with your fights, and your nettings prepare;</p> +<p>Your merry mates cheer, with a lusty bold spright,</p> +<p>Now each man his brindice, and then to the fight.</p> +<p>St George, St George, we cry,</p> +<p>The shouting Turks reply:</p> +<p>Oh now it begins, and the gun-room grows hot,</p> +<p>Ply it with culverin and with small shot;</p> +<p>Hark, does it not thunder? no, 'tis the guns roar,</p> +<p>The neighbouring billows are turned into gore;</p> +<p>Now each man must resolve, to die,</p> +<p>For here the coward cannot fly.</p> +<p>Drums and trumpets toll the knell,</p> +<p>And culverins the passing bell.</p> +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_047" name="page_047"></a> +Now, now they grapple, and now board amain;</p> +<p>Blow up the hatches, they're off all again:</p> +<p>Give them a broadside, the dice run at all,</p> +<p>Down comes the mast and yard, and tacklings fall;</p> +<p>She grows giddy now, like blind Fortune's wheel,</p> +<p>She sinks there, she sinks, she turns up her keel.</p> +<p>Who ever beheld so noble a sight,</p> +<p>As this so brave, so bloody sea-fight!</p> +</div></div> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> See the insolence of these English; +they cannot do a brave action in an age, but presently +they must put it into metre, to upbraid us +with their benefits.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Let them laugh, that win at last.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Captain <span class="cnm">Middleton,</span> and a Woman with him, +all pale and weakly, and in tattered garments.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Captain Middleton, you are arrived in a good +hour, to be partaker of my happiness, which is as +great this day, as love and expectation can make it.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Rising up to salute <span class="cnm">Middleton.</span></span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mid.</span> And may it long continue so!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> But how happens it, that, setting out with +us from England, you came not sooner hither.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mid.</span> It seems the winds favoured you with a +quicker passage; you know I lost you in a storm +on the other side of the Cape, with which disabled, +I was forced to put into St Helen's isle; there 'twas +my fortune to preserve the life of this our countrywoman; +the rest let her relate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Alas, she seems half-starved, unfit to make +relations.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> How the devil came she off? I know +her but too well, and fear she knows me too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Pray, countrywoman, speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eng Wom.</span> Then thus in brief; in my dear husband's +company, I parted from our sweet native isle: +<a class="pgnm" id="page_048" name="page_048"></a> +we to Lantore were bound, with letters from the +States of Holland, gained for reparation of great +damages sustained by us; when, by the insulting +Dutch, our countrymen, against all show of right, +were dispossessed, and naked sent away from that +rich island, and from Poleroon.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Woman, you speak with too much +spleen; I must not hear my countrymen affronted.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eng. Wom..</span> I wish they did not merit much worse +of me, than I can say of them.—Well, we sailed +forward with a merry gale, till near St Helen's isle +we were overtaken, or rather waylaid, by a Holland +vessel; the captain of which ship, whom here I see, +the man who quitted us of all we had in those rich +parts before, now fearing to restore his ill-got goods, +first hailed, and then invited us on board, keeping +himself concealed; his base lieutenant plied all our +English mariners with wine, and when in dead of +night they lay secure in silent sleep, most barbarously +commanded they should be thrown overboard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Sir, do not hear it out.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> This is all false and scandalous.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Pray, sir, attend the story.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eng. Wom.</span> The vessel rifled, and the rich hold +rummaged, they sink it down to rights; but first I +should have told you, (grief, alas, has spoiled my +memory) that my dear husband, wakened at the +noise, before they reached the cabin where we lay, +took me all trembling with the sudden fright, and +leapt into the boat; we cut the cordage, and so put +out to sea, driving at mercy of the waves and wind; +so scaped we in the dark. To sum up all, we got to +shore, and in the mountains hid us, until the barbarous +Hollanders were gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Where is your husband, countrywoman?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eng. Wom.</span> Dead with grief; with these two +hands I scratched him out a grave, on which I placed +<a class="pgnm" id="page_049" name="page_049"></a> +a cross, and every day wept o'er the ground where +all my joys lay buried. The manner of my life, who +can express! the fountain-water was my only drink; +the crabbed juice and rhind of half-ripe lemons +almost my only food, except some roots; my house, +the widowed cave of some wild beast. In this sad +state, I stood upon the shore, when this brave captain +with his ship approached, whence holding up and +waving both my hands, I stood, and by my actions +begged their mercy; yet, when they nearer came, I +would have fled, had I been able, lest they should +have proved those murderous Dutch, I more than +hunger feared.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> What say you to this accusation, Van +Herring?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> 'Tis as you said, sir, false and scandalous.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> I told you so; all false and scandalous.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> On my soul it is not; her heart speaks in +her tongue, and were she silent, her habit and her +face speak for her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Sir, you have heard the proofs.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Mere allegations, and no proofs. Seem not +to believe it, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Well, well, we'll hear it another time.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mid.</span> You seem not to believe her testimony, but +my whole crew can witness it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Ay, they are all Englishmen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> That's a nation too generous to do bad actions, +and too sincere to justify them done; I wish +their neighbours were of the same temper.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Nay, now you kindle, captain; this must +not be, we are your friends and servants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mid.</span> 'Tis well you are by land, at sea you would +be masters: there I myself have met with some +affronts, which, though I wanted power then to return, +I hailed the captain of the Holland ship, and +told him he should dearly answer it, if e'er I met +<a class="pgnm" id="page_050" name="page_050"></a> +him in the narrow seas. His answer was, (mark but +the insolence) If I should hang thee, Middleton, up +at thy main yard, and sink thy ship, here's that +about my neck (pointing to his gold chain) would +answer it when I came into Holland.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jan.</span> Yes, this is like the other.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I find we must complain at home; there's +no redress to be had here.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Come, countrywoman,—I must call you so, +since he who owns my heart is English born,—be +not dejected at your wretched fortune; my house is +yours, my clothes shall habit you, even these I wear, +rather than see you thus.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Come, come, no more complaints; let +us go in; I have ten rummers ready to the bride; +as many times shall our guns discharge, to speak +the general gladness of this day. I'll lead you, +lady.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Takes the Bride by the hand.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> A heavy omen to my nuptials!<br /> +<span class="i1">My countrymen oppressed by sea and land,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">And I not able to redress the wrong,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">So weak are we, our enemies so strong.</span><span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT IV.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>A Wood.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior, and <span class="cnm">Fiscal,</span> with swords, +and disguised in vizards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> We are disguised enough; the evening +now grows dusk.—I would the deed were done!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Perez</span> with a Soldier, and overhears them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> 'Twill now be suddenly, if we have courage +in this wild woody walk, hot with the feast +and plenteous bowls, the bridal company are walking +to enjoy the cooling breeze; I spoke to Towerson, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_051" name="page_051"></a> +as I said I would, and on some private business +of great moment, desired that he would leave the +company, and meet me single here.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jan.</span> Where if he comes, he never shall return +But Towerson stays too long for my revenge; +I am in haste to kill him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> He promised me to have been here ere now; +if you think fitting, I'll go back and bring him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Do so, I'll wait you in this place. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Fisc.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Was ever villany like this of these unknown +assassins? Towerson, in vain I saved thy sleeping +life if now I let thee lose it, when thou wakest; +thou lately hast been bountiful to me, and this way +I'll acknowledge it. Yet to disclose their crimes +were dangerous. What must I do? This generous +Englishman will strait be here, and consultation +then perhaps will be too late: I am resolved.—Lieutenant, +you have heard, as well as I, the bloody purpose +of these men?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sold.</span> I have, and tremble at the mention of it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Dare you adventure on an action, as brave +as theirs is base?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sold.</span> Command my life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> No more. Help me despatch that murderer, +ere his accomplice comes: the men I know not; +but their design is treacherous and bloody.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sold.</span> And he, they mean to kill, is brave himself, +and of a nation I much love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> Come on then. [<span class="sdm">Both draw. To <span class="cnm">Har.</span></span>] +Villain, thou diest, thy conscience tells thee why; +I need not urge the crime.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[They assault him.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Murder! I shall be basely murdered; +help!</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_052" name="page_052"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Towerson.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Hold, villains! what unmanly odds is this? +Courage, whoe'er thou art; I'll succour thee.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Towerson</span> fights with <span class="cnm">Perez,</span> and <span class="cnm">Harman</span> +with the Lieutenant, and drive them off the +stage.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Though, brave unknown, night takes +thee from my knowledge, and I want time to thank +thee now, take this, and wear it for my sake; +[<span class="sdm">Gives him a ring.</span>] Hereafter I'll acknowledge it +more largely.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> That voice I've heard; but cannot call to +mind, except it be young Harman's. Yet, who +should put his life in danger thus? This ring I +would not take as salary, but as a gage of his free +heart who left it; and, when I know him, I'll restore +the pledge. Sure 'twas not far from hence I +made the appointment: I know not what this +Dutchman's business is, yet, I believe, 'twas somewhat +from my rival. It shall go hard, but I will +find him out, and then rejoin the company.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior, and <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> The accident was wondrous strange: Did +you neither know your assassinates, nor your deliverer?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> 'Twas all a hurry; yet, upon better +recollecting of myself, the man, who freed me, must +be Towerson.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Hark, I hear the company walking this +way; will you withdraw?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Withdraw, and Isabinda coming!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> The wood is full of murderers; every tree, +methinks, hides one behind it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You have two qualities, my friend, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_053" name="page_053"></a> +that sort but ill together; as mischievous as hell +could wish you, but fearful in the execution.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> There is a thing within me, called a conscience +which is not quite o'ercome; now and then +it rebels a little, especially when I am alone, or in +the dark.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> The moon begins to rise, and glitters +through the trees.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> [<span class="sdm">Within.</span>] Pray let us walk this way; that +farther lawn, between the groves, is the most green +and pleasant of any in this isle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I hear my siren's voice, I cannot stir +from hence.—Dear friend, if thou wilt e'er oblige +me, divert the company a little, and give me opportunity +a while to talk alone with her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You'll get nothing of her, except it be by +force.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You know not with what eloquence +love may inspire my tongue: The guiltiest wretch, +when ready for his sentence, has something still to +say.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Well, they come; I'll put you in a way, and +wish you good success; but do you hear? remember +you are a man, and she a woman; a little force, it +may be, would do well.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Isabinda, Beamont, Middleton, Collins, +Harman</span> Senior; and <span class="cnm">Julia.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Who saw the bridegroom last?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> He refused to pledge the last rummer; +so I am out of charity with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Come, shall we backward to the castle? +I'll take care of you, lady.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul</span> Oh, you have drunk so much, you are past +all care.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> But where can be this jolly bridegroom? +Answer me that; I will have the bride satisfied.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_054" name="page_054"></a> +<span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> He walked alone this way; we met him +lately.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I beseech you, sir, conduct us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I'll bring you to him, madam.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Har.</span> Jun.</span>] Remember, now's your +time; if you o'erslip this minute, fortune perhaps +will never send another.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I am resolved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Come, gentlemen, I'll tell you such a pleasant +accident, you'll think the evening short.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> I love a story, and a walk by moonshine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Lend me your hand then, madam. +<span class="sdr">[Takes her by the one hand.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> But one, I beseech you then; I must not +quit her so.<span class="sdr">[Takes her by the other hand. Exeunt.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior, and <span class="cnm">Isabinda.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Come, sir, which is the way? I long to see +my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You may have your wish, and without +stirring hence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> My love so near? Sure you delight to +mock me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> 'Tis you delight to torture me; behold +the man who loves you more than his own +eyes; more than the joys of earth, or hopes of heaven.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> When you renewed your friendship with +my Towerson, I thought these vain desires were +dead within you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Smothered they were, not dead; your +eyes can kindle no such petty fires, as only blaze a +while, and strait go out.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> You know, when I had far less ties upon +me, I would not hear you; therefore wonder not if +I withdraw, and find the company.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_055" name="page_055"></a> +<span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> That would be too much cruelty, to +make me wretched, and then leave me so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Am I in fault if you are miserable? so you +may call the rich man's wealth, the cause and object +of the robber's guilt. Pray do not persecute +me farther: You know I have a husband now, and +would be loth to afflict his knowledge with your second +folly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> What wondrous care you take to +make him happy! yet I approve your method. Ignorance! +oh, 'tis a jewel to a husband; that is, 'tis +peace in him, 'tis virtue in his wife, 'tis honour in +the world; he has all this, while he is ignorant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> You pervert my meaning: I would not +keep my actions from his knowledge; your bold attempts +I would: But yet henceforth conceal your +impious flames; I shall not ever be thus indulgent +to your shame, to keep it from his notice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You are a woman; have enough of +love for him and me; I know the plenteous harvest +all is his: He has so much of joy, that he must labour +under it. In charity, you may allow some +gleanings to a friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Now you grow rude: I'll hear no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You must.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Imb.</span> Leave me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I cannot.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I find I must be troubled with this idle +talk some minutes more, but 'tis your last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> And therefore I'll improve it: Pray, +resolve to make me happy by your free consent. I +do not love these half enjoyments, to enervate my +delights with using force, and neither give myself +nor you that full content, which two can never +have, but where both join with equal eagerness to +bless each other.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_056" name="page_056"></a> +<span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Bless me, ye kind inhabitants of heaven, +from hearing words like these!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> You must do more than hear them. +You know you were now going to your bridal-bed. +Call your own thoughts but to a strict account, +they'll tell you, all this day your fancy ran on nothing +else; 'tis but the same scene still you were +to act; only the person changed,—it may be for the +better.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> You dare not, sure, attempt this villany.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Call not the act of love by that gross +name; you'll give it a much better when 'tis done, +and woo me to a second.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Dost thou not fear a heaven?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> No, I hope one in you. Do it, and do +it heartily; time is precious; it will prepare you better +for your husband. Come—<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Lays hold on her.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> O mercy, mercy! Oh, pity your own soul, +and pity mine; think how you'll wish undone this +horrid act, when your hot lust is slaked; think what +will follow when my husband knows it, if shame +will let me live to tell it him; and tremble at a +Power above, who sees, and surely will revenge it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I have thought!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Then I am sure you're penitent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> No, I only gave you scope, to let you +see, all you have urged I knew: You find 'tis to no +purpose either to talk or strive.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> [<span class="sdm">Running.</span>] Some succour! help, oh help! +<span class="sdr">[She breaks from him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> [<span class="sdm">Running after her.</span>] That too is vain, +you cannot 'scape me.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> [<span class="sdm">Within.</span>] Now you are mine; yield, +or by force I'll take it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> [<span class="sdm">Within.</span>] Oh, kill me first!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> [<span class="sdm">Within.</span>] I'll bear you where your cries +shall not be heard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_057" name="page_057"></a> +<span class="cnm">Isab.</span> [<span class="sdm">As further off.</span>] Succour, sweet heaven! oh +succour me!</p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Senior, <span class="cnm">Fiscal, Van Herring, +Beamont, Collins,</span> and <span class="cnm">Julia.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> You have led us here a fairy's round in the +moonshine, to seek a bridegroom in a wood, till we +have lost the bride.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> I wonder what's become of her?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Sen.</span> Got together, got together, I warrant +you, before this time; you Englishmen are so hot, +you cannot stay for ceremonies. A good honest +Dutchman would have been plying the glass all this +while, and drunk to the hopes of Hans in Kelder +till 'twas bed-time.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Yes, and then have rolled into the sheets, +and turned o' the t'other side to snore, without so +much as a parting blow; till about midnight he would +have wakened in a maze, and found first he was +married by putting forth a foot, and feeling a woman +by him; and, it may be, then, instead of kissing, +desired yough Fro to hold his head.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> And by that night's work have given her a +proof, what she might expect for ever after.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> In my conscience, you Hollanders never +get your children, but in the spirit of brandy; you +are exalted then a little above your natural phlegm, +and only that, which can make you fight, and destroy +men, makes you get them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You may live to know, that we can kill men +when we are sober.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Then they must be drunk, and not able to +defend themselves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Pray leave this talk, and let us try if we can +surprise the lovers under some convenient tree: Shall +we separate, and look them?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_058" name="page_058"></a> +<span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Let you and I go together then, and if +we cannot find them, we shall do as good, for we +shall find one another.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Pray take that path, or that; I will pursue +this.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt all but the <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> So, now I have diverted them from Harman, +I'll look for him myself, and see how he speeds +in his adventure.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Who goes there?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> A friend: I was just in quest of you, so are +all the company: Where have you left the bride?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Tied to a tree and gagged, and—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> And what? Why do you stare and tremble? +Answer me like a man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Oh, I have nothing left of manhood +in me! I am turned beast or devil. Have I not horns, +and tail, and leathern wings? Methinks I should have +by my actions. Oh, I have done a deed so ill, I cannot +name it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Not name it, and yet do it? That's a fool's +modesty: Come, I'll name it for you: You have +enjoyed your mistress.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> How easily so great a villany comes +from thy mouth! I have done worse, I have ravished +her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> That's no harm, so you have killed her afterwards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Killed her! why thou art a worse fiend +than I.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Those fits of conscience in another might be +excusable; but in you, a Dutchman, who are of a +race that are born rebels, and live every where on +rapine,—would you degenerate, and have remorse? +Pray, what makes any thing a sin but law? and, +what law is there here against it? Is not your father +chief? Will he condemn you for a petty rape? +<a class="pgnm" id="page_059" name="page_059"></a> +the woman an Amboyner, and, what's less, now +married to an Englishman! Come, if there be a hell, +'tis but for those that sin in Europe, not for us in +Asia; heathens have no hell. Tell me, how was't? +Pr'ythee, the history.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I forced her. What resistance she could +make she did, but 'twas in vain; I bound her, as I +told you, to a tree.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> And she exclaimed, I warrant—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Yes; and called heaven and earth to +witness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Not after it was done?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> More than before—desired me to +have killed her. Even when I had not left her +power to speak, she curst me with her eyes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Nay, then, you did not please her; if you +had, she ne'er had cursed you heartily. But we lose +time: Since you have done this action, 'tis necessary +you proceed; we must have no tales told.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> What do you mean?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> To dispatch her immediately; could you be +so senseless to ravish her, and let her live? What if +her husband should have found her? What if any +other English? Come, there's no dallying; it must +be done: My other plot is ripe, which shall destroy +them all to-morrow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> I love her still to madness, and never +can consent to have her killed. We'll thence remove +her, if you please, and keep her safe till your intended +plot shall take effect; and when her husband's +gone, I'll win her love by every circumstance of +kindness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You may do so; but t'other is the safer +way: But I'll not stand with you for one life. I +could have wished that Towerson had been killed before +I had proceeded to my plot; but since it cannot +be, we must go on; conduct me where you left her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_060" name="page_060"></a> +<span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Oh, that I could forget both act and +place!<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE III.</h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Scene</span> drawn, discovers <span class="cnm">Isabinda</span> bound.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Towerson.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Sure I mistook the place; I'll wait no longer:<br /> +Something within me does forebode me ill;<br /> +I stumbled when I entered first this wood;<br /> +My nostrils bled three drops; then stopped the blood,<br /> +And not one more would follow.—<br /> +What's that, which seems to bear a mortal shape,<span class="sdr">[Sees <span class="cnm">Isa.</span></span><br /> +Yet neither stirs nor speaks? or, is it some<br /> +Illusion of the night? some spectre, such<br /> +As in these Asian parts more frequently appear?<br /> +Whate'er it be, I'll venture to approach it.<span class="sdr">[Goes near.</span><br /> +My Isabinda bound and gagged! Ye powers,<br /> +I tremble while I free her, and scarce dare<br /> +Restore her liberty of speech, for fear<br /> +Of knowing more.<span class="sdr">[Unbinds her, and ungags her.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> No longer bridegroom thou, nor I a bride;<br /> +Those names are vanished; love is now no more;<br /> +Look on me as thou would'st on some foul leper;<br /> +And do not touch me; I am all polluted,<br /> +All shame, all o'er dishonour; fly my sight,<br /> +And, for my sake, fly this detested isle,<br /> +Where horrid ills so black and fatal dwell,<br /> +As Indians could not guess, till Europe taught.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Speak plainer, I am recollected now:<br /> +I know I am a man, the sport of fate;<br /> +Yet, oh my better half, had heaven so pleased,<br /> +I had been more content, to suffer in myself than thee!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> What shall I say! That monster of a man,<br /> +Harman,—now I have named him, think the rest,—<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_061" name="page_061"></a> +Alone, and singled like a timorous hind<br /> +From the full herd, by flattery drew me first,<br /> +Then forced me to an act, so base and brutal!<br /> +Heaven knows my innocence: But, why do I<br /> +Call that to witness!<br /> +Heaven saw, stood silent: Not one flash of lightning<br /> +Shot from the conscious firmament, to shew its justice:<br /> +Oh had it struck us both, it had saved me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Heaven suffered more in that, than you, or I,<br /> +Wherefore have I been faithful to my trust,<br /> +True to my love, and tender to the opprest?<br /> +Am I condemned to be the second man,<br /> +Who e'er complained he virtue served in vain?<br /> +But dry your tears, these sufferings all are mine.<br /> +Your breast is white, and cold as falling snow;<br /> +You, still as fragrant as your eastern groves;<br /> +And your whole frame as innocent, and holy,<br /> +As if your being were all soul and spirit,<br /> +Without the gross allay of flesh and blood.<br /> +Come to my arms again!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> O never, never!<br /> +I am not worthy now; my soul indeed<br /> +Is free from sin; but the foul speckled stains<br /> +Are from my body ne'er to be washed out,<br /> +But in my death. Kill me, my love, or I<br /> +Must kill myself; else you may think I was<br /> +A black adultress in my mind, and some<br /> +Of me consented.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Your wish to die, shews you deserve to live.<br /> +I have proclaimed you guiltless to myself.<br /> +Self-homicide, which was, in heathens, honour,<br /> +In us, is only sin.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I thought the Eternal Mind<br /> +Had made us masters of these mortal frames;<br /> +You told me, he had given us wills to chuse,<br /> +And reason to direct us in our choice;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_062" name="page_062"></a> +If so, why should he tie us up from dying,<br /> +When death's the greater good?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Can death, which is our greatest enemy, be good?<br /> +Death is the dissolution of our nature;<br /> +And nature therefore does abhor it most,<br /> +Whose greatest law is—to preserve our beings.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I grant, it is its great and general law:<br /> +But as kings, who are, or should be, above laws,<br /> +Dispense with them when levelled at themselves;<br /> +Even so may man, without offence to heaven,<br /> +Dispense with what concerns himself alone.<br /> +Nor is death in itself an ill;<br /> +Then holy martyrs sinned, who ran uncalled<br /> +To snatch their martyrdom; and blessed virgins,<br /> +Whom you celebrate for voluntary death,<br /> +To free themselves from that which I have suffered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> They did it, to prevent what might ensue;<br /> +Your shame's already past.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> It may return,<br /> +If I am yet so mean to live a little longer.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You know not; heaven may give you succour yet;<br /> +You see it sends me to you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> 'Tis too late,<br /> +You should have come before.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You may live to see yourself revenged.<br /> +Come, you shall stay for that, then I'll die with you,<br /> +You have convinced my reason, nor am I<br /> +Ashamed to learn from you.<br /> +To heaven's tribunal my appeal I make;<br /> +If as a governor he sets me here,<br /> +To guard this weak-built citadel of life,<br /> +When 'tis no longer to be held, I may<br /> +With honour quit the fort. But first I'll both<br /> +Revenge myself and you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_063" name="page_063"></a> +<span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Alas! you cannot take revenge; your countrymen<br /> +Are few, and those unarmed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Though not on all the nation, as I would,<br /> +Yet I at least can take it on the man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Leave me to heaven's revenge, for thither I<br /> +Will go, and plead, myself, my own just cause.<br /> +There's not an injured saint of all my sex,<br /> +But kindly will conduct me to my judge,<br /> +And help me tell my story.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I'll send the offender first, though to that place<br /> +He never can arrive: Ten thousand devils,<br /> +Damned for less crimes than he,<br /> +And Tarquin in their head, way-lay his soul,<br /> +To pull him down in triumph, and to shew him<br /> +In pomp among his countrymen; for sure<br /> +Hell has its Netherlands, and its lowest country<br /> +Must be their lot.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Junior, and <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> 'Twas hereabout I left her tied. The +rage of love renews again within me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> She'll like the effects on't better now. By +this time it has sunk into her imagination, and given +her a more pleasing idea of the man, who offered +her so sweet a violence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Save me, sweet heaven! the monster comes +again!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Oh, here she is.—My own fair bride,—for +so you are, not Towerson's,—let me unbind you; +I expect that you should bind yourself about me +now, and tie me in your arms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> [<span class="sdm">Drawing.</span>]<br /> +No, villain, no! hot satyr of the woods,<br /> +Expect another entertainment now.<br /> +Behold revenge for injured chastity.<br /> +This sword heaven draws against thee,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_064" name="page_064"></a> +And here has placed me like a fiery cherub,<br /> +To guard this paradise from any second violation.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> We must dispatch him, sir, we have the odds; +And when he's killed, leave me t'invent the excuse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Hold a little: As you shunned fighting +formerly with me, so would I now with you. +The mischiefs I have done are past recal. Yield +then your useless right in her I love, since the possession +is no longer yours; so is your honour safe, +and so is hers, the husband only altered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You trifle; there's no room for treaty here:<br /> +The shame's too open, and the wrong too great.<br /> +Now all the saints in heaven look down to see<br /> +The justice I shall do, for 'tis their cause;<br /> +And all the fiends below prepare thy tortures.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> If Towerson would, think'st thou my soul so poor,<br /> +To own thy sin, and make the base act mine,<br /> +By chusing him who did it? Know, bad man,<br /> +I'll die with him, but never live with thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Prepare; I shall suspect you stay for further help,<br /> +And think not this enough.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> We are ready for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Stand back! I'll fight with him alone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Thank you for that; so, if he kills you, I +shall have him single upon me.<span class="sdr">[All three fight.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Heaven assist my love!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> There, Englishman, 'twas meant well +to thy heart.<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Towerson</span> wounded.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Oh you can bleed, I see, for all your cause.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Wounds but awaken English courage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Yet yield me Isabinda, and be safe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I'll fight myself all scarlet over first;<br /> +Were there no love, or no revenge,<br /> +I could not now desist, in point of honour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> Resolve me first one question:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_065" name="page_065"></a> +Did you not draw your sword this night before,<br /> +To rescue one opprest with odds?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Yes, in this very wood: I bear a ring,<br /> +The badge of gratitude from him I saved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> This ring was mine; I should be loth to kill<br /> +The frank redeemer of my life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I quit that obligation. But we lose time.<br /> +Come, ravisher! +<span class="sdr">[They fight again, <span class="cnm">Tow.</span> closes with <span class="cnm">Harm,</span> and +gets him down; as he is going to kill him, the +<span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> gets over him.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Hold, and let him rise; for if you kill him,<br /> +At the same instant you die too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Dog, do thy worst, for I would so be killed;<br /> +I'll carry his soul captive with me into the other world. +<span class="sdr">[Stabs <span class="cnm">Harman.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har. Jun.</span> O mercy, mercy, heaven!<span class="sdr">[Dies.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Take this, then; in return. +<span class="sdr">[As he is going to stab him, <span class="cnm">Isab.</span> takes hold of his +hand.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Hold, hold; the weak may give some help.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> [<span class="sdm">Rising.</span>] Now, sir, I am for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> [<span class="sdm">Retiring.</span>]<br /> +Hold, sir, there is no more resistance made.<br /> +I beg you, by the honour of your nation,<br /> +Do not pursue my life; I tender you my sword. +<span class="sdr">[Holds his sword by the point to him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Base beyond example of any country, but +thy own!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Kill him, sweet love, or we shall both repent +it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> [<span class="sdm">Kneeling to her.</span>] Divinest beauty! Abstract +of all that's excellent in woman, can you be friend +to murder?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> 'Tis none to kill a villain, and a Dutchman.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> [<span class="sdm">Kneeling to <span class="cnm">Towerson.</span></span>] Noble Englishman, +give me my life, unworthy of your taking! By all +<a class="pgnm" id="page_066" name="page_066"></a> +that is good and holy here I swear, before the governor +to plead your cause; and to declare his son's +detested crime, so to secure your lives.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Rise, take thy life, though I can scarce believe thee;<br /> +If for a coward it be possible, become an honest man.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman</span> Senior, <span class="cnm">Van Herring, Beamont, +Collins, Julia,</span> the Governors Guard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Har.</span></span>]<br /> +Oh, sir, you come in time to rescue me;<br /> +The greatest villain, who this day draws breath,<br /> +Stands here before your eyes: behold your son,<br /> +That worthy, sweet, unfortunate young man,<br /> +Lies there, the last cold breath yet hovering<br /> +Betwixt his trembling lips.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Oh, monster of ingratitude!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Oh, my unfortunate old age, whose prop<br /> +And only staff is gone, dead ere I die!<br /> +These should have been his tears, and I have been<br /> +That body to be mourned.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I am so much amazed, I scarce believe my senses.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> And will you let him live, who did this act?<br /> +Shall murder, and of your own son,<br /> +And such a son, go free; He lives too long,<br /> +By this one minute which he stays behind him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Oh, sir, remember, in that place you hold,<br /> +You are a common father to us all;<br /> +We beg but justice of you; hearken first<br /> +To my lamented story.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> First hear me, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Thee, slave! thou livest but by the breath I gave thee.<br /> +Didst thou but now plead on thy knees for life,<br /> +And offer'dst to make known my innocence<br /> +In Harman's injuries?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_067" name="page_067"></a> +<span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> I offered to have cleared thy innocence,<br /> +Who basely murdered him!—But words are needless;<br /> +Sir, you see evidence before your eyes,<br /> +And I the witness, on my oath to heaven,<br /> +How clear your son, how criminal this man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> Towerson could do nothing but what was noble.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> We know his native worth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> His worth! Behold it on the murderer's hand;<br /> +A robber first, he took degrees in mischief,<br /> +And grew to what he is: Know you that diamond,<br /> +And whose it was? See if he dares deny it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Sir, it was your son's, that freely I acknowledge;<br /> +But how I came by it—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> No, it is too much, I'll hear no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> The devil of jealousy, and that of avarice, +both, I believe, possest him; or your son was innocently +talking with his wife, and he perhaps had +found them; this I guess, but saw it not, because +I came too late. I only viewed the sweet youth +just expiring, and Towerson stooping down to take +the ring; she kneeling by to help him: when he +saw me, he would, you may be sure, have sent me +after, because I was a witness of the fact. This on +my soul is true.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> False as that soul, each word, each syllable;<br /> +The ring he put upon my hand this night,<br /> +When in this wood unknown, and near this place,<br /> +Without my timely help he had been slain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> See this unlikely story!<br /> +What enemies had he, who should assault him?<br /> +Or is it probable that very man,<br /> +Who actually did kill him afterwards,<br /> +Should save his life so little time before?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Base man, thou knowest the reason of his death;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_068" name="page_068"></a> +He had committed on my person, sir,<br /> +An impious rape; first tied me to that tree,<br /> +And there my husband found me, whose revenge<br /> +Was such, as heaven and earth will justify.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> I know not what heaven will, but earth shall not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Her story carries such a face of truth,<br /> +Ye cannot but believe it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> The other, a malicious ill-patched lie.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Yes, you are proper judges of his crime,<br /> +Who, with the rest of your accomplices,<br /> +Your countrymen, and Towerson the chief,<br /> +Whom we too kindly used, would have surprised<br /> +The fort, and made us slaves; that shall be proved,<br /> +More soon than you imagine; I found it out<br /> +This evening.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Sure the devil has lent thee all his stock of +falsehood, and must be forced hereafter to tell truth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Sir, it is impossible you should believe it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Seize them all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> You cannot be so base.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> I'll be so just, 'till I can hear your plea<br /> +Against this plot; which if not proved, and fully,<br /> +You are quit; mean time, resistance is but vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Provided that we may have equal hearing,<br /> +I am content to yield, though I declare,<br /> +You have no power to judge us.<span class="sdr">[Gives his sword.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Barbarous, ungrateful Dutch!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> See them conveyed apart to several prisons,<br /> +Lest they combine to forge some specious lie<br /> +In their excuse.<br /> +Let Towerson and that woman too be parted.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Was ever such a sad divorce made on a bridal night!<br /> +But we before were parted, ne'er to meet.<br /> +Farewell, farewell, my last and only love!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Curse on my fond credulity, to think<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_069" name="page_069"></a> +There could be faith or honour in the Dutch!—<br /> +Farewell my Isabinda, and farewell,<br /> +My much wronged countrymen! remember yet,<br /> +That no unmanly weakness in your sufferings<br /> +Disgrace the native honour of our isle:<br /> +<span class="i1">For you I mourn, grief for myself were vain;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">I have lost all, and now would lose my pain.</span><span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT V.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>A Table set out.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman, Fiscal, Van Herring,</span> and two +Dutchmen: They sit. Boy, and Waiters, Guards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> My sorrow cannot be so soon digested for +losing of a son I loved so well; but I consider great +advantages must with some loss be bought; as +this rich trade which I this day have purchased +with his death: yet let me lie revenged, and I shall +still live on, and eat and drink down all my griefs. +Now to the matter, Fiscal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Since we may freely speak among ourselves, +all I have said of Towerson was most false. You +were consenting, sir, as well as I, that Perez should +be hired to murder him, which he refusing when +he was engaged, 'tis dangerous to let him longer live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van. Her.</span> Dispatch him; he will be a shrewd witness +against us, if he returns to Europe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> I have thought better, if you please,—to kill +him by form of law, as accessary to the English +plot, which I have long been forging.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Send one to seize him strait. [<span class="sdm">Exit a Messenger.</span>] +But what you said, that Towerson was +<a class="pgnm" id="page_070" name="page_070"></a> +guiltless of my son's death, I easily believe, and +never thought otherwise, though I dissembled.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Nor I; but it was well done to feign +that story.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Dutch.</span> The true one was too foul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Dutch.</span> And afterwards to draw the English off +from his concernment, to their own, I think 'twas +rarely managed that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> So far, 'twas well; now to proceed, for I +would gladly know, whether the grounds are plausible +enough of this pretended plot.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> With favour of this honourable court, give +me but leave to smooth the way before you. Some +two or three nights since, (it matters not,) a Japan +soldier, under captain Perez, came to a centinel upon +the guard, and in familiar talk did question +him about this castle, of its strength, and how he +thought it might be taken; this discourse the other +told me early the next morning: I thereupon did +issue private orders, to rack the Japanese, myself +being present.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> But what's this to the English?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You shall hear: I asked him, when his pains +were strongest on him, if Towerson, or the English +factory, had never hired him to betray the fort? he +answered, (as it was true) they never had; nor was +his meaning more in that discourse, than as a soldier +to inform himself, and so to pass the time.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Did he confess no more?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You interrupt me. I told him, I was certainly +informed the English had designs upon the +castle, and if he frankly would confess their plot, +he should not only be released from torment, but +bounteously rewarded: Present pain and future +hope, in fine, so wrought upon him, he yielded to +subscribe whatever I pleased; and so he stands +committed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_071" name="page_071"></a> +<span class="cnm">Har.</span> Well contrived; a fair way made, upon this +accusation, to put them all to torture.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Dutch.</span> By his confession, all of them shall die, +even to their general, Towerson.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> He stands convicted of another crime, for +which he is to suffer.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> This does well to help it though: For +Towerson is here a person publicly employed from +England, and if he should appeal, as sure he will, +you have no power to judge him in Amboyna.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> But in regard of the late league and +union betwixt the nations, how can this be answered?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Dutch.</span> To torture subjects to so great a king, +a pain never heard of in their happy land, will sound +but ill in Europe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Their English laws in England have their +force; and we have ours, different from theirs at +home. It is enough, they either shall confess, or we +will falsify their hands to make them. Then, for +the apology, let me alone; I have it writ already to +a title, of what they shall subscribe; this I will +publish, and make our most unheard of cruelties to +seem most just and legal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Then, in the name of him, who put it first +into thy head to form this damned false plot, proceed +we to the execution of it. And to begin; +first seize we their effects, rifle their chests, their +boxes, writings, books, and take of them a seeming inventory; +but all to our own use.—I shall grow young +with thought of this, and lose my son's remembrance!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Will you not please to call the prisoners in? +At least inquire what torments have extorted.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Go thou and bring us word. [<span class="sdm">Exit <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></span>] +Boy, give me some tobacco, and a stoup of wine, boy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Boy.</span> I shall, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> And a tub to leak in, boy; when was this +table without a leaking vessel?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_072" name="page_072"></a> +<span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> That's an omission.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Dutch.</span> A great omission. 'Tis a member of +the table, I take it so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Never any thing of moment was done at +our council-table without a leaking tub, at least in +my time; great affairs require great consultations, +great consultations require great drinking, and great +drinking a great leaking vessel.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> I am even drunk with joy already, to +see our godly business in this forwardness.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Where are the prisoners?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> At the door.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Bring them in; I'll try if we can face them +down by impudence, and make them to confess.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Beamont</span> and <span class="cnm">Collins,</span> guarded.</p> + +<p class="dlg">You are not ignorant of our business with you: the +cries of your accomplices have already reached your +ears; and your own consciences, above a thousand +summons, a thousand tortures, instruct you what to +do. No farther juggling, nothing but plain sincerity +and truth to be delivered now; a free confession +will first atone for all your sins above, and may +do much below to gain your pardons. Let me exhort +you, therefore, be you merciful, first to yourselves +and make acknowledgment of your conspiracy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> What conspiracy?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Why la you, that the devil should go masked +with such a seeming honest face! I warrant you +know of no such thing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Were not you, Mr Beamont, and you, Collins +both accessary to the horrid plot, for the surprisal +of this fort and island?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_073" name="page_073"></a> +<span class="cnm">Beam.</span> As I shall reconcile my sins to heaven, in +my last article of life, I am innocent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> And so am I.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> So, you are first upon the negative.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> And will be so till death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> What plot is this you speak of?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Here are impudent rogues! now after confession +of two Japanese, these English starts dare +ask what plot it is!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Not to inform your knowledge, but that +law may have its course in every circumstance, +Fiscal, sum up their accusation to them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You stand accused, that new-year's day last +past, there met at captain Towerson's house, you +present, and many others of your factory: There, +against law and justice, and all ties of friendship, +and of partnership betwixt us, you did conspire to +seize upon the fort, to murder this our worthy governor; +and, by the help of your plantations near, of +Jacatra, Banda, and Loho, to keep it for yourselves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> What proofs have you of this?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> The confession of two Japanese, hired by +you to attempt it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I hear they have been forced by torture +to it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> It matters not which way the truth comes +out; take heed, for their example is before you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Ye have no right, ye dare not torture us; +we owe you no subjection.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> That, sir, must be disputed at the Hague; +in the mean time we are in possession here.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Dutch.</span> And we can make ourselves to be obeyed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> In few words, gentlemen, confess. +There is a beverage ready for you else, which you +will not like to swallow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> How is this?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> You shall be muffled up like ladies, with +<a class="pgnm" id="page_074" name="page_074"></a> +an oiled cloth put underneath your chins, then water +poured above; which either you must drink, or +must not breathe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Dutch.</span> That is one way, we have others.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Yes, we have two elements at your service, +fire, as well as water; certain things called matches +to be tied to your finger-ends, which are as sovereign +as nutmegs to quicken your short memories.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> You are inhuman, to make your cruelty +your pastime: nature made me a man, and not a +whale, to swallow down a flood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> You will grow a corpulent gentleman like +me; I shall love you the better for it; now you are +but a spare rib.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> These things are only offered to your choice; +you may avoid your tortures, and confess.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> Kill us first; for that we know is your design +at last, and 'tis more mercy now.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Be kind, and execute us while we bear +the shapes of men, ere fire and water have destroyed +our figures; let me go whole out of the world, +I care not, and find my body when I rise again, so +as I need not be ashamed of it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> 'Tis well you are merry; will you yet confess?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Never.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Bear them away to torture.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van. Her.</span> We will try your constancy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> We will shame your cruelty; if we deserve +our tortures, 'tis first for freeing such an infamous +nation, that ought to have been slaves, and +then for trusting them as partners, who had cast +off the yoke of their lawful sovereign.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Away, I'll hear no more.—Now who comes +the next?<span class="sdr">[Exeunt the English with a Guard.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Towerson's page, a ship-boy, and a woman.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Call them in.<span class="sdr">[Exit a Messenger.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_075" name="page_075"></a> +<span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> We shall have easy work with them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Not so easy as you imagine, they have endured +the beverage already; all masters of their +pain, no one confessing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> The devil's in these English! those brave +boys would prove stout topers if they lived.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Page, a Boy, and a Woman, led as from torture.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Come hither, ye perverse imps; they say you have +endured the water torment, we will try what fire +will do with you: You, sirrah, confess; were not you +knowing of Towerson's plot, against this fort and +island?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Page.</span> I have told your hangman no, twelve times +within this hour, when I was at the last gasp; and +that is a time, I think, when a man should not dissemble.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> A man! mark you that now; you English +boys have learnt a trick of late, of growing men +betimes; and doing men's work, too, before you come +to twenty.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> Sirrah, I will try if you are a salamander +and can live in the fire.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Page.</span> Sure you think my father got me of some +Dutchwoman, and that I am but of a half-strain +courage; but you shall find that I am all over English +as well in fire as water.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Boy.</span> Well, of all religions, I do not like your +Dutch.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> No? and why, young stripling?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Boy.</span> Because your penance comes before confession.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Do you mock us, sirrah? To the fire with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Boy.</span> Do so; all you shall get by it is this; before +I answered no; now I'll be sullen and will talk +no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Best cutting off these little rogues betime; +<a class="pgnm" id="page_076" name="page_076"></a> +if they grow men, they will have the spirit of revenge +in them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Page.</span> Yes, as your children have that of rebellion. +Oh that I could but live to be governor here, +to make your fat guts pledge me in that beverage +I drunk, you Sir John Falstaff of Amsterdam!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Boy.</span> I have a little brother in England, that I +intend to appear to when you have killed me; and +if he does not promise me the death of ten Dutchmen +in the next war, I'll haunt him instead of you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> What say you, woman? Have compassion +of yourself, and confess; you are of a softer sex.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Wom.</span> But of a courage full as manly; there is +no sex in souls; would you have English wives +shew less of bravery than their children do? To lie +by an Englishman's side, is enough to give a woman +resolution.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Here is a hen of the game too, but we shall +tame you in the fire.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Wom.</span> My innocence shall there be tried like gold, +till it come out the purer. When you have burnt +me all into one wound, cram gunpowder into it, +and blow me up, I'll not confess one word to shame +my country.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> I think we have got here the mother of the +Maccabees; away with them all three. [<span class="sdm">Exeunt +the English guarded.</span>] I'll take the pains myself to +see these tortured.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Harman, Van Herring,</span> and the two +Dutchmen with the English: Manet <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Julia</span> to the <span class="cnm">Fiscal.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Oh you have ruined me! you have undone +me, in the person of my husband!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> If he will needs forfeit his life to the laws, +by joining with the English in a plot, it is not in +<a class="pgnm" id="page_077" name="page_077"></a> +me to save him; but, dearest Julia, be satisfied, you +shall not want a husband.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Do you think I'll ever come into a bed with +him, who robbed me of my dear sweet man?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Dry up your tears; I am in earnest; I will +marry you; i'faith I will; it is your destiny.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Nay if it be my destiny—but I vow I'll never +be yours but upon one condition.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Name your desire, and take it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Then save poor Beamont's life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> This is the most unkind request you could +have made; it shews you love him better: therefore, +in prudence, I should haste his death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Come, I'll not be denied; you shall give me +his life, or I'll not love you; by this kiss you shall, +child.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Pray ask some other thing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> I have your word for this, and if you break +it, how shall I trust you for your marrying me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Well, I will do it to oblige you. But to +prevent her new designs with him, I'll see him shipped +away for England strait.<br /> +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Jul.</span> I may build upon your promise, then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Most firmly: I hear company.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Harman, Van Herring,</span> and the two Dutchmen, +with <span class="cnm">Towerson</span> prisoner.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Now, captain Towerson, you have had the +privilege to be examined last; this on the score of +my old friendship with you, though you have ill +deserved it. But here you stand accused of no +less crimes than robbery first, then murder, and last, +treason: What can you say to clear yourself?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> You're interested in all, and therefore partial:<br /> +I have considered on it, and will not plead,<br /> +Because I know you have no right to judge me;<br /> +For the last treaty betwixt our king and you<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_078" name="page_078"></a> +Expressly said, that causes criminal<br /> +Were first to be examined, and then judged,<br /> +Not here, but by the Council of Defence;<br /> +To whom I make appeal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> This court conceives that it has power to +judge you, derived from the most high and mighty +states, who in this island are supreme, and that as +well in criminal as civil causes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Dutch.</span> You are not to question the authority +of the court, which is to judge you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Sir, by your favour, I both must, and will:<br /> +I'll not so far betray my nation's right;<br /> +We are not here your subjects, but your partners:<br /> +And that supremacy of power, you claim,<br /> +Extends but to the natives, not to us:<br /> +Dare you, who in the British seas strike sail,<br /> +Nay more, whose lives and freedom are our alms,<br /> +Presume to sit and judge your benefactors?<br /> +Your base new upstart commonwealth should blush,<br /> +To doom the subjects of an English king,<br /> +The meanest of whose merchants would disdain<br /> +The narrow life, and the domestic baseness,<br /> +Of one of those you call your Mighty States.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You spend your breath in railing; speak to +the purpose.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Hold yet: Because you shall not call us cruel,<br /> +Or plead I would be judge in my own cause,<br /> +I shall accept of that appeal you make,<br /> +Concerning my son's death; provided first,<br /> +You clear yourself from what concerns the public;<br /> +For that relating to our general safety,<br /> +The judgment of it cannot be deferred,<br /> +But with our common danger.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Let me first<br /> +Be bold to question you: What circumstance<br /> +Can make this, your pretended plot, seem likely?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_079" name="page_079"></a> +The natives, first, you tortured; their confession,<br /> +Extorted so, can prove no crime in us.<br /> +Consider, next, the strength of this your castle;<br /> +Its garrison above two hundred men,<br /> +Besides as many of your city burghers,<br /> +All ready on the least alarm, or summons,<br /> +To reinforce the others; for ten English,<br /> +And merchants they, not soldiers, with the aid<br /> +Of ten Japanners, all of them unarmed,<br /> +Except five swords, and not so many muskets,—<br /> +The attempt had only been for fools or madmen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> We cannot help your want of wit; proceed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Grant then we had been desperate enough<br /> +To hazard this; we must at least forecast,<br /> +How to secure possession when we had it.<br /> +We had no ship nor pinnace in the harbour,<br /> +Nor could have aid from any factory:<br /> +The nearest to us forty leagues from hence,<br /> +And they but few in number: You, besides<br /> +This fort, have yet three castles in this isle,<br /> +Amply provided for, and eight tall ships<br /> +Riding at anchor near; consider this,<br /> +And think what all the world will judge of it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Nothing but falsehood is to be expected<br /> +From such a tongue, whose heart is fouled with treason.<br /> +Give him the beverage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> 'Tis ready, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Hold; I have some reluctance to proceed<br /> +To that extremity: He was my friend,<br /> +And I would have him frankly to confess:<br /> +Push open that prison door, and set before him<br /> +The image of his pains in other men.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Scene</span> opens, and discovers the English tortured, +and the Dutch tormenting them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Now, sir, how does the object like you?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_080" name="page_080"></a> +<span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Are you men or devils! D'Alva, whom you<br /> +Condemn for cruelty, did ne'er the like;<br /> +He knew original villany was in your blood.<br /> +Your fathers all are damned for their rebellion;<br /> +When they rebelled, they were well used to this.<br /> +These tortures ne'er were hatched in human breasts;<br /> +But as your country lies confined on hell,<br /> +Just on its marches, your black neighbours taught ye;<br /> +And just such pains as you invent on earth,<br /> +Hell has reserved for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Are you yet moved?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> But not as you would have me.<br /> +I could weep tears of blood to view this usage;<br /> +But you, as if not made of the same mould,<br /> +See, with dry eyes, the miseries of men,<br /> +As they were creatures of another kind,<br /> +Not Christians, nor allies, nor partners with you,<br /> +But as if beasts, transfixed on theatres,<br /> +To make you cruel sport.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> These are but vulgar objects; bring his friend,<br /> +Let him behold his tortures; shut that door.<span class="sdr">[The Scene closed.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Beamont,</span> led with matches tied to his hands.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> [<span class="sdm">Embracing him.</span>]<br /> +Oh my dear friend, now I am truly wretched!<br /> +Even in that part which is most sensible,<br /> +My friendship:<br /> +How have we lived to see the English name<br /> +The scorn of these, the vilest of mankind!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Courage, my friend, and rather praise we heaven,<br /> +That it has chose two, such as you and me,<br /> +Who will not shame our country with our pains,<br /> +But stand, like marble statues, in their fires,<br /> +Scorched and defaced, perhaps, not melted down.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_081" name="page_081"></a> +So let them burn this tenement of earth;<br /> +They can but burn me naked to my soul;<br /> +That's of a nobler frame, and will stand firm,<br /> +Upright, and unconsumed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Confess; if you have kindness, save your friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Yes, by my death I would, not my confession:<br /> +He is so brave, he would not so be saved;<br /> +But would renounce a friendship built on shame.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Bring more candles, and burn him from the +wrists up to the elbows.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Do; I'll enjoy the flames like Scævola;<br /> +And, when one's roasted, give the other hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Let me embrace you while you are a man.<br /> +Now you must lose that form; be parched and rivelled,<br /> +Like a dried mummy, or dead malefactor,<br /> +Exposed in chains, and blown about by winds.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Yet this I can endure.<br /> +Go on, and weary out two elements;<br /> +Vex fire and water with the experiments<br /> +Of pains far worse than death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Oh, let me take my turn!<br /> +You will have double pleasure; I'm ashamed<br /> +To be the only Englishman untortured.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van. Her.</span> You soon should have your wish, but that we know<br /> +In him you suffer more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Fill me a brim-full glass:<br /> +Now, captain, here's to all your countrymen;<br /> +I wish your whole East India company<br /> +Were in this room, that we might use them thus.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> They should have fires of cloves and cinnamon;<br /> +We would cut down whole groves to honour them,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_082" name="page_082"></a> +And be at cost to burn them nobly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Barbarous villains! now you show yourselves</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Boy, take that candle thence, and bring it hither;<br /> +I am exalted, and would light my pipe<br /> +Just where the wick is fed with English fat.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van Her.</span> So would I; oh, the tobacco tastes divinely +after it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> We have friends in England, who would weep to see<br /> +This acted on a theatre, which here<br /> +You make your pastime.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Oh, that this flesh were turned a cake of ice,<br /> +That I might in an instant melt away,<br /> +And become nothing, to escape this torment!<br /> +There is not cold enough in all the north<br /> +To quench my burning blood.<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Fiscal</span> whispers <span class="cnm">Harman.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Do with Beamont as you please, so Towerson die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You'll not confess yet, captain?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Hangman, no;<br /> +I would have don't before, if e'er I would:<br /> +To do it when my friend has suffered this,<br /> +Were to be less than he.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Free him.<span class="sdr">[They free <span class="cnm">Beamont.</span></span><br /> +Beamont, I have not sworn you should not suffer.<br /> +But that you should not die; thank Julia for it.<br /> +But on your life do not delay this hour<br /> +To post from hence! so to your next plantation;<br /> +I cannot suffer a loved rival near me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> I almost question if I will receive<br /> +My life from thee: 'Tis like a cure from witches;<br /> +'Twill leave a sin behind it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Nay, I'm not lavish of my courtesy;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_083" name="page_083"></a> +I can on easy terms resume my gift.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Captain, you're a dead man; I'll spare your +torture for your quality; prepare for execution instantly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I am prepared.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> You die in charity, I hope?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I can forgive even thee:<br /> +My innocence I need not name, you know it.<br /> +One farewell kiss of my dear Isabinda,<br /> +And all my business here on earth is done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Call her; she's at the door.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Fisc.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Beam.</span> embracing.</span>]<br /> +A long and last farewell! I take my death<br /> +With the more cheerfulness, because thou liv'st<br /> +Behind me: Tell my friends, I died so as<br /> +Became a Christian and a man; give to my brave<br /> +Employers of the East India company,<br /> +The last remembrance of my faithful service;<br /> +Tell them, I seal that service with my blood;<br /> +And, dying, wish to all their factories,<br /> +And all the famous merchants of our isle,<br /> +That wealth their generous industry deserves;<br /> +But dare not hope it with Dutch partnership.<br /> +Last, there's my heart, I give it in this kiss:<span class="sdr">[Kisses him.</span><br /> +Do not answer me; friendship's a tender thing,<br /> +And it would ill become me now to weep.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beam.</span> Adieu! if I would speak, I cannot—<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Isabinda.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Is it permitted me to see your eyes<br /> +Once more, before eternal night shall close them?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I summoned all I had of man to see you;<br /> +'Twas well the time allowed for it was short;<br /> +I could not bear it long: 'Tis dangerous,<br /> +And would divide my love 'twixt heaven and you.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_084" name="page_084"></a> +I therefore part in haste; think I am going<br /> +A sudden journey, and have not the leisure<br /> +To take a ceremonious long farewell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Do you still love me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> Do not suppose I do;<br /> +'Tis for your ease, since you must stay behind me,<br /> +To think I was unkind; you'll grieve the less.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> Though I suspect you joined in my son's murder,<br /> +Yet, since it is not proved, you have your life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> I thank you for't, I'll make the noblest use<br /> +Of your sad gift; that is, to die unforced:<br /> +I'll make a present of my life to Towerson,<br /> +To let you see, though worthless of his love,<br /> +I would not live without him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I charge you, love my memory, but live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> She shall be strictly guarded from that violence<br /> +She means against herself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Isab.</span> Vain men! there are so many paths to death,<br /> +You cannot stop them all: o'er the green turf,<br /> +Where my love's laid, there will I mourning sit,<br /> +And draw no air but from the damps that rise<br /> +Out of that hallowed earth; and for my diet,<br /> +I mean my eyes alone shall feed my mouth.<br /> +Thus will I live, till he in pity rise,<br /> +And the pale shade take me in his cold arms,<br /> +And lay me kindly by him in his grave.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Collins,</span> and then <span class="cnm">Perez, Julia</span> following +him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> No more; your time's now come, you must +away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Col.</span> Now, devils, you have done your worst with +tortures; death's a privation of pain, but they were +a continual dying.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_085" name="page_085"></a> +<span class="cnm">Jul.</span> Farewell, my dearest! I may have many husbands,<br /> +But never one like thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Per.</span> As you love my soul, take hence that woman.—<br /> +My English friends, I'm not ashamed of death,<br /> +While I have you for partners; I know you innocent,<br /> +And so am I, of this pretended plot;<br /> +But I am guilty of a greater crime;<br /> +For, being married in another country,<br /> +The governor's persuasions, and my love<br /> +To that ill woman, made me leave the first,<br /> +And make this fatal choice.<br /> +I'm justly punished; for her sake I die:<br /> +The Fiscal, to enjoy her, has accused me.<br /> +There is another cause;<br /> +By his procurement I should have killed—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Away with him, and stop his mouth.<span class="sdr">[He is led off.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Tow.</span> I leave thee, life, with no regret at parting;<br /> +Full of whatever thou could'st give, I rise<br /> +From thy neglected feast, and go to sleep:<br /> +Yet, on this brink of death, my eyes are opened,<br /> +And heaven has bid me prophecy to you,<br /> +The unjust contrivers of this tragic scene:—<br /> +<i>An age is coming, when an English monarch<br /> +With blood shall pay that blood which you have shed:<br /> +To save your cities from victorious arms,<br /> +You shall invite the waves to hide your earth<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_4-1">[1]</a>,<br /> +And, trembling, to the, tops of houses fly,<br /> +While deluges invade your lower rooms:<br /> +Then, as with waters you have swelled our bodies,<br /> +With damps of waters shall your heads be swoln:</i><br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_086" name="page_086"></a> +<i>Till, at the last, your sapped foundations fall,<br /> +And universal ruin swallows all.</i> +<span class="sdr">[He is led out with the English; the Dutch +remain.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Van. Her.</span> Ay, ay, we'll venture both ourselves +and children for such another pull.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Dutch.</span> Let him prophecy when his head's off.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Dutch.</span> There's ne'er a Nostradamus of them +all shall fright us from our gain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fisc.</span> Now for a smooth apology, and then a +fawning letter to the king of England; and our +work's done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Har.</span> 'Tis done as I would wish it:<br /> +Now, brethren, at my proper cost and charges,<br /> +Three days you are my guests; in which good time<br /> +We will divide their greatest wealth by lots,<br /> +While wantonly we raffle for the rest:<br /> +Then, in full rummers, and with joyful hearts,<br /> +We'll drink confusion to all English starts.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Amboy_4-1" name="Amboy_4-1"></a>During the French invasion of 1672, the Dutch were obliged +to adopt the desperate defence of cutting their dykes, and inundating +the country.</li> +</ol></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_087" name="page_087"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">EPILOGUE</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>A poet once the Spartans led to fight,</p> +<p>And made them conquer in the muse's right;</p> +<p>So would our poet lead you on this day,</p> +<p>Showing your tortured fathers in his play.</p> +<p>To one well-born the affront is worse, and more,</p> +<p>When he's abused, and baffled by a boor:</p> +<p>With an ill grace the Dutch their mischiefs do,</p> +<p>They've both ill-nature and ill-manners too.</p> +<p>Well may they boast themselves an ancient nation,</p> +<p>For they were bred ere manners were in fashion;</p> +<p>And their new commonwealth has set them free,</p> +<p>Only from honour and civility.</p> +<p>Venetians do not more uncouthly ride<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_5-1">[1]</a>,</p> +<p>Than did their lubber state mankind bestride;</p> +<p>Their sway became them with as ill a mien,</p> +<p>As their own paunches swell above their chin:</p> +<p>Yet is their empire no true growth, but humour,</p> +<p>And only two kings' touch can cure the tumour<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_5-2">[2]</a>.</p> +<p>As Cato did his Afric fruits display,</p> +<p>So we before your eyes their Indies lay:</p> +<p>All loyal English will, like him, conclude,</p> +<p>Let Cæsar live, and Carthage be subdued<a class="ftnt" href="#Amboy_5-3">[3]</a>!</p> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Amboy_5-1" name="Amboy_5-1"></a>The situation of Venice renders it impossible to bring horses into the +town; accordingly, the Venetians are proverbially bad riders.</li> + +<li><a id="Amboy_5-2" name="Amboy_5-2"></a>The poet alludes to the king's evil, and to the joint war of France and +England against Holland.</li> + +<li><a id="Amboy_5-3" name="Amboy_5-3"></a>Allusions to Cato,—who presented to the Roman Senate the rich figs of +Africa, and reminded them it was but three days sail to the country which +produced such excellent fruit,—were fashionable during the Dutch war. The +Lord Chancellor Shaftesbury had set the example, by applying to Holland the +favourite maxim of the Roman philosopher, <i>Delenda est Carthago.</i> When +that versatile statesman afterwards fled to Holland, he petitioned to be created +a burgess of Amsterdam, to ensure him against being delivered up to England. +The magistrates conferred on him the freedom desired, with the memorable +words, "<i>Ab nostra Carthagine nondum deleta, salutem accipe.</i>"</li> +</ol></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_089" name="page_089"></a></div> + +<p class="ctr" style="margin-top: 4em">THE</p> +<h2 class="nomarg">STATE OF INNOCENCE,</h2> +<p class="ctr">AND</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">FALL OF MAN.</h3> + +<h3>AN<br /> +OPERA.</h3> + +<div class="ctr"> +<table class="ctr" summary="Epigram"> +<tr><td><p class="epigram">—<i>Utinam modò dicere possem<br /> +Carmina digna deâ: Certe est dea carmine digna.</i></p> +<p class="citation smcap">Ovid. Met.</p></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_091" name="page_091"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE STATE OF INNOCENCE, &c.</h3> + +<p>The "Paradise Lost" of Milton is a work so extraordinary +in conception and execution, that it required a lapse of many years +to reconcile the herd of readers, and of critics, to what was almost +too sublime for ordinary understandings. The poets, in particular, +seemed to have gazed on its excellencies, like the inferior animals +on Dryden's immortal Hind; and, incapable of fully estimating +a merit, which, in some degree, they could not help feeling, +many were their absurd experiments to lower it to the standard +of their own comprehension. One author, deeming the "Paradise +Lost" deficient in harmony, was pleased painfully to turn +it into rhyme; and more than one, conceiving the subject too serious +to be treated in verse of any kind, employed their leisure in +humbling it into prose. The names of these well-judging and +considerate persons are preserved by Mr Todd in his edition of +Milton's Poetical Works.</p> + +<p>But we must not confound with these effusions of gratuitous folly +an alteration, or imitation, planned and executed by John Dryden; +although we may be at a loss to guess the motives by which +he was guided in hazarding such an attempt. His reverence for Milton +and his high estimation of his poetry, had already called forth the +well-known verses, in which he attributes to him the joint excellencies +of the two most celebrated poets of antiquity; and if other +proofs of his veneration were wanting, they may be found in +the preface to this very production. Had the subject been +of a nature which admitted its being actually represented, we +might conceive, that Dryden, who was under engagements to the +theatre, with which it was not always easy to comply, might +have been desirous to shorten his own labour, by adopting the story +sentiments, and language of a poem, which he so highly esteemed +and which might probably have been new to the generality +of his audience. But the <i>costume</i> of our first parents, had +there been no other objection, must have excluded the "State of +Innocence" from the stage, and accordingly it was certainly never +intended for representation. The probable motive, therefore, of +this alteration, was the wish, so common to genius, to exert itself upon +a subject in which another had already attained brilliant success, +or, as Dryden has termed a similar attempt, the desire to shoot in the +bow of Ulysses. Some circumstances in the history of Milton's immortal +poem may have suggested to Dryden the precise form of the +present attempt. It is reported by Voltaire, and seems at length to +be admitted, that the original idea of the "Paradise Lost" was supplied +by an Italian Mystery, or religious play, which Milton witnessed +when abroad<a class="ftnt" href="#State_1-1">[1]</a>; and it is certain, that he intended at first to mould +<a class="pgnm" id="page_092" name="page_092"></a> +his poem into a dramatic form<a class="ftnt" href="#State_1-2">[2]</a>. It seems, therefore, likely, that +Dryden, conscious of his own powers, and enthusiastically admiring +those of Milton, was induced to make an experiment upon the forsaken +plan of the blind bard, which, with his usual rapidity of conception +and execution, he completed in the short space of one month. +The spurious copies which got abroad, and perhaps the desire of testifying +his respect for his beautiful patroness, the Duchess of York, +form his own apology for the publication. It is reported by Mr Aubrey +that the step was not taken without Dryden's reverence to Milton +being testified by a personal application for his permission. The +aged poet, conscious that the might of his versification could receive +no addition even from the flowing numbers of Dryden, is +stated to have answered with indifference—"Ay, you may <i>tag</i> my +verses, if you will."</p> + +<p>The structure and diction of this opera, as it is somewhat improperly +termed, being rather a dramatic poem, strongly indicate +the taste of Charles the Second's reign, for what was ingenious, +acute, and polished, in preference to the simplicity of the true sublime. +The judgment of that age, as has been already noticed, is +always to be referred rather to the head than to the heart; and +a poem, written to please mere critics, requires an introduction +and display of art, to the exclusion of natural beauty.—This +explains the extravagant panegyric of Lee on Dryden's play:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>—Milton did the wealthy mine disclose,</p> +<p>And rudely cast what you could well dispose;</p> +<p>He roughly drew, on an old-fashioned ground,</p> +<p>A chaos; for no perfect world was found,</p> +<p>Till through the heap your mighty genius shined:</p> +<p>He was the golden ore, which you refined.</p> +<p>He first beheld the beauteous rustic maid,</p> +<p>And to a place of strength the prize conveyed:</p> +<p>You took her thence; to Court this virgin brought,</p> +<p>Dressed her with gems, new-weaved her hard-spun thought,</p> +<p>And softest language sweetest manners taught;</p> +<p>Till from a comet she a star did rise,</p> +<p>Not to affright, but please, our wondering eyes.</p> +</div> + +<p>Doubtless there were several critics of that period, who +held the heretical opinion above expressed by Lee. And the +imitation was such as to warrant that conclusion, considering +the school in which it was formed. The scene of the consultation +in Pandemonium, and of the soliloquy of Satan on his +<a class="pgnm" id="page_093" name="page_093"></a> +arrival in the newly-created universe, would possess great merit, +did they not unfortunately remind us of the majestic simplicity +of Milton. But there is often a sort of Ovidian point in the diction +which seems misplaced. Thus, Asmodeus tells us, that the +devils, ascending from the lake of fire,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Shake off their slumber <i>first</i>, and <i>next</i> their fear.</p> +</div> + +<p>And, with Dryden's usual hate to the poor Dutchmen, the council +of Pandemonium are termed,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><i>Most High and Mighty</i> Lords, who better fell</p> +<p>From heaven, to rise <i>States General</i> of hell.</p> +</div> + +<p>There is one inconvenience, which, as this poem was intended +for perusal only, the author, one would have thought, might +have easily avoided. This arises from the stage directions, which +supply the place of the terrific and beautiful descriptions of Milton. +What idea, except burlesque, can we form of the expulsion +of the fallen angels from heaven, literally represented by their tumbling +down upon the stage? or what feelings of terror can be excited +by the idea of an opera hell, composed of pasteboard and flaming +rosin? If these follies were not actually to be produced before our +eyes, it could serve no good purpose to excite the image of them in +our imaginations. They are circumstances by which we feel, that +scenic deception must be rendered ridiculous; and ought to be +avoided, even in a drama intended for perusal only, since they +cannot be mentioned without exciting ludicrous combinations.—Even +in describing the primitive state of our first parents, Dryden +has displayed some of the false and corrupted taste of the court +of Charles. Eve does not consent to her union with Adam without +coquettish apprehensions of his infidelity, which circumstances +rendered rather improbable; and even in the state of innocence, +she avows the love of sway and of self, which, in a loose age, is +thought the principal attribute of her daughters. It may be remembered +that the Adam of Milton, when first experiencing the +powers of slumber, thought,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>I then was passing to my former state</p> +<p>Insensible, and forthwith to dissolve.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">The Eve of Dryden expresses the same apprehensions of annihilation +upon a very different occasion. These passages form a contrast +highly favourable to the simplicity and chastity of Milton's +taste. The school logic, employed by Adam and the angels in the +first scene of the fourth act, however misplaced, may be paralleled +if not justified, by similar instances in the "Paradise Lost."</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the "State of Innocence" contains many +passages of varied and happy expression peculiar to our great poet; +and the speech of Lucfier in Paradise (Act third, scene first), approaches +in sublimity to his prototype in Milton, Indeed, altered +as this poem was from the original, in order to accommodate it +to the taste of a frivolous age, it still retained too much fancy to +<a class="pgnm" id="page_094" name="page_094"></a> +escape the raillery of the men of wit and fashion, more disposed +to "laugh at extravagance, than to sympathise with feelings of +grandeur." The "Companion to the Theatre" mentions an objection +started by the more nice and delicate critics, against the +anachronism and absurdity of Lucifer conversing about the world, +its form and vicissitudes, at a time previous to its creation, or, at +least, to the possibility of his knowing any thing of it. But to this +objection, which applies to the "Paradise Lost" also, it is sufficient to +reply, that the measure of intelligence, competent to supernatural +beings, being altogether unknown to us, leaves the poet at liberty +to accommodate its extent to the purposes in which he employs +them, without which poetic license, it would be in vain to introduce +them. Dryden, moved by this, and similar objections, has +prefixed to the drama, "An Apology for Heroic Poetry," and the +use of what is technically called "the machinery" employed in it.</p> + +<p>Upon the whole, it may be justly questioned, whether Dryden +shewed his judgment in the choice of a subject which compelled +an immediate parallel betwixt Milton and himself, upon a subject +so exclusively favourable to the powers of the former. Indeed, +according to Dennis, notwithstanding Dryden's admiration of +Milton, he evinced sufficiently by this undertaking, what he +himself confessed twenty years afterwards, that he was not sensible +of half the extent of his excellence. In the "Town and Country +Mouse," Mr Bayes is made to term Milton "a rough unhewen +fellow;" and Dryden himself, even in the dedication to the Translation +from Juvenal, a work of his advanced life, alleges, that, +though he found in that poet a true sublimity, and lofty thoughts, +clothed with admirable Grecisms, he did not find the elegant turn +of words and expression proper to the Italian poets and to Spenser. +In the same treatise, he undertakes to excuse, but not to +justify Milton, for his choice of blank verse, affirming that he possessed +neither grace nor facility in rhyming. A consciousness of +the harmony of his own numbers, and a predilection for that kind +of verse, in which he excelled, seemed to have encouraged him to +think he could improve the "Paradise Lost." Baker observes but +too truly, that the "State of Innocence" recals the idea reprobated +by Marvell in his address to Milton:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Or if a work so infinite be spanned,</p> +<p>Jealous I was, lest some less skilful hand,</p> +<p>Such as disquiet always what is well,</p> +<p>And by ill-imitating would excel,</p> +<p>Might hence presume the whole creation's day</p> +<p>To change in scenes, and shew it in a play.</p> +</div> + +<p>The "State of Innocence" seems to have been undertaken by Dryden +during a cessation of his theatrical labours, and was first published +in 1674, shortly after the death of Milton, which took place +on the 8th of November in the same year.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="State_1-1" name="State_1-1"></a>The Adamo of Andreini; for an account of which, see Todd's Milton, +Vol. I. the elegant Hayley's Conjectures on the Origin of Paradise Lost, +and Walker's Memoir on Italian Tragedy. The Drama of Andreini opens +with a grand chorus of angels, who sing to this purpose:<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Let the rainbow be the fiddle-stick to the fiddle of heaven,</p> +<p>Let the spheres be the strings, and the stars the musical notes;</p> +<p>Let the new-born breezes make the pauses and sharps,</p> +<p>And let time be careful to beat the measure.</p> +</div></li> + +<li><a id="State_1-2" name="State_1-2"></a>See a sketch of his plan in Johnson's Life of Milton, and in the authorities +above quoted.</li> +</ol></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_095" name="page_095"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">TO +HER ROYAL HIGHNESS, +THE +DUCHESS<a class="ftnt" href="#State_2-1">[1]</a>.</h3> + +<p class="noind smcap">Madam,</p> + +<p>Ambition is so far from being a vice in poets, +that it is almost impossible for them to succeed without +it. Imagination must be raised, by a desire of +<a class="pgnm" id="page_096" name="page_096"></a> +fame, to a desire of pleasing; and they whom, in all +ages, poets have endeavoured most to please, have +<a class="pgnm" id="page_097" name="page_097"></a> +been the beautiful and the great. Beauty is their +deity, to which they sacrifice, and greatness is their +guardian angel, which protects them. Both these, +are so eminently joined in the person of your royal +highness, that it were not easy for any but a poet +to determine which of them outshines the other. +But I confess, madam, I am already biassed in my +choice. I can easily resign to others the praise of +your illustrious family, and that glory which you +derive from a long-continued race of princes, famous +for their actions both in peace and war: I +can give up, to the historians of your country, the +names of so many generals and heroes which crowd +their annals, and to our own the hopes of those +which you are to produce for the British chronicle. +<a class="pgnm" id="page_098" name="page_098"></a> +I can yield, without envy, to the nation of +poets, the family of Este, to which Ariosto and +Tasso have owed their patronage, and to which the +world has owed their poems. But I could not, without +extreme reluctance, resign the theme of your +beauty to another hand. Give me leave, madam, +to acquaint the world, that I am jealous of this +subject; and let it be no dishonour to you, that, after +having raised the admiration of mankind, you +have inspired one man to give it voice. But, with +whatsoever vanity this new honour of being your +poet has filled my mind, I confess myself too weak +for the inspiration: the priest was always unequal +to the oracle: the god within him was too mighty +for his breast: he laboured with the sacred revelation, +and there was more of the mystery left behind, +than the divinity itself could enable him to express. +I can but discover a part of your excellencies to the +world; and that, too, according to the measure of +my own weakness. Like those who have surveyed +the moon by glasses, I can only tell of a new and +shining world above us, but not relate the riches +and glories of the place. 'Tis therefore that I have +already waved the subject of your greatness, to resign +myself to the contemplation of what is more +peculiarly yours. Greatness is indeed communicated +to some few of both sexes; but beauty is confined +to a more narrow compass: 'tis only in your sex, +'tis not shared by many, and its supreme perfection +is in you alone. And here, madam, I am proud that +I cannot flatter; you have reconciled the differing +judgments of mankind; for all men are equal in +their judgment of what is eminently best. The +prize of beauty was disputed only till you were seen; +but now all pretenders have withdrawn their claims: +there is no competition but for the second place; +even the fairest of our island, which is famed for +<a class="pgnm" id="page_099" name="page_099"></a> +beauties, not daring to commit their cause against +you to the suffrage of those, who most partially +adore them. Fortune has, indeed, but rendered +justice to so much excellence, in setting it so high +to public view; or, rather, Providence has done +justice to itself, in placing the most perfect workmanship +of heaven, where it may be admired by all +beholders. Had the sun and stars been seated +lower, their glory had not been communicated to +all at once, and the Creator had wanted so much of +his praise, as he had made your condition more obscure: +but he has placed you so near a crown, that +you add a lustre to it by your beauty. You are +joined to a prince, who only could deserve you; +whose conduct, courage, and success in war; whose +fidelity to his royal brother, whose love for his +country, whose constancy to his friends, whose +bounty to his servants, whose justice to merit, whose +inviolable truth, and whose magnanimity in all his +actions, seem to have been rewarded by heaven by +the gift of you. You are never seen but you are +blest; and I am sure you bless all those who see +you. We think not the day is long enough when +we behold you; and you are so much the business +of our souls, that while you are in sight, we can +neither look nor think on any else. There are no +eyes for other beauties; you only are present, and +the rest of your sex are but the unregarded parts +that fill your triumph. Our sight is so intent on +the object of its admiration, that our tongues have +not leisure even to praise you: for language seems +too low a thing to express your excellence; and our +souls are speaking so much within, that they despise +all foreign conversation. Every man, even +the dullest, is thinking more than the most eloquent +can teach him how to utter. Thus, madam, in the +midst of crowds, you reign in solitude; and are +<a class="pgnm" id="page_100" name="page_100"></a> +adored with the deepest veneration, that of silence. +'Tis true, you are above all mortal wishes; no man +desires impossibilities, because they are beyond the +reach of nature. To hope to be a god, is folly exalted +into madness; but, by the laws of our creation, +we are obliged to adore him, and are permitted to +love him too at human distance. 'Tis the nature of +perfection to be attractive, but the excellency of the +object refines the nature of the love. It strikes an +impression of awful reverence; 'tis indeed that love +which is more properly a zeal than passion. 'Tis +the rapture which anchorites find in prayer, when a +beam of the divinity shines upon them; that which +makes them despise all worldly objects; and yet 'tis +all but contemplation. They are seldom visited +from above, but a single vision so transports them, +that it makes up the happiness of their lives. Mortality +cannot bear it often: it finds them in the eagerness +and height of their devotion; they are speechless +for the time that it continues, and prostrate +and dead when it departs. That ecstacy had need +be strong, which, without any end, but that of admiration +has power enough to destroy all other +passions. You render mankind insensible to other +beauties, and have destroyed the empire of love in +a court which was the seat of his dominion. You +have subverted (may I dare to accuse you of it?) +even our fundamental laws; and reign absolute over +the hearts of a stubborn and free-born people, tenacious +almost to madness of their liberty. The +brightest and most victorious of our ladies make +daily complaints of revolted subjects, if they may +be said to be revolted, whose servitude is not accepted; +for your royal highness is too great, and +too just a monarch, either to want or to receive the +homage of rebellious fugitives. Yet, if some few +among the multitude continue stedfast to their first +<a class="pgnm" id="page_101" name="page_101"></a> +pretensions, 'tis an obedience so lukewarm and +languishing, that it merits not the name of passion; +their addresses are so faint, and their vows so hollow +to their sovereigns, that they seem only to +maintain their faith out of a sense of honour: they +are ashamed to desist, and yet grow careless to obtain. +Like despairing combatants, they strive +against you as if they had beheld unveiled the magical +shield of your Ariosto, which dazzled the beholders +with too much brightness. They can no +longer hold up their arms; they have read their destiny +in your eyes:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Splende lo scudo, a guisa di piropo;</p> +<p>E luce altra non é tanto lucente:</p> +<p>Cader in terra a lo splendor fu d'vopo,</p> +<p>Con gli occhi abbacinati, e senza mente.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">And yet, madam, if I could find in myself the power +to leave this argument of your incomparable beauty, +I might turn to one which would equally oppress +me with its greatness; for your conjugal virtues +have deserved to be set as an example, to a less degenerate, +less tainted age. They approach so near +to singularity in ours, that I can scarcely make a +panegyric to your royal highness, without a satire +on many others. But your person is a paradise, and +your soul a cherubim within, to guard it. If the +excellence of the outside invite the beholders, the +majesty of your mind deters them from too bold +approaches, and turns their admiration into religion. +Moral perfections are raised higher by you in the +softer sex; as if men were of too coarse a mould for +heaven to work on, and that the image of divinity +could not be cast to likeness in so harsh a metal. +Your person is so admirable, that it can scarce receive +addition, when it shall be glorified: and your +soul, which shines through it, finds it of a substance +<a class="pgnm" id="page_102" name="page_102"></a> +so near her own, that she will be pleased to pass an +age within it, and to be confined to such a palace.</p> + +<p>I know not how I am hurried back to my former +theme; I ought and purposed to have celebrated +those endowments and qualities of your mind, which +were sufficient, even without the graces of your +person, to render you, as you are, the ornament of +the court, and the object of wonder to three kingdoms. +But all my praises are but as a bull-rush +cast upon a stream; if they sink not, 'tis because +they are borne up by the strength of the current, +which supports their lightness; but they are carried +round again, and return on the eddy where they +first began. I can proceed no farther than your +beauty; and even on that too I have said so little, +considering the greatness of the subject, that, like +him who would lodge a bowl upon a precipice, +either my praise falls back, by the weakness of the +delivery, or stays not on the top, but rolls over, and +is lost on the other side. I intended this a dedication; +but how can I consider what belongs to myself, +when I have been so long contemplating on you! +Be pleased then, madam, to receive this poem, without +entitling so much excellency as yours, to the +faults and imperfections of so mean a writer; and +instead of being favourable to the piece, which merits +nothing, forgive the presumption of the author; +who is, with all possible veneration,</p> + +<p class="sig i1">Your Royal Highness's</p> +<p class="sig i2">Most obedient, most humble,</p> +<p class="sig i3">Most devoted servant,</p> +<p class="sig i4 smcap">John Dryden.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="State_2-1" name="State_2-1"></a>Mary of Este, daughter of the Duke of Modena, and second +wife to James Duke of York, afterwards James II. She was married +to him by proxy in 1673, and came over in the year following. +Notwithstanding her husband's unpopularity, and her own attachment +to the Roman Catholic religion, her youth, beauty, and innocence +secured her from insult and slander during all the stormy +period which preceded her accession to the crown. Even Burnet, +reluctantly, admits the force of her charms, and the inoffensiveness +of her conduct. But her beauty produced a more lasting effect on +the young and gallant, than on that austere and stubborn partizan; +and its force must be allowed, since it was extolled even when Mary +was dethroned and exiled. Granville, Lord Lansdowne, has praised +her in "The Progress of Beauty;" and I cannot forbear transcribing +some of the verses, on account of the gallant spirit of the +author, who scorned to change with fortune, and continued to admire +and celebrate, in adversity, the charms which he had worshipped +in the meridian of prosperity.<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i1">And now, my muse, a nobler flight prepare,</p> +<p>And sing so loud, that heaven and earth may hear.</p> +<p>Behold from Italy an awful ray</p> +<p>Of heavenly light illuminates the day;</p> +<p>Northward she bends, majestically bright,</p> +<p>And here she fixes her imperial light.</p> +<p>Be bold, be bold, my muse, nor fear to raise</p> +<p>Thy voice to her who was thy earliest praise<a class="ftnt" href="#State_2-a">[a]</a>.</p> +<p>What though the sullen fates refuse to shine,</p> +<p>Or frown severe on thy audacious line;</p> +<p>Keep thy bright theme within thy steady sight,</p> +<p>The clouds shall fly before thy dazzling light,</p> +<p>And everlasting day direct thy lofty flight.</p> +<p>Thou, who hast never yet put on disguise,</p> +<p>To flatter faction, or descend to vice,</p> +<p>Let no vain fear thy generous ardour tame,</p> +<p>But stand erect, and sound as loud as fame.</p> +<p class="i1">As when our eye some prospect would pursue,</p> +<p>Descending from a hill looks round to view,</p> +<p>Passes o'er lawns and meadows, till it gains</p> +<p>Some favourite spot, and fixing there remains;</p> +<p>With equal ardour my transported muse</p> +<p>Flies other objects, this bright theme to chuse.</p> +<p class="i1">Queen of our hearts, and charmer of our sight!</p> +<p>A monarch's pride, his glory and delight!</p> +<p>Princess adored and loved! if verse can give</p> +<p>A deathless name, thine shall for ever live;</p> +<p>Invoked where'er the British lion roars,</p> +<p>Extended as the seas that guard the British shores.</p> +<p>The wise immortals, in their seats above,</p> +<p>To crown their labours still appointed love;</p> +<p>Phœbus enjoyed the goddess of the sea,</p> +<p>Alcides had Omphale, James has thee.</p> +<p>O happy James! content thy mighty mind,</p> +<p>Grudge not the world, for still thy queen is kind;</p> +<p>To be but at whose feet more glory brings,</p> +<p>Than 'tis to tread on sceptres and on kings.</p> +<p>Secure of empire in that beauteous breast,</p> +<p>Who would not give their crowns to be so blest?</p> +<p>Was Helen half so fair, so formed for joy,</p> +<p>Well chose the Trojan, and well burned was Troy.</p> +<p>But ah! what strange vicissitudes of fate,</p> +<p>What chance attends on every worldly state!</p> +<p>As when the skies were sacked, the conquered gods,</p> +<p>Compelled from heaven, forsook their blessed abodes;</p> +<p>Wandering in woods, they hid from den to den,</p> +<p>And sought their safety in the shapes of men;</p> +<p>As when the winds with kindling flames conspire,</p> +<p>The blaze increases as they fan the fire;</p> +<p>From roof to roof the burning torrent pours,</p> +<p>Nor spares the palace nor the loftiest towers;</p> +<p>Or as the stately pine, erecting high</p> +<p>Her lofty branches shooting to the sky,</p> +<p>If riven by the thunderbolt of Jove,</p> +<p>Down falls at once the pride of all the grove;</p> +<p>Level with lowest shrubs lies the tall head,</p> +<p>That, reared aloft, as to the clouds was spread,</p> +<p>So—</p> +<p>But cease, my muse, thy colours are too faint;</p> +<p>Shade with a veil those griefs thou can'st not paint.</p> +<p>That sun is set!—</p> +<p class="citation"><i>Progress of Beauty.</i></p> +</div> + +<p>The beauty, which inspired the romantic and unchanging admiration +of Granville, may be allowed to justify some of the flights +of Dryden's panegyric. I fear enough will still remain to justify +the stricture of Johnson, who observes, that Dryden's dedication +is an "attempt to mingle earth and heaven, by praising human +excellence in the language of religion."</p> + +<p>At the date of this address, the Duchess of York was only in +her sixteenth year.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol style="list-style-type: lower-alpha"> +<li id="State_2-a">He had written verses to the Earl of Peterborough, on the Duke of +York's marriage with the Princess of Modena, before he was twelve years old.</li> +</ol> +</div> +</li> +</ol></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_103" name="page_103"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">TO +MR DRYDEN, +ON HIS +POEM OF PARADISE.</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Forgive me, awful poet, if a muse,</p> +<p>Whom artless nature did for plainness chuse,</p> +<p>In loose attire presents her humble thought,</p> +<p>Of this best poem that you ever wrought.</p> +<p>This fairest labour of your teeming brain</p> +<p>I would embrace, but not with flatt'ry stain.</p> +<p>Something I would to your vast virtue raise,</p> +<p>But scorn to daub it with a fulsome praise;</p> +<p>That would but blot the work I would commend,</p> +<p>And shew a court-admirer, not a friend.</p> +<p>To the dead bard your fame a little owes,</p> +<p>For Milton did the wealthy mine disclose,</p> +<p>And rudely cast what you could well dispose:</p> +<p>He roughly drew, on an old fashioned ground,</p> +<p>A chaos; for no perfect world was found,</p> +<p>Till through the heap your mighty genius shined:</p> +<p>He was the golden ore, which you refined.</p> +<p>He first beheld the beauteous rustic maid,</p> +<p>And to a place of strength the prize conveyed:</p> +<p>You took her thence; to court this virgin brought,</p> +<p>Drest her with gems, new weaved her hard-spun thought,</p> +<p>And softest language sweetest manners taught;</p> +<p>Till from a comet she a star doth rise,</p> +<p>Not to affright, but please, our wondering eyes.</p> +<p>Betwixt you both is trained a nobler piece,</p> +<p>Than e'er was drawn in Italy or Greece.</p> +<p>Thou from his source of thoughts even souls dost bring,</p> +<p>As smiling gods from sullen Saturn spring.</p> +<p>When night's dull mask the face of heaven does wear,</p> +<p>'Tis doubtful light, but here and there a star,</p> +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_104" name="page_104"></a> +Which serves the dreadful shadows to display,</p> +<p>That vanish at the rising of the day;</p> +<p>But then bright robes the meadows all adorn,</p> +<p>And the world looks as it were newly born.</p> +<p>So, when your sense his mystic reason cleared,</p> +<p>The melancholy scene all gay appeared;</p> +<p>Now light leapt up, and a new glory smiled,</p> +<p>And all throughout was mighty, all was mild.</p> +<p>Before this palace, which thy wit did build,</p> +<p>Which various fancy did so gaudy gild,</p> +<p>And judgment has with solid riches filled,</p> +<p>My humbler muse begs she may sentry stand,</p> +<p>Amongst the rest that guard this Eden land.</p> +<p>But there's no need, for ev'n thy foes conspire</p> +<p>Thy praise, and, hating thee, thy work admire.</p> +<p>On then, O mightiest of the inspired men!</p> +<p>Monarch of verse! new themes employ thy pen.</p> +<p>The troubles of majestic Charles set down;</p> +<p>Not David vanquished more to reach a crown.</p> +<p>Praise him as Cowley did that Hebrew king:</p> +<p>Thy theme's as great; do thou as greatly sing.</p> +<p>Then thou may'st boldly to his favour rise,</p> +<p>Look down, and the base serpent's hiss despise;</p> +<p>From thund'ring envy safe in laurel sit,</p> +<p>While clam'rous critics their vile heads submit,</p> +<p>Condemned for treason at the bar of wit.</p> +<p class="citation smcap">Nat. Lee.</p> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_105" name="page_105"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">THE +AUTHOR'S APOLOGY +FOR +HEROIC POETRY, AND POETIC LICENCE.</h3> + +<p>To satisfy the curiosity of those, who will give +themselves the trouble of reading the ensuing poem, +I think myself obliged to render them a reason why +I publish an opera which was never acted. In the +first place, I shall not be ashamed to own, that my +chiefest motive was, the ambition which I acknowledged +in the Epistle. I was desirous to lay at the +feet of so beautiful and excellent a princess, a work, +which, I confess, was unworthy her, but which, I +hope, she will have the goodness to forgive. I was +also induced to it in my own defence; many hundred +copies of it being dispersed abroad without +my knowledge, or consent: so that every one gathering +new faults, it became at length a libel +against me; and I saw, with some disdain, more +nonsense than either I, or as bad a poet, could have +crammed into it, at a month's warning; in which +time it was wholly written, and not since revised. +<a class="pgnm" id="page_106" name="page_106"></a> +After this, I cannot, without injury to the deceased +author of "Paradise Lost," but acknowledge, that +this poem has received its entire foundation, part of +the design, and many of the ornaments, from him. +What I have borrowed will be so easily discerned +from my mean productions, that I shall not need to +point the reader to the places: And truly I should +be sorry, for my own sake, that any one should take +the pains to compare them together; the original +being undoubtedly one of the greatest, most noble, +and most sublime poems, which either this age or +nation has produced. And though I could not refuse +the partiality of my friend, who is pleased to +commend me in his verses, I hope they will rather +be esteemed the effect of his love to me, than of +his deliberate and sober judgment. His genius is +able to make beautiful what he pleases: Yet, as he +has been too favourable to me, I doubt not but he +will hear of his kindness from many of our contemporaries +for we are fallen into an age of illiterate, +censorious, and detracting people, who, thus qualified, +set up for critics.</p> + +<p>In the first place, I must take leave to tell them, +that they wholly mistake the nature of criticism, +who think its business is principally to find fault. +Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was +meant a standard of judging well; the chiefest part +of which is, to observe those excellencies which +should delight a reasonable reader. If the design, +the conduct, the thoughts, and the expressions of a +poem, be generally such as proceed from a true genius +of poetry, the critic ought to pass his judgement +in favour of the author. It is malicious and +unmanly to snarl at the little lapses of a pen, from +which Virgil himself stands not exempted. Horace +acknowledges, that honest Homer nods sometimes: +<a class="pgnm" id="page_107" name="page_107"></a> +He is not equally awake in every line; but he leaves +it also as a standing measure for our judgments,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>—Non, <i>ubi plura nitent in carmine, paucis</i></p> +<p>Offendi <i>maculis, quas aut incuria fudit,</i></p> +<p><i>Aut humana parùm cavit natura.</i>—</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">And Longinus, who was undoubtedly, after Aristotle +the greatest critic amongst the Greeks, in his +twenty-seventh chapter, +<span class="Greek" title="PERI HUPSOUS"> +ΠΕΡΙ +'ΥΨΣΟΥΣ +</span>, +has judiciously +preferred the sublime genius that sometimes errs, +to the middling or indifferent one, which makes +few faults, but seldom or never rises to any excellence. +He compares the first to a man of large +possessions, who has not leisure to consider of every +slight expence, will not debase himself to the management +of every trifle: Particular sums are not +laid out, or spared, to the greatest advantage in his +economy; but are sometimes suffered to run to +waste, while he is only careful of the main. On the +other side, he likens the mediocrity of wit, to one +of a mean fortune, who manages his store with extreme +frugality, or rather parsimony; but who, with +fear of running into profuseness, never arrives to +the magnificence of living. This kind of genius +writes indeed correctly. A wary man he is in grammar, +very nice as to solecism or barbarism, judges +to a hair of little decencies, knows better than any +man what is not to be written, and never hazards +himself so far as to fall, but plods on deliberately, +and, as a grave man ought, is sure to put his staff +before him. In short, he sets his heart upon it, +and with wonderful care makes his business sure; +that is, in plain English, neither to be blamed nor +praised.—I could, says my author, find out some +blemishes in Homer; and am perhaps as naturally +inclined to be disgusted at a fault as another man; +but, after all, to speak impartially, his failings are +<a class="pgnm" id="page_108" name="page_108"></a> +such, as are only marks of human frailty: they are +little mistakes, or rather negligences, which have +escaped his pen in the fervour of his writing; the +sublimity of his spirit carries it with me against his +carelessness; and though Apollonius his "Argonauts," +and Theocritus his "Idyllia," are more free +from errors, there is not any man of so false a +judgment, who would chuse rather to have been +Apollonius or Theocritus, than Homer.</p> + +<p>It is worth our consideration a little, to examine +how much these hypercritics in English poetry differ +from the opinion of the Greek and Latin judges +of antiquity; from the Italians and French, who +have succeeded them; and, indeed, from the general +taste and approbation of all ages. Heroic poetry, +which they condemn, has ever been esteemed, +and ever will be, the greatest work of human nature: +In that rank has Aristotle placed it; and Longinus +is so full of the like expressions, that he abundantly +confirms the other's testimony. Horace as +plainly delivers his opinion, and particularly praises +Homer in these verses:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Trojani Belli scriptorem, maxime Lolli,</p> +<p>Dum tu declamas Romæ, Præneste relegi:</p> +<p>Qui quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non,</p> +<p>Plenius ac melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicit.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">And in another place, modestly excluding himself +from the number of poets, because he only writ +odes and satires, he tells you a poet is such an one,</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Cui mens divinior, atque os</p> +<p>Magna soniturum.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">Quotations are superfluous in an established truth; +otherwise I could reckon up, amongst the moderns, +all the Italian commentators on Aristotle's book of +poetry; and, amongst the French, the greatest of +<a class="pgnm" id="page_109" name="page_109"></a> +this age, Boileau and Rapin; the latter of which is +alone sufficient, were all other critics lost, to teach +anew the rules of writing. Any man, who will seriously +consider the nature of an epic poem, how it +agrees with that of poetry in general, which is to +instruct and to delight, what actions it describes, +and what persons they are chiefly whom it informs, +will find it a work which indeed is full of difficulty +in the attempt, but admirable when it is well performed. +I write not this with the least intention +to undervalue the other parts of poetry: for Comedy +is both excellently instructive, and extremely +pleasant; satire lashes vice into reformation, and +humour represents folly so as to render it ridiculous. +Many of our present writers are eminent in +both these kinds; and, particularly, the author of +the "Plain Dealer," whom I am proud to call my +friend, has obliged all honest and virtuous men, by +one of the most bold, most general, and most useful +satires, which has ever been presented on the +English theatre. I do not dispute the preference +of Tragedy; let every man enjoy his taste: but it is +unjust, that they, who have not the least notion of +heroic writing, should therefore condemn the pleasure +which others receive from it, because they +cannot comprehend it. Let them please their appetites +in eating what they like; but let them not +force their dish on all the table. They, who would +combat general authority with particular opinion, +must first establish themselves a reputation of understanding +better than other men. Are all the +flights of heroic poetry to be concluded bombast, +unnatural, and mere madness, because they are not +affected with their excellencies? It is just as reasonable +as to conclude there is no day, because a +blind man cannot distinguish of light and colours. +Ought they not rather, in modesty, to doubt of +<a class="pgnm" id="page_110" name="page_110"></a> +their own judgments, when they think this or that +expression in Homer, Virgil, Tasso, or Milton's +"Paradise," to be too far strained, than positively +to conclude, that it is all fustian, and mere nonsense? +It is true, there are limits to be set betwixt +the boldness and rashness of a poet; but he must +understand those limits, who pretends to judge as +well as he who undertakes to write: and he who +has no liking to the whole, ought, in reason, to be +excluded from censuring of the parts. He must be +a lawyer before he mounts the tribunal; and the +judicature of one court, too, does not qualify a man +to preside in another. He may be an excellent +pleader in the Chancery, who is not fit to rule the +Common Pleas. But I will presume for once to +tell them, that the boldest strokes of poetry, when +they are managed artfully, are those which most +delight the reader.</p> + +<p>Virgil and Horace, the severest writers of the severest +age, have made frequent use of the hardest +metaphors, and of the strongest hyperboles; and in +this case the best authority is the best argument; +for generally to have pleased, and through all ages, +must bear the force of universal tradition. And if +you would appeal from thence to right reason, you +will gain no more by it in effect, than, first, to set +up your reason against those authors; and, secondly, +against all those who have admired them. You +must prove, why that ought not to have pleased, +which has pleased the most learned, and the most +judicious; and, to be thought knowing, you must +first put the fool upon all mankind. If you can +enter more deeply, than they have done, into the +causes and resorts of that which moves pleasure in +a reader, the field is open, you may be heard: But +those springs of human nature are not so easily discovered +by every superficial judge: It requires philosophy, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_111" name="page_111"></a> +as well as poetry, to sound the depth of all +the passions; what they are in themselves, and how +they are to be provoked: And in this science the +best poets have excelled. Aristotle raised the fabric +of his poetry from observation of those things, +in which Euripides, Sophocles, and Æschylus pleased: +He considered how they raised the passions, +and thence has drawn rules for our imitation. From +hence have sprung the tropes and figures, for which +they wanted a name, who first practised them, and +succeeded in them. Thus I grant you, that the +knowledge of nature was the original rule; and that +all poets ought to study her, as well as Aristotle and +Horace, her interpreters. But then this also undeniably +follows, that those things, which delight all +ages, must have been an imitation of nature; which +is all I contend. Therefore is rhetoric made an +art; therefore the names of so many tropes and +figures were invented; because it was observed +they had such and such effect upon the audience. +Therefore catachreses and hyperboles have found +their place amongst them; not that they were to +be avoided, but to be used judiciously, and placed in +poetry, as heightenings and shadows are in painting, +to make the figure bolder, and cause it to stand off +to sight.</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Nec retia cervis</p> +<p>Ulla dolum meditantur;</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">says Virgil in his Eclogues: and speaking of Leander, +in his Georgics,</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Nocte natat cæca serus freta, quem super ingens</p> +<p>Porta tonat cæli, et scopulis illisa reclamant</p> +<p>Æquora:</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">In both of these, you see, he fears not to give voice +and thought to things inanimate.</p> + +<p>Will you arraign your master, Horace, for his hardness +<a class="pgnm" id="page_112" name="page_112"></a> +of expression, when he describes the death of +Cleopatra, and says she did—<i>asperos tractare serpentes, +ut atrum corpore combiberet cenenum,</i>—because +the body, in that action, performs what is proper to +the mouth?</p> + +<p>As for hyperboles, I will neither quote Lucan, nor +Statius, men of an unbounded imagination, but who +often wanted the poize of judgment. The divine +Virgil was not liable to that exception; and yet he +describes Polyphemus thus:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Graditurque per æquor</p> +<p>Jam medium; necdum fluctus latera ardua tinxit.</p> +</div> + +<p>In imitation of this place, our admirable Cowley +thus paints Goliah:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>The valley, now, this monster seemed to fill;</p> +<p>And we, methought, looked up to him from our hill:</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">where the two words, <i>seemed</i> and <i>methought</i>, have +mollified the figure; and yet if they had not been +there, the fright of the Israelites might have excused +their belief of the giant's stature<a class="ftnt" href="#State_3-1">[1]</a>.</p> + +<p>In the eighth of the Æneids, Virgil paints the +swiftness of Camilla thus:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Ilia vel intactæ segetis per summa volaret</p> +<p>Gramina, nec teneras cursu læsisset aristas;</p> +<p>Vel mare per medium, fluctu suspensa tumenti,</p> +<p>Ferret iter, celeres nec tingeret æquore plantas.</p> +</div> + +<p>You are not obliged, as in history, to a literal belief +of what the poet says; but you are pleased with +the image, without being cozened by the fiction.</p> + +<p>Yet even in history, Longinus quotes Herodotus on +this occasion of hyperboles. The Lacedemonians, +says he, at the straits of Thermopylæ, defended themselves +<a class="pgnm" id="page_113" name="page_113"></a> +to the last extremity; and when their arms +failed them, fought it out with their nails and teeth; +till at length, (the Persians shooting continually +upon them) they lay buried under the arrows of +their enemies. It is not reasonable, (continues the +critic) to believe, that men could defend themselves +with their nails and teeth from an armed multitude; +nor that they lay buried under a pile of darts and +arrows; and yet there wants not probability for the +figure: because the hyperbole seems not to have +been made for the sake of the description; but rather +to have been produced from the occasion.</p> + +<p>It is true, the boldness of the figures is to be hidden +sometimes by the address of the poet; that they may +work their effect upon the mind, without discovering +the art which caused it. And therefore they +are principally to be used in passion; when we +speak more warmly, and with more precipitation than +at other times: For then, <i>Si vis me flere, dolendum +est primum ipsi tibi;</i> the poet must put on the passion +he endeavours to represent: A man in such an +occasion is not cool enough, either to reason rightly, +or to talk calmly. Aggravations are then in their +proper places; interrogations, exclamations, hyperbata, +or a disordered connection of discourse, are +graceful there, because they are natural. The sum +of all depends on what before I hinted, that this +boldness of expression is not to be blamed, if it be +managed by the coolness and discretion which is +necessary to a poet.</p> + +<p>Yet before I leave this subject, I cannot but take +notice how disingenuous our adversaries appear: All +that is dull, insipid, languishing, and without sinews, +in a poem, they call an imitation of nature: They +only offend our most equitable judges, who think +beyond them; and lively images and elocution are +never to be forgiven.</p> + +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_114" name="page_114"></a> +What fustian, as they call it, have I heard these +gentlemen find out in Mr Cowley's Odes! I acknowledge +myself unworthy to defend so excellent +an author, neither have I room to do it here; only +in general I will say, that nothing can appear more +beautiful to me, than the strength of those images +which they condemn.</p> + +<p>Imaging is, in itself, the very height and life of +poetry. It is, as Longinus describes it, a discourse, +which, by a kind of enthusiasm, or extraordinary +emotion of the soul, makes it seem to us, that we +behold those things which the poet paints, so as to +be pleased with them, and to admire them.</p> + +<p>If poetry be imitation, that part of it must needs +be best, which describes most lively our actions and +passions; our virtues and our vices; our follies and +our humours: For neither is comedy without its +part of imaging; and they who do it best are certainly +the most excellent in their kind. This is too +plainly proved to be denied: But how are poetical +fictions, how are hippocentaurs and chimeras, or +how are angels and immaterial substances to be imaged; +which, some of them, are things quite out +of nature; others, such whereof we can have no notion? +This is the last refuge of our adversaries; and +more than any of them have yet had the wit to object +against us. The answer is easy to the first part +of it: The fiction of some beings which are not in +nature, (second notions, as the logicians call them) +has been founded on the conjunction of two natures, +which have a real separate being. So hippocentaurs +were imaged, by joining the natures of a man and +horse together; as Lucretius tells us, who has used +this word of <i>image</i> oftener than any of the poets:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Nam certè ex vivo centauri non fit imago,</p> +<p>Nulla fuit quoniam talis natura animai:</p> +<p>Verùm ubi equi atque hominis, casu, convenit imago,</p> +<p>Hærescit facilè extemplò, <span style="font-style: normal">&c.</span></p> +</div> + +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_115" name="page_115"></a> +The same reason may also be alleged for chimeras +and the rest. And poets may be allowed the like +liberty, for describing things which really exist not, +if they are founded on popular belief. Of this nature +are fairies, pigmies, and the extraordinary effects +of magic; for it is still an imitation, though of other +men's fancies: and thus are Shakespeare's "Tempest," +his "Midsummer Night's Dream," and Ben Jonson's +"Masque of Witches" to be defended. For immaterial +substances, we are authorised by Scripture in their +description: and herein the text accommodates itself +to vulgar apprehension, in giving angels the +likeness of beautiful young men. Thus, after the +pagan divinity, has Homer drawn his gods with human +faces: and thus we have notions of things +above us, by describing them like other beings more +within our knowledge.</p> + +<p>I wish I could produce any one example of excellent +imaging in all this poem. Perhaps I cannot; +but that which comes nearest it, is in these four +lines, which have been sufficiently canvassed by my +well-natured censors:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Seraph and cherub, careless of their charge,</p> +<p>And wanton, in full ease now live at large:</p> +<p>Unguarded leave the passes of the sky,</p> +<p>And all dissolved in hallelujahs lie.</p> +</div> + +<p>I have heard (says one of them) of anchovies <i>dissolved</i> +in sauce; but never of an angel <i>in hallelujahs.</i> +A mighty witticism! (if you will pardon a +new word,) but there is some difference between a +laugher and a critic. He might have burlesqued +Virgil too, from whom I took the image. <i>Invadunt +urbem, somno vinoque sepultam.</i> A city's being buried, +is just as proper on occasion, as an angel's being dissolved +in ease, and songs of triumph. Mr Cowley +lies as open too in many places:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Where their vast courts the mother waters keep, &c.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind"><a class="pgnm" id="page_116" name="page_116"></a> +For if the mass of waters be the mothers, then their +daughters, the little streams, are bound, in all good +manners, to make courtesy to them, and ask them +blessing. How easy it is to turn into ridicule the best +descriptions, when once a man is in the humour of +laughing, till he wheezes at his own dull jest! but +an image, which is strongly and beautifully set before +the eyes of the reader, will still be poetry, when +the merry fit is over, and last when the other is +forgotten.</p> + +<p>I promised to say somewhat of Poetic Licence, but +have in part anticipated my discourse already. Poetic +Licence, I take to be the liberty which poets have +assumed to themselves, in all ages, of speaking things +in verse, which are beyond the severity of prose. +It is that particular character, which distinguishes +and sets the bounds betwixt <i>oratio soluta</i>, and +poetry. This, as to what regards the thought, or +imagination of a poet, consists in fiction: but then +those thoughts must be expressed; and here arise +two other branches of it; for if this licence be included +in a single word, it admits of tropes; if in a +sentence or proposition, of figures; both which are +of a much larger extent, and more forcibly to be +used in verse than prose. This is that birth-right +which is derived to us from our great forefathers, +even from Homer down to Ben; and they, who +would deny it to us, have, in plain terms, the fox's +quarrel to the grapes—they cannot reach it.</p> + +<p>How far these liberties are to be extended, I will +not presume to determine here, since Horace does +not. But it is certain that they are to be varied, according +to the language and age in which an author +writes. That which would be allowed to a Grecian +poet, Martial tells you, would not be suffered in a +Roman; and it is evident, that the English does +more nearly follow the strictness of the latter, than +the freedoms of the former. Connection of epithets, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_117" name="page_117"></a> +or the conjunction of two words in one, are frequent +and elegant in the Greek, which yet Sir Philip Sidney, +and the translator of Du Bartas, have unluckily +attempted in the English; though this, I confess, +is not so proper an instance of poetic licence, as it +is of variety of idiom in languages.</p> + +<p>Horace a little explains himself on this subject of +<i>Licentia Poetica</i>, in these verses:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Pictoribus atque Poetis</p> +<p>Quidlibet audendi semper fuit æqua potestas: ...</p> +<p>Sed non, ut placidis coeant immitia, non ut</p> +<p>Serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus hædi.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">He would have a poem of a piece; not to begin +with one thing, and end with another: He restrains +it so far, that thoughts of an unlike nature ought +not to be joined together. That were indeed to make +a chaos. He taxed not Homer, nor the divine Virgil, +for interesting their gods in the wars of Troy +and Italy; neither, had he now lived, would he +have taxed Milton, as our false critics have presumed +to do, for his choice of a supernatural argument; +but he would have blamed my author, who was a +Christian, had he introduced into his poem heathen +deities, as Tasso is condemned by Rapin on the like +occasion; and as Camoëns, the author of the "Lusiads," +ought to be censured by all his readers, when +he brings in Bacchus and Christ into the same adventure +of his fable.</p> + +<p>From that which has been said, it may be +collected, that the definition of wit (which has +been so often attempted, and ever unsuccessfully +by many poets,) is only this: That it is a propriety +of thoughts and words; or, in other terms, +thoughts and words elegantly adapted to the subject. +If our critics will join issue on this definition, +that we may <i>convenire in aliquo tertio</i>; if they +will take it as a granted principle, it will be easy to +<a class="pgnm" id="page_118" name="page_118"></a> +put an end to this dispute. No man will disagree +from another's judgment concerning the dignity of +style in heroic poetry; but all reasonable men will +conclude it necessary, that sublime subjects ought +to be adorned with the sublimest, and consequently +often, with the most figurative expressions. In the +mean time I will not run into their fault of imposing +my opinions on other men, any more than I +would my writings on their taste: I have only laid +down, and that superficially enough, my present +thoughts; and shall be glad to be taught better by +those who pretend to reform our poetry.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="State_3-1" name="State_3-1"></a>With all this mitigation, the passage seems horrible bombast.</li> +</ol></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_119" name="page_119"></a></div> + +<p class="ctr" style="margin-top: 4em">THE</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">STATE OF INNOCENCE,</h3> +<p class="ctr">AND</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">FALL OF MAN.</h3> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT I.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>Represents a Chaos, or a confused Mass +of Matter; the Stage is almost wholly dark: A +Symphony of warlike Music is heard for some time; +then from the Heavens, (which are opened) fall the +rebellious Angels, wheeling in Air, and seeming transfixed +with Thunderbolts: The bottom of the Stage +being opened, receives the Angels, who fall out of +sight. Tunes of Victory are played, and an Hymn +sung; Angels discovered above, brandishing their +Swords: The Music ceasing, and the Heavens being +closed, the Scene shifts, and on a sudden represents +Hell: Part of the Scene is a Lake of Brimstone, or +rolling Fire; the Earth of a burnt Colour: The +fallen Angels appear on the Lake, lying prostrate; +a Tune of Horror and Lamentation is heard.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Lucifer,</span> raising himself on the Lake.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Is this the seat our conqueror has given?<br /> +And this the climate we must change for heaven?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_120" name="page_120"></a> +These regions and this realm my wars have got;<br /> +This mournful empire is the loser's lot:<br /> +In liquid burnings, or on dry, to dwell,<br /> +Is all the sad variety of hell.<br /> +But see, the victor has recalled, from far,<br /> +The avenging storms, his ministers of war:<br /> +His shafts are spent, and his tired thunders sleep,<br /> +Nor longer bellow through the boundless deep.<br /> +Best take the occasion, and these waves forsake,<br /> +While time is given.—Ho, Asmoday, awake,<br /> +If thou art he! But ah! how changed from him,<br /> +Companion of my arms! how wan! how dim!<br /> +How faded all thy glories are! I see<br /> +Myself too well, and my own change in thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> Prince of the thrones, who in the fields of light<br /> +Led'st forth the embattled seraphim to fight;<br /> +Who shook the power of heaven's eternal state,<br /> +Had broke it too, if not upheld by fate;<br /> +But now those hopes are fled: Thus low we lie,<br /> +Shut from his day, and that contended sky,<br /> +And lost, as far as heavenly forms can die;<br /> +Yet, not all perished: We defy him still,<br /> +And yet wage war, with our unconquered will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Strength may return.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> Already of thy virtue I partake,<br /> +Erected by thy voice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> See on the lake<br /> +Our troops, like scattered leaves in autumn, lie;<br /> +First let us raise ourselves, and seek the dry,<br /> +Perhaps more easy dwelling.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> From the beach<br /> +Thy well-known voice the sleeping gods will reach,<br /> +And wake the immortal sense, which thunder's noise<br /> +Had quelled, and lightning deep had driven within them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_121" name="page_121"></a> +<span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> With wings expanded wide, ourselves we'll rear,<br /> +And fly incumbent on the dusky air.—<br /> +Hell, thy new lord receive!<br /> +Heaven cannot envy me an empire here.<span class="sdr">[Both fly to dry Land.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> Thus far we have prevailed; if that be gain,<br /> +Which is but change of place, not change of pain.<br /> +Now summon we the rest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Dominions, Powers, ye chiefs of heaven's bright host,<br /> +(Of heaven, once your's; but now in battle lost)<br /> +Wake from your slumber! Are your beds of down?<br /> +Sleep you so easy there? Or fear the frown<br /> +Of him who threw you hence, and joys to see<br /> +Your abject state confess his victory?<br /> +Rise, rise, ere from his battlements he view<br /> +Your prostrate postures, and his bolts renew,<br /> +To strike you deeper down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> They wake, they hear,<br /> +Shake off their slumber first, and next their fear;<br /> +And only for the appointed signal stay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Rise from the flood, and hither wing your way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mol.</span> [<span class="sdm">From the Lake.</span>]<br /> +Thine to command; our part is to obey. +<span class="sdr">[The rest of the Devils rise up, and fly to the +Land.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> So, now we are ourselves again an host,<br /> +Fit to tempt fate, once more, for what we lost;<br /> +To o'erleap the etherial fence, or if so high<br /> +We cannot climb, to undermine his sky,<br /> +And blow him up, who justly rules us now,<br /> +Because more strong: Should he be forced to bow.<br /> +The right were ours again: 'Tis just to win<br /> +The highest place; to attempt, and fail, is sin.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_122" name="page_122"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mol.</span> Changed as we are, we're yet from homage free;<br /> +We have, by hell, at least gained liberty:<br /> +That's worth our fall; thus low though we are driven,<br /> +Better to rule in hell, than serve in heaven.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> There spoke the better half of Lucifer!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> 'Tis fit in frequent senate we confer,<br /> +And then determine how to steer our course;<br /> +To wage new war by fraud, or open force.<br /> +The doom's now past; submission were in vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mol.</span> And were it not, such baseness I disdain;<br /> +I would not stoop, to purchase all above,<br /> +And should contemn a power, whom prayer could move,<br /> +As one unworthy to have conquered me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beelzebub.</span> Moloch, in that all are resolved, like thee.<br /> +The means are unproposed; but 'tis not fit<br /> +Our dark divan in public view should sit;<br /> +Or what we plot against the Thunderer,<br /> +The ignoble crowd of vulgar devils hear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Luci.</span> A golden palace let be raised on high;<br /> +To imitate? No, to outshine the sky!<br /> +All mines are ours, and gold above the rest:<br /> +Let this be done; and quick as 'twas exprest.</p> + +<p class="sdn">A Palace rises, where sit, as in council, <span class="cnm">Lucifer, +Asmoday, Moloch, Belial, Beelzebub,</span> and +<span class="cnm">Satan.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Most high and mighty lords, who better fell<br /> +From heaven, to rise states-general of hell,<br /> +Nor yet repent, though ruined and undone,<br /> +Our upper provinces already won,<br /> +Such pride there is in souls created free,<br /> +Such hate of universal monarchy;<br /> +Speak, for we therefore meet:<br /> +If peace you chuse, your suffrages declare;<br /> +Or means propound, to carry on the war.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_123" name="page_123"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mol.</span> My sentence is for war; that open too:<br /> +Unskilled in stratagems, plain force I know:<br /> +Treaties are vain to losers; nor would we,<br /> +Should heaven grant peace, submit to sovereignty.<br /> +We can no caution give we will adore;<br /> +And he above is warned to trust no more.<br /> +What then remains but battle?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Satan.</span> I agree<br /> +With this brave vote; and if in hell there be<br /> +Ten more such spirits, heaven is our own again:<br /> +We venture nothing, and may all obtain.<br /> +Yet who can hope but well, since even success<br /> +Makes foes secure, and makes our danger less?<br /> +Seraph and cherub, careless of their charge,<br /> +And wanton, in full ease now live at large;<br /> +Unguarded leave the passes of the sky,<br /> +And all dissolved in hallelujahs lie.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mol.</span> Grant that our hazardous attempt prove vain;<br /> +We feel the worst, secured from greater pain:<br /> +Perhaps we may provoke the conquering foe<br /> +To make us nothing; yet, even then, we know,<br /> +That not to be, is not to be in woe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Belial.</span> That knowledge which, as spirits, we obtain,<br /> +Is to be valued in the midst of pain:<br /> +Annihilation were to lose heaven more;<br /> +We are not quite exiled where thought can soar.<br /> +Then cease from arms;<br /> +Tempt him not farther to pursue his blow,<br /> +And be content to bear those pains we know.<br /> +If what we had, we could not keep, much less<br /> +Can we regain what those above possess.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Beelzebub.</span> Heaven sleeps not; from one wink a breach would be<br /> +In the full circle of eternity.<br /> +Long pains, with use of bearing, are half eased;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_124" name="page_124"></a> +Heaven, unprovoked, at length may be appeased.<br /> +By war we cannot scape our wretched lot;<br /> +And may, perhaps, not warring, be forgot.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> Could we repent, or did not heaven well know<br /> +Rebellion, once forgiven, would greater grow,<br /> +I should, with Belial, chuse ignoble ease;<br /> +But neither will the conqueror give peace,<br /> +Nor yet so lost in this low state we are,<br /> +As to despair of a well-managed war.<br /> +Nor need we tempt those heights which angels keep,<br /> +Who fear no force, or ambush, from the deep.<br /> +What if we find some easier enterprise?<br /> +There is a place,—if ancient prophecies<br /> +And fame in heaven not err,—the blest abode<br /> +Of some new race, called Man, a demi-god,<br /> +Whom, near this time, the Almighty must create;<br /> +He swore it, shook the heavens, and made it fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> I heard it; through all heaven the rumour ran,<br /> +And much the talk of this intended Man:<br /> +Of form divine; but less in excellence<br /> +Than we; endued with reason lodged in sense:<br /> +The soul pure fire, like ours, of equal force;<br /> +But, pent in flesh, must issue by discourse:<br /> +We see what is; to Man truth must be brought<br /> +By sense, and drawn by a long chain of thought:<br /> +By that faint light, to will and understand;<br /> +For made less knowing, he's at more command.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> Though heaven be shut, that world, if it be made,<br /> +As nearest heaven, lies open to invade:<br /> +Man therefore must be known, his strength, his state,<br /> +And by what tenure he holds all of fate.<br /> +Him let us then seduce, or overthrow;<br /> +The first is easiest, and makes heaven his foe.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_125" name="page_125"></a> +Advise, if this attempt be worth our care.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Belial.</span> Great is the advantage, great the hazards are.<br /> +Some one (but who that task dares undertake?)<br /> +Of this new creature must discovery make.<br /> +Hell's brazen gates he first must break, then far<br /> +Must wander through old night, and through the war<br /> +Of antique chaos; and, when these are past,<br /> +Meet heaven's out-guards, who scout upon the waste:<br /> +At every station must be bid to stand,<br /> +And forced to answer every strict demand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mol.</span> This glorious enterprise—<span class="sdr">[Rising up.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Rash angel, stay; +<span class="sdr">[Rising, and laying his sceptre on <span class="cnm">Moloch's</span> +head.</span><br /> +That palm is mine, which none shall take away.<br /> +Hot braves, like thee, may fight; but know not well<br /> +To manage this, the last great stake of hell.<br /> +Why am I ranked in state above the rest,<br /> +If, while I stand of sovereign power possest,<br /> +Another dares, in danger, farther go?<br /> +Kings are not made for ease, and pageant-show.<br /> +Who would be conqueror, must venture all:<br /> +He merits not to rise, who dares not fall.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asm.</span> The praise, and danger, then, be all your own.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> On this foundation I erect my throne:<br /> +Through brazen gates, vast chaos, and old night,<br /> +I'll force my way, and upwards steer my flight;<br /> +Discover this new world, and newer Man;<br /> +Make him my footstep to mount heaven again:<br /> +Then, in the clemency of upward air,<br /> +We'll scour our spots, and the dire thunder scar,<br /> +With all the remnants of the unlucky war,<br /> +And once again grow bright, and once again grow fair.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_126" name="page_126"></a> +<span class="cnm">Asm.</span> Meantime the youth of hell strict guard may keep,<br /> +And set their centries to the utmost deep,<br /> +That no etherial parasite may come<br /> +To spy our ills, and tell glad tales at home.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Before yon brimstone lake thrice ebb and flow,<br /> +(Alas, that we must measure time by woe!)<br /> +I shall return, (my mind presages well)<br /> +And outward lead the colonies of hell.<br /> +Your care I much approve; what time remains,<br /> +Seek to forget, at least divert your pains<br /> +With sports and music, in the vales and fields,<br /> +And whate'erjoy so sad a climate yields.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Betwixt the first Act and the second, while the Chiefs +sit in the palace, may be expressed the sports of the +Devils; as flights, and dancing in grotesque figures: +And a song, expressing the change of their +condition; what they enjoyed before, and how they +fell bravely in battle, having deserved victory by +their valour, and what they would have done if they +had conquered.</p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT II.<br /> +SCENE 1.—<i>A Champaign Country.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Adam,</span> as newly created, laid on a bed of moss and +flowers, by a rock.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> What am I? or from whence? For that I am<span class="sdr">[Rising.</span><br /> +I know, because I think; but whence I came,<br /> +Or how this frame of mine began to be,<br /> +What other being can disclose to me?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_127" name="page_127"></a> +I move, I see, I speak, discourse, and know;<br /> +Though now I am, I was not always so.<br /> +Then that, from which I was, must be before,<br /> +Whom, as my spring of being, I adore.<br /> +How full of ornament is all I view,<br /> +In all its parts! and seems as beautiful as new:<br /> +O goodly-ordered work! O Power Divine,<br /> +Of thee I am, and what I am is thine!</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Raphael</span> descends to <span class="cnm">Adam,</span> in a cloud.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raphael.</span> First of mankind, made o'er the world to reign,<br /> +Whose fruitful loins an unborn kind contain,<br /> +Well hast thou reasoned: Of himself is none<br /> +But that Eternal Infinite and One,<br /> +Who never did begin, who ne'er can end;<br /> +On Him all beings, as their source, depend.<br /> +We first, who of his image most partake,<br /> +Whom he all spirit, immortal, pure, did make;<br /> +Man next; whose race, exalted, must supply<br /> +The place of those, who, falling, lost the sky.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Bright minister of heaven, sent here below<br /> +To me, who but begin to think and know;<br /> +If such could fall from bliss, who knew and saw,<br /> +By near admission, their creator's law,<br /> +What hopes have I, from heaven remote so far,<br /> +To keep those laws, unknowing when I err?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raphael.</span> Right reason's law to every human heart<br /> +The Eternal, as his image, will impart:<br /> +This teaches to adore heaven's Majesty;<br /> +In prayer and praise does all devotion lie:<br /> +So doing, thou and all thy race are blest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Of every creeping thing, of bird, and beast,<br /> +I see the kinds: In pairs distinct they go;<br /> +The males their loves, their lovers females know:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_128" name="page_128"></a> +Thou nam'st a race which must proceed from me,<br /> +Yet my whole species in myself I see:<br /> +A barren sex, and single, of no use,<br /> +But full of forms which I can ne'er produce.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raphael.</span> Think not the Power, who made thee thus, can find<br /> +No way like theirs to propagate thy kind:<br /> +Meantime, live happy in thyself alone;<br /> +Like him who, single, fills the etherial throne.<br /> +To study nature will thy time employ:<br /> +Knowledge and innocence are perfect joy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> If solitude were best, the All-wise above<br /> +Had made no creature for himself to love.<br /> +I add not to the power he had before;<br /> +Yet to make me, extends his goodness more.<br /> +He would not be alone, who all things can;<br /> +But peopled heaven with angels, earth with man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raphael.</span> As man and angels to the Deity,<br /> +So all inferior creatures are to thee.<br /> +Heaven's greatness no society can bear;<br /> +Servants he made, and those thou want'st not here.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Why did he reason in my soul implant,<br /> +And speech, the effect of reason? To the mute,<br /> +My speech is lost; my reason to the brute.<br /> +Love and society more blessings bring<br /> +To them, the slaves, than power to me, their king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raphael.</span> Thus far to try thee; but to heaven 'twas known,<br /> +It was not best for man to be alone;<br /> +An equal, yet thy subject, is designed,<br /> +For thy soft hours, and to unbend thy mind.<br /> +Thy stronger soul shall her weak reason sway;<br /> +And thou, through love, her beauty shalt obey;<br /> +Thou shalt secure her helpless sex from harms,<br /> +And she thy cares shall sweeten with her charms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_129" name="page_129"></a> +<span class="cnm">Adam.</span> What more can heaven bestow, or man require?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raphael.</span> Yes, he can give beyond thy own desire.<br /> +A mansion is provided thee, more fair<br /> +Than this, and worthy heaven's peculiar care:<br /> +Not framed of common earth, nor fruits, nor flowers<br /> +Of vulgar growth, but like celestial bowers:<br /> +The soil luxuriant, and the fruit divine,<br /> +Where golden apples on green branches shine,<br /> +And purple grapes dissolve into immortal wine;<br /> +For noon-day's heat are closer arbours made,<br /> +And for fresh evening air the opener glade.<br /> +Ascend; and, as we go,<br /> +More wonders thou shalt know.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> And, as we go, let earth and heaven above<br /> +Sound our great Maker's power, and greater love. +<span class="sdr">[They ascend to soft music, and a song is sung.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">The Scene changes, and represents, above, a Sun gloriously +rising and moving orbicularly: at a distance, +below, is the Moon; the part next the Sun enlightened, +the other dark. A black Cloud comes whirling +from the adverse part of the Heavens, bearing <span class="cnm">Lucifer</span> +in it; at his nearer approach the body of the +Sun is darkened.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Am I become so monstrous, so disfigured,<br /> +That nature cannot suffer my approach,<br /> +Or look me in the face, but stands aghast;<br /> +And that fair light which gilds this new-made orb,<br /> +Shorn of his beams, shrinks in? accurst ambition!<br /> +And thou, black empire of the nether world,<br /> +How dearly have I bought you! But, 'tis past;<br /> +I have already gone too far to stop,<br /> +And must push on my dire revenge, in ruin<br /> +Of this gay frame, and man, my upstart rival,<br /> +In scorn of me created. Down, my pride,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_130" name="page_130"></a> +And all my swelling thoughts! I must forget<br /> +Awhile I am a devil, and put on<br /> +A smooth submissive face; else I in vain<br /> +Have past through night and chaos, to discover<br /> +Those envied skies again, which I have lost.<br /> +But stay; far off I see a chariot driven,<br /> +Flaming with beams, and in it Uriel,<br /> +One of the seven, (I know his hated face)<br /> +Who stands in presence of the eternal throne,<br /> +And seems the regent of that glorious light.</p> + +<p class="sdn">From that part of the Heavens where the Sun appears, +a Chariot is discovered drawn with white +Horses, and in it <span class="cnm">Uriel,</span> the Regent of the Sun. +The Chariot moves swiftly towards <span class="cnm">Lucifer,</span> and at +<span class="cnm">Uriel's</span> approach the Sun recovers his light.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Uriel.</span> Spirit, who art thou, and from whence arrived?<br /> +(For I remember not thy face in heaven)<br /> +Or by command, or hither led by choice?<br /> +Or wander'st thou within this lucid orb,<br /> +And, strayed from those fair fields of light above,<br /> +Amidst this new creation want'st a guide,<br /> +To reconduct thy steps?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucifer.</span> Bright Uriel,<br /> +Chief of the seven! thou flaming minister,<br /> +Who guard'st this new-created orb of light,<br /> +(The world's eye that, and thou the eye of it)<br /> +Thy favour and high office make thee known:<br /> +An humble cherub I, and of less note,<br /> +Yet bold, by thy permission, hither come,<br /> +On high discoveries bent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Uriel.</span> Speak thy design.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucifer.</span> Urged by renown of what I heard above,<br /> +Divulged by angels nearest heaven's high King,<br /> +Concerning this new world, I came to view<br /> +(If worthy such a favour) and admire<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_131" name="page_131"></a> +This last effect of our great Maker's power:<br /> +Thence to my wondering fellows I shall turn,<br /> +Full fraught with joyful tidings of these works,<br /> +New matter of his praise, and of our songs.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Uriel.</span> Thy business is not what deserves my blame,<br /> +Nor thou thyself unwelcome; see, fair spirit,<br /> +Below yon sphere (of matter not unlike it)<br /> +There hangs the ball of earth and water mixt,<br /> +Self-centered and unmoved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucifer.</span> But where dwells man?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Uriel.</span> On yonder mount; thou see'st it fenced with rocks,<br /> +And round the ascent a theatre of trees,<br /> +A sylvan scene, which, rising by degrees,<br /> +Leads up the eye below, nor gluts the sight<br /> +With one full prospect, but invites by many,<br /> +To view at last the whole: There his abode,<br /> +Thither direct thy flight.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucifer.</span> O blest be thou,<br /> +Who to my low converse has lent thy ear,<br /> +And favoured my request! Hail, and farewell. +<span class="sdr">[Flies downward out of sight.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Uriel.</span> Not unobserved thou goest, whoe'er thou art;<br /> +Whether some spirit on holy purpose bent,<br /> +Or some fallen angel from below broke loose,<br /> +Who com'st, with envious eyes and curst intent,<br /> +To view this world and its created lord:<br /> +Here will I watch, and, while my orb rolls on,<br /> +Pursue from hence thy much suspected flight,<br /> +And, if disguised, pierce through with beams of light. +<span class="sdr">[The Chariot drives forward out of sight.</span></p> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_132" name="page_132"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">SCENE II.—<i>Paradise.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Trees cut out on each side, with several Fruits upon +them; a Fountain in the midst: At the far end the +prospect terminates in Walks.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> If this be dreaming, let me never wake;<br /> +But still the joys of that sweet sleep partake.<br /> +Methought—but why do I my bliss delay,<br /> +By thinking what I thought? Fair vision, stay;<br /> +My better half, thou softer part of me,<br /> +To whom I yield my boasted sovereignty,<br /> +I seek myself, and find not, wanting thee.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Eve.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Tell me, ye hills and dales, and thou fair sun,<br /> +Who shin'st above, what am I? Whence begun?<br /> +Like myself, I see nothing: From each tree<br /> +The feathered kind peep down to look on me;<br /> +And beasts with up-cast eyes forsake their shade,<br /> +And gaze, as if I were to be obeyed.<br /> +Sure I am somewhat which they wish to be,<br /> +And cannot; I myself am proud of me.<br /> +What's here? another firmament below,<span class="sdr">[Looks into a fountain.</span><br /> +Spread wide, and other trees that downward grow!<br /> +And now a face peeps up, and now draws near,<br /> +With smiling looks, as pleased to see me here.<br /> +As I advance, so that advances too,<br /> +And seems to imitate whate'er I do:<br /> +When I begin to speak, the lips it moves;<br /> +Streams drown the voice, or it would say, it loves.<br /> +Yet when I would embrace, it will not stay: +<span class="sdr">[Stoops down to embrace.</span><br /> +Lost ere 'tis held; when nearest, far away.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_133" name="page_133"></a> +Ah, fair, yet false! ah, Being, formed to cheat,<br /> +By seeming kindness, mixt with deep deceit!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Adam.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> O virgin, heaven-begot, and born of man,<br /> +Thou fairest of thy great Creator's works!<br /> +Thee, goddess, thee the Eternal did ordain,<br /> +His softer substitute on earth to reign;<br /> +And, wheresoe'er thy happy footsteps tread,<br /> +Nature in triumph after thee is led!<br /> +Angels with pleasure view thy matchless grace,<br /> +And love their Maker's image in thy face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> O, only like myself,(for nothing here<br /> +So graceful, so majestic does appear:)<br /> +Art thou the form my longing eyes did see,<br /> +Loosed from thy fountain, and come out to me?<br /> +Yet sure thou art not, nor thy face the same,<br /> +Nor thy limbs moulded in so soft a frame;<br /> +Thou look'st more sternly, dost more strongly move,<br /> +And more of awe thou bear'st, and less of love.<br /> +Yet pleased I hear thee, and above the rest,<br /> +I, next myself, admire and love thee best.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Made to command, thus freely I obey,<br /> +And at thy feet the whole creation lay.<br /> +Pity that love thy beauty does beget;<br /> +What more I shall desire, I know not yet.<br /> +First let us locked in close embraces be,<br /> +Thence I, perhaps, may teach myself and thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Somewhat forbids me, which I cannot name;<br /> +For, ignorant of guilt, I fear not shame:<br /> +But some restraining thought, I know not why,<br /> +Tells me, you long should beg, I long deny.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> In vain! my right to thee is sealed above;<br /> +Look round and see where thou canst place thy love:<br /> +All creatures else are much unworthy thee;<br /> +They matched, and thou alone art left for me.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_134" name="page_134"></a> +If not to love, we both were made in vain;<br /> +I my new empire would resign again,<br /> +And change with my dumb slaves my nobler mind,<br /> +Who, void of reason, more of pleasure find.<br /> +Methinks, for me they beg; each silently<br /> +Demands thy grace, and seems to watch thy eye.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> I well foresee, whene'er thy suit I grant,<br /> +That I my much-loved sovereignty shall want:<br /> +Or like myself some other may be made,<br /> +And her new beauty may thy heart invade.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Could heaven some greater master-piece devise,<br /> +Set out with all the glories of the skies,<br /> +That beauty yet in vain he should decree.<br /> +Unless he made another heart for me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> With how much ease I, whom I love, believe!<br /> +Giving myself, my want of worth I grieve.<br /> +Here, my inviolable faith I plight,<br /> +So, thou be my defence, I, thy delight. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt, he leading her.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT III.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>Paradise.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Lucifer.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Fair place! yet what is this to heaven, where I<br /> +Sat next, so almost equalled the Most High?<br /> +I doubted, measuring both, who was more strong;<br /> +Then, willing to forget time since so long,<br /> +Scarce thought I was created: Vain desire<br /> +Of empire in my thoughts still shot me higher,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_135" name="page_135"></a> +To mount above his sacred head: Ah why,<br /> +When he so kind, was so ungrateful I?<br /> +He bounteously bestowed unenvied good<br /> +On me: In arbitrary grace I stood:<br /> +To acknowledge this, was all he did exact;<br /> +Small tribute, where the will to pay was act.<br /> +I mourn it now, unable to repent,<br /> +As he, who knows my hatred to relent,<br /> +Jealous of power once questioned: Hope, farewell;<br /> +And with hope, fear; no depth below my hell<br /> +Can be prepared: Then, Ill, be thou my good;<br /> +And, vast destruction, be my envy's food.<br /> +Thus I, with heaven, divided empire gain;<br /> +Seducing man, I make his project vain,<br /> +And in one hour destroy his six days pain.<br /> +They come again, I must retire.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Adam</span> and <span class="cnm">Eve.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Thus shall we live in perfect bliss, and see,<br /> +Deathless ourselves, our numerous progeny.<br /> +Thou young and beauteous, my desires to bless;<br /> +I, still desiring, what I still possess.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Heaven, from whence love, our greatest blessing, came,<br /> +Can give no more, but still to be the same.<br /> +Thou more of pleasure may'st with me partake;<br /> +I, more of pride, because thy bliss I make.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> When to my arms thou brought'st thy virgin love,<br /> +Fair angels sung our bridal hymn above:<br /> +The Eternal, nodding, shook the firmament,<br /> +And conscious nature gave her glad consent.<br /> +Roses unbid, and every fragrant flower,<br /> +Flew from their stalks, to strew thy nuptial bower:<br /> +The furred and feathered kind the triumph did pursue,<br /> +And fishes leaped above the streams, the passing pomp to view.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_136" name="page_136"></a> +<span class="cnm">Eve.</span> When your kind eyes looked languishing on mine,<br /> +And wreathing arms did soft embraces join,<br /> +A doubtful trembling seized me first all o'er;<br /> +Then, wishes; and a warmth, unknown before:<br /> +What followed was all ecstasy and trance;<br /> +Immortal pleasures round my swimming eyes did dance,<br /> +And speechless joys, in whose sweet tumult tost,<br /> +I thought my breath and my new being lost.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> O death to hear! and a worse hell on earth! +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +What mad profusion on this clod-born birth!<br /> +Abyss of joys, as if heaven meant to shew<br /> +What, in base matters, such a hand could do:<br /> +Or was his virtue spent, and he no more<br /> +With angels could supply the exhausted store,<br /> +Of which I swept the sky?<br /> +And wanting subjects to his haughty will,<br /> +On this mean work employed his trifling skill?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Blest in ourselves, all pleasures else abound;<br /> +Without our care behold the unlaboured ground<br /> +Bounteous of fruit; above our shady bowers<br /> +The creeping jessamin thrusts her fragrant flowers;<br /> +The myrtle, orange, and the blushing rose,<br /> +With bending heaps so nigh their blooms disclose,<br /> +Each seems to swell the flavour which the other blows:<br /> +By these the peach, the guava, and the pine,<br /> +And, creeping 'twixt them all, the mantling vine<br /> +Does round their trunks her purple clusters twine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> All these are ours, all nature's excellence,<br /> +Whose taste or smell can bless the feasted sense;<br /> +One only fruit, in the mid garden placed,—<br /> +The Tree of Knowledge,—is denied our taste;<br /> +(Our proof of duty to our Maker's will:)<br /> +Of disobedience, death's the threatened ill.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_137" name="page_137"></a> +<span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Death is some harm, which, though we know not yet,<br /> +Since threatened, we must needs imagine great:<br /> +And sure he merits it, who disobeys<br /> +That one command, and one of so much ease.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Must they then die, if they attempt to know?<br /> +He sees they would rebel, and keeps them low.<br /> +On this foundation I their ruin lay,<br /> +Hope to know more shall tempt to disobey.<br /> +I fell by this, and, since their strength is less,<br /> +Why should not equal means give like success?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Come, my fair love, our morning's task we lose;<br /> +Some labour even the easiest life would chuse:<br /> +Ours is not great: the dangling boughs to crop,<br /> +Whose too luxuriant growth our alleys stop,<br /> +And choke the paths: This our delight requires,<br /> +And heaven no more of daily work desires.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> With thee to live, is paradise alone:<br /> +Without the pleasure of thy sight, is none.<br /> +I fear small progress will be made this day;<br /> +So much our kisses will our task delay.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Why have not I, like these, a body too,<br /> +Formed for the same delights which they pursue!<br /> +I could (so variously my passions move)<br /> +Enjoy, and blast her in the act of love.<br /> +Unwillingly I hate such excellence;<br /> +She wronged me not; but I revenge the offence,<br /> +Through her, on heaven, whose thunder took away<br /> +My birth-right skies! Live happy whilst you may,<br /> +Blest pair; y'are not allowed another day!<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Gabriel</span> and <span class="cnm">Ithuriel</span> descend, carried on bright +clouds, and flying cross each other, then light on the +ground.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> Ithuriel, since we two commissioned are<br /> +From heaven the guardians of this new made pair,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_138" name="page_138"></a> +Each mind his charge; for, see, the night draws on,<br /> +And rising mists pursue the setting sun.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ithu.</span> Blest is our lot to serve; our task we know:<br /> +To watch, lest any, from the abyss below<br /> +Broke loose, disturb their sleep with dreams; or worse,<br /> +Assault their beings with superior force. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Uriel</span> flies down from the Sun.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Uriel.</span> Gabriel, if now the watch be set, prepare,<br /> +With strictest guard, to shew thy utmost care.<br /> +This morning came a spirit, fair he seemed,<br /> +Whom, by his face, I some young cherub deemed;<br /> +Of man he much inquired, and where his place,<br /> +With shews of zeal to praise his Maker's grace;<br /> +But I, with watchful eyes, observed his flight,<br /> +And saw him on yon steepy mount alight;<br /> +There, as he thought, unseen, he laid aside<br /> +His borrowed mask, and re-assumed his pride:<br /> +I marked his looks, averse to heaven and good;<br /> +Dusky he grew, and long revolving stood<br /> +On some deep, dark design; thence shot with haste,<br /> +And o'er the mounds of Paradise he past:<br /> +By his proud port, he seemed the Prince of Hell;<br /> +And here he lurks in shades 'till night: Search well<br /> +Each grove and thicket, pry in every shape,<br /> +Lest, hid in some, the arch hypocrite escape.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> If any spirit come to invade, or scout<br /> +From hell, what earthy fence can keep him out?<br /> +But rest secure of this, he shall be found,<br /> +And taken, or proscribed this happy ground.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ithu.</span> Thou to the east, I westward walk the round,<br /> +And meet we in the midst.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Uriel.</span> Heaven your design<br /> +Succeed; your charge requires you, and me mine. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Uriel</span> flies forward out of sight; the two Angels +exeunt severally.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_139" name="page_139"></a> +A Night-piece of a pleasant Bower: <span class="cnm">Adam</span> and <span class="cnm">Eve</span> +asleep in it.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Lucifer.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> So, now they lie secure in love, and steep<br /> +Their sated senses in full draughts of sleep.<br /> +By what sure means can I their bliss invade?<br /> +By violence? No, for they are immortal made.<br /> +Their reason sleeps, but mimic fancy wakes,<br /> +Supplies her part, and wild ideas takes,<br /> +From words and things, ill sorted and misjoined;<br /> +The anarchy of thought, and chaos of the mind:<br /> +Hence dreams, confused and various, may arise;<br /> +These will I set before the woman's eyes;<br /> +The weaker she, and made my easier prey;<br /> +Vain shows and pomp the softer sex betray. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Lucifer</span> sits down by <span class="cnm">Eve,</span> and seems to whisper +in her ear.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">A Vision, where a tree rises loaden with fruit; four +Spirits rise with it, and draw a canopy out of the +tree; other Spirits dance about the tree in deformed +shapes; after the dance an Angel enters, with a +Woman, habited like <span class="cnm">Eve.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Angel.</span> [<span class="sdm">Singing.</span>]<br /> +Look up, look up, and see,<br /> +What heaven prepares for thee;<br /> +Look up, and this fair fruit behold,<br /> +Ruddy it smiles, and rich with streaks of gold.<br /> +The loaded branches downward bend,<br /> +Willing they stoop, and thy fair hand attend.<br /> +Fair mother of mankind, make haste<br /> +And bless, and bless thy senses with the taste.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Woman.</span> No, 'tis forbidden; I<br /> +In tasting it shall die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Angel.</span> Say, who enjoined this harsh command?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_140" name="page_140"></a> +<span class="cnm">Woman.</span> 'Twas heaven; and who can heaven withstand?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Angel.</span> Why was it made so fair, why placed in sight?<br /> +Heaven is too good to envy man's delight.<br /> +See, we before thy face will try<br /> +What thou so fearest, and will not die. +<span class="sdr">[The Angel takes the fruit, and gives to the Spirits +who danced; they immediately put off their deformed +shapes, and appear Angels.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Angel.</span> [<span class="sdm">Singing.</span>]<br /> +Behold what a change on a sudden is here!<br /> +How glorious in beauty, how bright they appear!<br /> +Prom spirits deformed they are deities made,<br /> +Their pinions at pleasure the clouds can invade, +<span class="sdr">[The Angel gives to the Woman, who eats.</span><br /> +Till equal in honour they rise,<br /> +With him who commands in the skies;<br /> +Then taste without fear, and be happy and wise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Woman.</span> Ah, now I believe! such a pleasure I find,<br /> +As enlightens my eyes, and enlivens my mind. +<span class="sdr">[The Spirits, who are turned Angels, fly up when +they have tasted.</span><br /> +I only repent,<br /> +I deferred my content.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Angel.</span> Now wiser experience has taught you to prove,<br /> +What a folly it is,<br /> +Out of fear to shun bliss.<br /> +To the joy that's forbidden we eagerly move;<br /> +It inhances the price, and increases the love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Chorus of both.</span> To the joy, &c.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Two Angels descend; they take the Woman each by the +hand, and fly up with her out of sight. The Angel +who sung, and the Spirits who held the canopy, +at the same instant sink down with the tree.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_141" name="page_141"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Gabriel</span> and <span class="cnm">Ithuriel</span> to <span class="cnm">Lucifer,</span> who +remains.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> What art thou? speak thy name and thy intent.<br /> +Why here alone? and on what errand sent?<br /> +Not from above; no, thy wan looks betray<br /> +Diminished light, and eyes unused to day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Not to know me, argues thyself unknown:<br /> +Time was, when, shining next the imperial throne,<br /> +I sat in awful state; while such as thou<br /> +Did in the ignoble crowd at distance bow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> Think'st thou, vain spirit, thy glories are the same?<br /> +And seest not sin obscures thy god-like frame?<br /> +I know thee now by thy ungrateful pride,<br /> +That shews me what thy faded looks did hide,<br /> +Traitor to Him who made and set thee high,<br /> +And fool, that Power which formed thee to defy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Go, slaves, return, and fawn in heaven again:<br /> +Seek thanks from him whose quarrel you maintain.<br /> +Vile wretches! of your servitude to boast;<br /> +You basely keep the place I bravely lost.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ithu.</span> Freedom is choice of what we will and do:<br /> +Then blame not servants, who are freely so.<br /> +'Tis base not to acknowledge what we owe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Thanks, howe'er due, proclaim subjection yet;<br /> +I fought for power to quit the upbraided debt.<br /> +Whoe'er expects our thanks, himself repays,<br /> +And seems but little, who can want our praise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> What in us duty, shews not want in him;<br /> +Blest in himself alone,<br /> +To whom no praise we, by good deeds, can add;<br /> +Nor can his glory suffer from our bad.<br /> +Made for his use; yet he has formed us so,<br /> +We, unconstrained, what he commands us do.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_142" name="page_142"></a> +So praise we him, and serve him freely best;<br /> +Thus thou, by choice, art fallen, and we are blest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ithu.</span> This, lest thou think thy plea, unanswered, good.<br /> +Our question thou evad'st: How didst thou dare<br /> +To break hell bounds, and near this human pair<br /> +In nightly ambush lie?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Lives there, who would not seek to force his way,<br /> +From pain to ease, from darkness to the day?<br /> +Should I, who found the means to 'scape, not dare<br /> +To change my sulphurous smoke for upper air?<br /> +When I, in fight, sustained your Thunderer,<br /> +And heaven on me alone spent half his war,<br /> +Think'st thou those wounds were light? Should I not seek<br /> +The clemency of some more temperate clime,<br /> +To purge my gloom; and, by the sun refined,<br /> +Bask in his beams, and bleach me in the wind?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> If pain to shun be all thy business here,<br /> +Methinks thy fellows the same course should steer.<br /> +Is their pain less, who yet behind thee stay?<br /> +Or thou less hardy to endure than they?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Nor one, nor t'other; but, as leaders ought,<br /> +I ventured first alone, first danger sought,<br /> +And first explored this new-created frame,<br /> +Which filled our dusky regions with its fame;<br /> +In hopes my fainting troops to settle here,<br /> +And to defend against your Thunderer,<br /> +This spot of earth; or nearer heaven repair,<br /> +And forage to his gates from middle air.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ithu.</span> Fool! to believe thou any part canst gain<br /> +From Him, who could'st not thy first ground maintain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> But whether that design, or one as vain,<br /> +To attempt the lives of these, first drew thee here,<br /> +Avoid the place, and never more appear<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_143" name="page_143"></a> +Upon this hallowed earth; else prove our might.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Not that I fear, do I decline the fight:<br /> +You I disdain; let me with Him contend,<br /> +On whom your limitary powers depend.<br /> +More honour from the sender than the sent:<br /> +Till then, I have accomplished my intent;<br /> +And leave this place, which but augments my pain,<br /> +Gazing to wish, yet hopeless to obtain. +<span class="sdr">[Exit, they following him.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT IV.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>Paradise.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Adam</span> and <span class="cnm">Eve.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Strange was your dream, and full of sad portent;<br /> +Avert it, heaven, if it from heaven were sent!<br /> +Let on thy foes the dire presages fall;<br /> +To us be good and easy, when we call.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Behold from far a breaking cloud appears,<br /> +Which in it many winged warriors bears:<br /> +Their glory shoots upon my aching sense;<br /> +Thou, stronger, mayest endure the flood of light,<br /> +And while in shades I chear my fainting sight,<br /> +Encounter the descending Excellence.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">The Cloud descends with six Angels in it, and when +it is near the ground, breaks, and on each side discovers +six more: They descend out of the Cloud. +<span class="cnm">Raphael</span> and <span class="cnm">Gabriel</span> discourse with <span class="cnm">Adam,</span> the +rest stand at a distance.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> First of mankind, that we from heaven are sent,<br /> +Is from heaven's care thy ruin to prevent.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_144" name="page_144"></a> +The Apostate Angel has by night been here,<br /> +And whispered through thy sleeping consort's ear<br /> +Delusive dreams. Thus warned by us, beware,<br /> +And guide her frailty by thy timely care.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> These, as thy guards from outward harms, are sent;<br /> +Ills from within thy reason must prevent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Natives of heaven, who in compassion deign<br /> +To want that place where joys immortal reign,<br /> +In care of me; what praises can I pay,<br /> +Descended in obedience; taught to obey?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Praise Him alone, who god-like formed thee free,<br /> +With will unbounded as a deity;<br /> +Who gave thee reason, as thy aid, to chuse<br /> +Apparent good, and evil to refuse.<br /> +Obedience is that good; this heaven exacts,<br /> +And heaven, all-just, from man requires not acts,<br /> +Which man wants power to do: Power then is given<br /> +Of doing good, but not compelled by heaven.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> Made good, that thou dost to thy Maker owe;<br /> +But to thyself, if thou continuest so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Freedom of will of all good things is best;<br /> +But can it be by finite man possest?<br /> +I know not how heaven can communicate<br /> +What equals man to his Creator's state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Heaven cannot give his boundless power away,<br /> +But boundless liberty of choice he may;<br /> +So orbs from the first Mover motion take,<br /> +Yet each their proper revolutions make.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Grant heaven could once have given us liberty;<br /> +Are we not bounded now, by firm decree,<br /> +Since whatsoe'er is pre-ordained must be?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_145" name="page_145"></a> +Else heaven for man events might pre-ordain,<br /> +And man's free will might make those orders vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> The Eternal, when he did the world create,<br /> +All other agents did necessitate:<br /> +So what he ordered, they by nature do;<br /> +Thus light things mount, and heavy downward go.<br /> +Man only boasts an arbitrary state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Yet causes their effects necessitate<br /> +In willing agents: Where is freedom then?<br /> +Or who can break the chain which limits men<br /> +To act what is unchangeably forecast,<br /> +Since the first cause gives motion to the last?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Heaven, by fore-knowing what will surely be,<br /> +Does only, first, effects in causes see,<br /> +And finds, but does not make, necessity.<br /> +Creation is of power and will the effect,<br /> +Foreknowledge only of his intellect.<br /> +His prescience makes not, but supposes things;<br /> +Infers necessity to be, not brings.<br /> +Thus thou art not constrained to good or ill;<br /> +Causes, which work the effect, force not the will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> The force unseen, and distant, I confess;<br /> +But the long chain makes not the bondage less.<br /> +Even man himself may to himself seem free;<br /> +And think that choice, which is necessity.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> And who but man should judge of man's free state?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> I find that I can chuse to love or hate,<br /> +Obey or disobey, do good or ill;<br /> +Yet such a choice is but consent, not will.<br /> +I can but chuse what he at first designed,<br /> +For he, before that choice, my will confined.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> Such impious fancies, where they entrance gain,<br /> +Make heaven, all-pure, thy crimes to pre-ordain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Far, far from me be banished such a thought,<br /> +I argue only to be better taught.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_146" name="page_146"></a> +Can there be freedom, when what now seems free<br /> +Was founded on some first necessity?<br /> +For whate'er cause can move the will t'elect,<br /> +Must be sufficient to produce the effect;<br /> +And what's sufficient must effectual be:<br /> +Then how is man, thus forced by causes, free?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Sufficient causes only work the effect,<br /> +When necessary agents they respect.<br /> +Such is not man; who, though the cause suffice,<br /> +Yet often he his free assent denies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> What causes not, is not sufficient still.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> Sufficient in itself; not in thy will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> When we see causes joined to effects at last,<br /> +The chain but shews necessity that's past.<br /> +That what's done is: (ridiculous proof of fate!)<br /> +Tell me which part it does necessitate?<br /> +I'll cruise the other; there I'll link the effect.<br /> +O chain, which fools, to catch themselves, project!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Though no constraint from heaven, or causes, be,<br /> +Heaven may prevent that ill he does foresee;<br /> +And, not preventing, though he does not cause,<br /> +He seems to will that men should break his laws.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> Heaven may permit, but not to ill consent;<br /> +For, hindering ill, he would all choice prevent.<br /> +'Twere to unmake, to take away the will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Better constrained to good, than free to ill.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> But what reward or punishment could be,<br /> +If man to neither good nor ill were free?<br /> +The eternal justice could decree no pain<br /> +To him whose sins itself did first ordain;<br /> +And good, compelled, could no reward exact:<br /> +His power would shine in goodness, not thy act.<br /> +Our task is done: Obey; and, in that choice,<br /> +Thou shalt be blest, and angels shall rejoice. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Raphael</span> and <span class="cnm">Gabriel</span> fly up in the Cloud: +the other Angels go off.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_147" name="page_147"></a> +<span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Hard state of life! since heaven foreknows my will,<br /> +Why am I not tied up from doing ill?<br /> +Why am I trusted with myself at large,<br /> +When he's more able to sustain the charge?<br /> +Since angels fell, whose strength was more than mine,<br /> +'Twould show more grace my frailty to confine.<br /> +Fore-knowing the success, to leave me free,<br /> +Excuses him, and yet supports not me.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To him <span class="cnm">Eve</span>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Behold, my heart's dear lord, how high the sun<br /> +Is mounted, yet our labour not begun.<br /> +The ground, unhid, gives more than we can ask;<br /> +But work is pleasure when we chuse our task.<br /> +Nature, not bounteous now, but lavish grows;<br /> +Our paths with flowers she prodigally strows;<br /> +With pain we lift up our entangled feet,<br /> +While cross our walks the shooting branches meet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Well has thy care advised; 'tis fit we haste;<br /> +Nature's too kind, and follows us too fast;<br /> +Leaves us no room her treasures to possess,<br /> +But mocks our industry with her excess;<br /> +And, wildly wanton, wears by night away<br /> +The sign of all our labours done by day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Since, then, the work's so great, the hands so few,<br /> +This day let each a several task pursue.<br /> +By thee, my hands to labour will not move,<br /> +But, round thy neck, employ themselves in love.<br /> +When thou would'st work, one tender touch, one smile<br /> +(How can I hold?) will all thy task beguile.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> So hard we are not to our labour tied,<br /> +That smiles, and soft endearments are denied;<br /> +Smiles, not allowed to beasts, from reason move,<br /> +And are the privilege of human love:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_148" name="page_148"></a> +And if, sometimes, each others eyes we meet,<br /> +Those little vacancies from toil are sweet.<br /> +But you, by absence, would refresh your joys,<br /> +Because perhaps my conversation cloys.<br /> +Yet this, would prudence grant, I could permit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> What reason makes my small request unfit?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> The fallen archangel, envious of our state,<br /> +Pursues our beings with immortal hate;<br /> +And, hopeless to prevail by open force,<br /> +Seeks hid advantage to betray us worse;<br /> +Which when asunder will not prove so hard;<br /> +For both together are each other's guard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Since he, by force, is hopeless to prevail,<br /> +He can by fraud alone our minds assail:<br /> +And to believe his wiles my truth can move,<br /> +Is to misdoubt my reason, or my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Call it my care, and not mistrust of thee;<br /> +Yet thou art weak, and full of art is he;<br /> +Else how could he that host seduce to sin,<br /> +Whose fall has left the heavenly nation thin?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> I grant him armed with subtilty and hate;<br /> +But why should we suspect our happy state?<br /> +Is our perfection of so frail a make,<br /> +As every plot can undermine or shake?<br /> +Think better both of heaven, thyself, and me:<br /> +Who always fears, at ease can never be.<br /> +Poor state of bliss, where so much care is shown,<br /> +As not to dare to trust ourselves alone!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Such is our state, as not exempt from fall;<br /> +Yet firm, if reason to our aid we call:<br /> +And that, in both, is stronger than in one;<br /> +I would not,—why would'st thou, then, be alone?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Because, thus warned, I know myself secure,<br /> +And long my little trial to endure,<br /> +To approve my faith, thy needless fears remove,<br /> +Gain thy esteem, and so deserve thy love.<br /> +If all this shake not thy obdurate will,<br /> +Know that, even present, I am absent still:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_149" name="page_149"></a> +And then what pleasure hop'st thou in my stay,<br /> +When I'm constrained, and wish myself away?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Constraint does ill with love and beauty suit;<br /> +I would persuade, but not be absolute.<br /> +Better be much remiss, than too severe;<br /> +If pleased in absence thou wilt still be here.<br /> +Go; in thy native innocence proceed,<br /> +And summon all thy reason at thy need.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> My soul, my eyes delight! in this I find<br /> +Thou lov'st; because to love is to be kind.<span class="sdr">[Embracing him.</span><br /> +Seeking my trial, I am still on guard:<br /> +Trials, less sought, would find us less prepared.<br /> +Our foe's too proud the weaker to assail,<br /> +Or doubles his dishonour if he fail.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> In love, what use of prudence can there be?<br /> +More perfect I, and yet more powerful she.<br /> +Blame me not, heaven; if thou love's power hast tried,<br /> +What could be so unjust to be denied?<br /> +One look of hers my resolution breaks;<br /> +Reason itself turns folly when she speaks:<br /> +And awed by her, whom it was made to sway,<br /> +Flatters her power, and does its own betray.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">The middle part of the Garden is represented, where +four Rivers meet: On the right side of the Scene +is placed the Tree of Life; on the left, the Tree of +Knowledge.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Lucifer.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Methinks the beauties of this place should mourn;<br /> +The immortal fruits and flowers, at my return,<br /> +Should hang their withered heads; for sure my breath<br /> +Is now more poisonous, and has gathered death<br /> +Enough, to blast the whole creation's frame.<br /> +Swoln with despite, with sorrow, and with shame,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_150" name="page_150"></a> +Thrice have I beat the wing, and rode with night<br /> +About the world, behind the globe of light,<br /> +To shun the watch of heaven; such care I use:<br /> +(What pains will malice, raised like mine, refuse?<br /> +Not the most abject form of brutes to take.)<br /> +Hid in the spiry volumes of the snake,<br /> +I lurked within the covert of a brake,<br /> +Not yet descried. But see, the woman here<br /> +Alone! beyond my hopes! no guardian near.<br /> +Good omen that: I must retire unseen,<br /> +And, with my borrowed shape, the work begin.<span class="sdr">[Retires.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Eve.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Thus far, at least, with leave; nor can it be<br /> +A sin to look on this celestial tree:<br /> +I would not more; to touch, a crime may prove:<br /> +Touching is a remoter taste in love.<br /> +Death may be there, or poison in the smell,<br /> +(If death in any thing so fair can dwell:)<br /> +But heaven forbids: I could be satisfied,<br /> +Were every tree but this, but this denied.</p> + +<p class="sdn">A Serpent enters on the Stage, and makes directly to +the Tree of Knowledge, on which winding himself, +he plucks an Apple; then descends, and carries it +away.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Strange sight! did then our great Creator grant +That privilege, which we, their masters, want,<br /> +To these inferior brings? Or was it chance?<br /> +And was he blest with bolder ignorance?<br /> +I saw his curling crest the trunk enfold:<br /> +The ruddy fruit, distinguished o'er with gold.<br /> +And smiling in its native wealth, was torn<br /> +From the rich bough, and then in triumph borne:<br /> +The venturous victor marched unpunished hence,<br /> +And seemed to boast his fortunate offence.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_151" name="page_151"></a> +To her <span class="cnm">Lucifer,</span> in a human Shape.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Hail, sovereign of this orb! formed to possess<br /> +The world, and, with one look, all nature bless.<br /> +Nature is thine; thou, empress, dost bestow<br /> +On fruits, to blossom; and on flowers, to blow.<br /> +They happy, yet insensible to boast<br /> +Their bliss: More happy they who know thee most.<br /> +Then happiest I, to human reason raised,<br /> +And voice, with whose first accents thou art praised.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> What art thou, or from whence? For on this ground,<br /> +Beside my lord's, ne'er heard I human sound.<br /> +Art thou some other Adam, formed from earth,<br /> +And comest to claim an equal share, by birth,<br /> +In this fair field? Or sprung of heavenly race?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> An humble native of this happy place,<br /> +Thy vassal born, and late of lowest kind,<br /> +Whom heaven neglecting made, and scarce designed,<br /> +But threw me in, for number, to the rest,<br /> +Below the mounting bird and grazing beast;<br /> +By chance, not prudence, now superior grown.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> To make thee such, what miracle was shown?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Who would not tell what thou vouchsaf'st to hear?<br /> +Sawest thou not late a speckled serpent rear<br /> +His gilded spires to climb on yon' fair tree?<br /> +Before this happy minute I was he.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Thou speak'st of wonders: Make thy story plain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Not wishing then, and thoughtless to obtain<br /> +So great a bliss, but led by sense of good,<br /> +Inborn to all, I sought my needful food:<br /> +Then, on that heavenly tree my sight I cast;<br /> +The colour urged my eye, the scent my taste.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_152" name="page_152"></a> +Not to detain thee long,—I took, did eat:<br /> +Scarce had my palate touched the immortal meat,<br /> +But, on a sudden, turned to what I am,<br /> +God-like, and, next to thee, I fair became;<br /> +Thought, spake, and reasoned; and, by reason found<br /> +Thee, nature's queen, with all her graces crowned.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Happy thy lot; but far unlike is mine:<br /> +Forbid to eat, not daring to repine.<br /> +'Twas heaven's command; and should we disobey,<br /> +What raised thy being, ours must take away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Sure you mistake the precept, or the tree:<br /> +Heaven cannot envious of his blessings be.<br /> +Some chance-born plant he might forbid your use,<br /> +As wild, or guilty of a deadly juice;<br /> +Not this, whose colour, scent divine, and taste,<br /> +Proclaim the thoughtful Maker not in haste.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> By all these signs, too well I know the fruit,<br /> +And dread a Power severe and absolute.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Severe, indeed; even to injustice hard;<br /> +If death, for knowing more, be your reward:<br /> +Knowledge of good, is good, and therefore fit;<br /> +And to know ill, is good, for shunning it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> What, but our good, could he design in this,<br /> +Who gave us all, and placed in perfect bliss?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Excuse my zeal, fair sovereign, in your cause,<br /> +Which dares to tax his arbitrary laws.<br /> +'Tis all his aim to keep you blindly low,<br /> +That servile fear from ignorance may flow:<br /> +We scorn to worship whom too well we know.<br /> +He knows, that, eating, you shall godlike be;<br /> +As wise, as fit to be adored, as he.<br /> +For his own interest he this law has given;<br /> +Such beauty may raise factions in his heaven.<br /> +By awing you he does possession keep,<br /> +And is too wise to hazard partnership.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_153" name="page_153"></a> +<span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Alas, who dares dispute with him that right?<br /> +The Power, which formed us, must be infinite.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Luc.</span> Who told you how your form was first designed?<br /> +The sun and earth produce, of every kind,<br /> +Grass, flowers, and fruits; nay, living creatures too:<br /> +Their mould was base; 'twas more refined in you:<br /> +Where vital heat, in purer organs wrought,<br /> +Produced a nobler kind raised up to thought;<br /> +And that, perhaps, might his beginning be:<br /> +Something was first; I question if 'twere he.<br /> +But grant him first, yet still suppose him good,<br /> +Not envying those he made, immortal food.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> But death our disobedience must pursue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Behold, in me, what shall arrive to you.<br /> +I tasted; yet I live: Nay, more; have got<br /> +A state more perfect than my native lot.<br /> +Nor fear this petty fault his wrath should raise:<br /> +Heaven rather will your dauntless virtue praise,<br /> +That sought, through threatened death, immortal good:<br /> +Gods are immortal only by their food.<br /> +Taste, and remove<br /> +What difference does 'twixt them and you remain;<br /> +As I gained reason, you shall godhead gain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> He eats, and lives, in knowledge greater grown: +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +Was death invented then for us alone?<br /> +Is intellectual food to man denied,<br /> +Which brutes have with so much advantage tried?<br /> +Nor only tried themselves, but frankly, more,<br /> +To me have offered their unenvied store?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> Behold, and all your needless doubts remove;<br /> +View well this tree, (the queen of all the grove)<br /> +How vast her hole, how wide her arms are spread,<br /> +How high above the rest she shoots her head,<br /> +Placed in the midst: would heaven his work disgrace,<br /> +By planting poison in the happiest place?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_154" name="page_154"></a> +Haste; you lose time and godhead by delay.<span class="sdr">[Plucking the fruit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> 'Tis done; I'll venture all, and disobey. +<span class="sdr">[Looking about her.</span><br /> +Perhaps, far hid in heaven, he does not spy,<br /> +And none of all his hymning guards are nigh.<br /> +To my dear lord the lovely fruit I'll bear;<br /> +He, to partake my bliss, my crime shall share.<span class="sdr">[Exit hastily.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> She flew, and thanked me not, for haste: 'Twas hard,<br /> +With no return such counsel to reward.<br /> +My work is done, or much the greater part;<br /> +She's now the tempter to ensnare his heart.<br /> +He, whose firm faith no reason could remove,<br /> +Will melt before that soft seducer, love.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT V.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>Paradise.</i></h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Eve,</span> with a bough in her hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Methinks I tread more lightly on the ground;<br /> +My nimble feet from unhurt flowers rebound:<br /> +I walk in air, and scorn this earthly seat;<br /> +Heaven is my palace; this my base retreat.<br /> +Take me not, heaven, too soon; 'twill be unkind<br /> +To leave the partner of my bed behind.<br /> +I love the wretch; but stay, shall I afford<br /> +Him part? already he's too much my lord.<br /> +'Tis in my power to be a sovereign now;<br /> +And, knowing more, to make his manhood bow.<br /> +Empire is sweet; but how if heaven has spied?<br /> +If I should die, and He above provide<br /> +Some other Eve, and place her in my stead?<br /> +Shall she possess his love, when I am dead?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_155" name="page_155"></a> +No; he shall eat, and die with me, or live:<br /> +Our equal crimes shall equal fortune give.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Adam.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> What joy, without your sight, has earth, in store!<br /> +While you were absent, Eden was no more.<br /> +Winds murmured through the leaves your long delay,<br /> +And fountains, o'er the pebbles, chid your stay:<br /> +But with your presence cheered, they cease to mourn,<br /> +And walks wear fresher green at your return.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Henceforth you never shall have cause to chide;<br /> +No future absence shall our joys divide:<br /> +'Twas a short death my love ne'er tried before,<br /> +And therefore strange; but yet the cause was more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> My trembling heart forebodes some ill; I fear<br /> +To ask that cause which I desire to hear.<br /> +What means that lovely fruit? what means, alas!<br /> +That blood, which flushes guilty in your face?<br /> +Speak—do not—yet, at last, I must be told.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Have courage, then: 'tis manly to be bold.<br /> +This fruit—why dost thou shake? no death is nigh:<br /> +'Tis what I tasted first; yet do not die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Is it—(I dare not ask it all at first;<br /> +Doubt is some ease to those who fear the worst:)<br /> +Say, 'tis not—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> 'Tis not what thou needst to fear:<br /> +What danger does in this fair fruit appear?<br /> +We have been cozened; and had still been so,<br /> +Had I not ventured boldly first to know.<br /> +Yet, not I first; I almost blush to say,<br /> +The serpent eating taught me first the way.<br /> +The serpent tasted, and the godlike fruit<br /> +Gave the dumb voice; gave reason to the brute.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> O fairest of all creatures, last and best<br /> +Of what heaven made, how art them dispossest<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_156" name="page_156"></a> +Of all thy native glories! fallen! decayed!<br /> +(Pity so rare a frame so frail was made)<br /> +Now cause of thy own ruin; and with thine,<br /> +(Ah, who can live without thee!) cause of mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Reserve thy pity till I want it more:<br /> +I know myself much happier than before;<br /> +More wise, more perfect, all I wish to be,<br /> +Were I but sure, alas! of pleasing thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> You've shown, how much you my content design:<br /> +Yet, ah! would heaven's displeasure pass like mine!<br /> +Must I without you, then, in wild woods dwell?<br /> +Think, and but think, of what I loved so well?<br /> +Condemned to live with subjects ever mute;<br /> +A savage prince, unpleased, though absolute?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Please then yourself with me, and freely taste,<br /> +Lest I, without you, should to godhead haste:<br /> +Lest, differing in degree, you claim too late<br /> +Unequal love, when 'tis denied by fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Cheat not yourself with dreams of deity;<br /> +Too well, but yet too late, your crime I see:<br /> +Nor think the fruit your knowledge does improve;<br /> +But you have beauty still, and I have love.<br /> +Not cozened, I with choice my life resign:<br /> +Imprudence was your fault, but love was mine. +<span class="sdr">[Takes the fruit and eats it.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> O wondrous power of matchless love exprest! +<span class="sdr">[Embracing him.</span><br /> +Why was this trial thine, of loving best?<br /> +I envy thee that lot; and could it be,<br /> +Would venture something more than death for thee.<br /> +Not that I fear, that death the event can prove;<br /> +Ware both immortal, while so well we love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Whate'er shall be the event, the lot is cast;<br /> +Where appetites are given, what sin to taste?<br /> +Or if a sin, 'tis but by precept such;<br /> +The offence so small, the punishment's too much.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_157" name="page_157"></a> +To seek so soon his new-made world's decay:<br /> +Nor we, nor that, were fashioned for a day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Give to the winds thy fear of death, or ill;<br /> +And think us made but for each other's will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> I will, at least, defer that anxious thought,<br /> +And death, by fear, shall not be nigher brought:<br /> +If he will come, let us to joys make haste;<br /> +Then let him seize us when our pleasure's past.<br /> +We'll take up all before; and death shall find<br /> +We have drained life, and left a void behind.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Lucifer.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Lucif.</span> 'Tis done:<br /> +Sick Nature, at that instant, trembled round;<br /> +And mother Earth sighed, as she felt the wound.<br /> +Of how short durance was this new-made state!<br /> +How far more mighty than heaven's love, hell's hate!<br /> +His project ruined, and his king of clay:<br /> +He formed an empire for his foe to sway.<br /> +Heaven let him rule, which by his arms he got;<br /> +I'm pleased to have obtained the second lot.<br /> +This earth is mine; whose lord I made my thrall:<br /> +Annexing to my crown his conquered ball.<br /> +Loosed from the lakes my regions I will lead,<br /> +And o'er the darkened air black banners spread:<br /> +Contagious damps, from hence, shall mount above,<br /> +And force him to his inmost heaven's remove. +<span class="sdr">[A clap of thunder is heard.</span><br /> +He hears already, and I boast too soon;<br /> +I dread that engine which secured his throne.<br /> +I'll dive below his wrath, into the deep,<br /> +And waste that empire, which I cannot keep.<span class="sdr">[Sinks down.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Raphael</span> and <span class="cnm">Gabriel</span> descend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> As much of grief as happiness admits<br /> +In heaven, on each celestial forehead sits:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_158" name="page_158"></a> +Kindness for man, and pity for his fate,<br /> +May mix with bliss, and yet not violate.<br /> +Their heavenly harps a lower strain began;<br /> +And, in soft music, mourned the fall of man.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> I saw the angelic guards from earth ascend,<br /> +(Grieved they must now no longer man attend:)<br /> +The beams about their temples dimly shone;<br /> +One would have thought the crime had been their own.<br /> +The etherial people flocked for news in haste,<br /> +Whom they, with down-cast looks, and scarce saluting past:<br /> +While each did, in his pensive breast, prepare<br /> +A sad account of their successless care.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> The Eternal yet, in majesty severe,<br /> +And strictest justice, did mild pity bear:<br /> +Their deaths deferred; and banishment, (their doom,)<br /> +In penitence foreseen, leaves mercy room.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gab.</span> That message is thy charge: Mine leads me hence;<br /> +Placed at the garden's gate, for its defence,<br /> +Lest man, returning, the blest place pollute,<br /> +And 'scape from death, by life's immortal fruit. +<span class="sdr">[Another clap of thunder. Exeunt severally.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Adam</span> and <span class="cnm">Eve,</span> affrighted.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> In what dark cavern shall I hide my head?<br /> +Where seek retreat, now innocence is fled?<br /> +Safe in that guard, I durst even hell defy;<br /> +Without it, tremble now, when heaven is nigh.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> What shall we do? or where direct our flight?<br /> +Eastward, as far as I could cast my sight,<br /> +From opening heavens, I saw descending light.<br /> +Its glittering through the trees I still behold;<br /> +The cedar tops seem all to burn with gold.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_159" name="page_159"></a> +<span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Some shape divine, whose beams I cannot bear!<br /> +Would I were hid, where light could not appear.<br /> +Deep into some thick covert would I run,<br /> +Impenetrable to the stars or sun,<br /> +And fenced from day, by night's eternal skreen;<br /> +Unknown to heaven, and to myself unseen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> In vain: What hope to shun his piercing sight,<br /> +Who from dark chaos struck the sparks of light?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> These should have been your thoughts, when, parting hence,<br /> +You trusted to your guideless innocence.<br /> +See now the effects of your own wilful mind:<br /> +Guilt walks before us; death pursues behind.<br /> +So fatal 'twas to seek temptations out:<br /> +Most confidence has still most cause to doubt.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Such might have been thy hap, alone assailed;<br /> +And so, together, might we both have failed.<br /> +Cursed vassalage of all my future kind!<br /> +First idolized, till love's hot fire be o'er,<br /> +Then slaves to those who courted us before.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> I counselled you to stay; your pride refused:<br /> +By your own lawless will you stand accused.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Have you that privilege of only wise,<br /> +And would you yield to her you so despise?<br /> +You should have shown the authority you boast,<br /> +And, sovereign-like, my headlong will have crost:<br /> +Counsel was not enough to sway my heart;<br /> +An absolute restraint had been your part.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Even such returns do they deserve to find,<br /> +When force is lawful, who are fondly kind.<br /> +Unlike my love; for when thy guilt I knew,<br /> +I shared the curse which did that crime pursue.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_160" name="page_160"></a> +Hard fate of love! which rigour did forbear,<br /> +And now 'tis taxed, because 'twas not severe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> You have yourself your kindness overpaid;<br /> +He ceases to oblige, who can upbraid.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> On women's virtue, who too much rely,<br /> +To boundless will give boundless liberty.<br /> +Restraint you will not brook; but think it hard<br /> +Your prudence is not trusted as your guard:<br /> +And, to yourselves so left, if ill ensues,<br /> +You first our weak indulgence will accuse.<br /> +Curst be that hour,<br /> +When, sated with my single happiness,<br /> +I chose a partner, to controul my bliss!<br /> +Who wants that reason which her will should sway,<br /> +And knows but just enough to disobey.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Better with brutes my humble lot had gone;<br /> +Of reason void, accountable for none:<br /> +The unhappiest of creation is a wife,<br /> +Made lowest, in the highest rank of life:<br /> +Her fellow's slave; to know, and not to chuse:<br /> +Curst with that reason she must never use.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Add, that she's proud, fantastic, apt to change,<br /> +Restless at home, and ever prone to range:<br /> +With shows delighted, and so vain is she,<br /> +She'll meet the devil, rather than not see.<br /> +Our wise Creator, for his choirs divine,<br /> +Peopled his heaven with souls all masculine.—<br /> +Ah! why must man from woman take his birth?<br /> +Why was this sin of nature made on earth?<br /> +This fair defect, this helpless aid, called wife;<br /> +The bending crutch of a decrepid life?<br /> +Posterity no pairs from you shall find,<br /> +But such as by mistake of love are joined:<br /> +The worthiest men their wishes ne'er shall gain;<br /> +But see the slaves they scorn their loves obtain. +<a class="pgnm" id="page_161" name="page_161"></a><br /> +Blind appetite shall your wild fancies rule;<br /> +False to desert, and faithful to a fool. +<span class="sdr">[Turns in anger from her, and is going off.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Unkind! wilt thou forsake me, in distress, +<span class="sdr">[Kneeling.</span><br /> +For that which now is past me to redress?<br /> +I have misdone, and I endure the smart,<br /> +Loth to acknowledge, but more loth to part.<br /> +The blame be mine; you warned, and I refused:<br /> +What would you more? I have myself accused.<br /> +Was plighted faith so weakly sealed above,<br /> +That, for one error, I must lose your love?<br /> +Had you so erred, I should have been more kind,<br /> +Than to add pain to an afflicted mind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> You're grown much humbler than you were before;<br /> +I pardon you; but see my face no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Vain pardon, which includes a greater ill;<br /> +Be still displeased, but let me see you still.<br /> +Without your much-loved sight I cannot live;<br /> +You more than kill me, if you so forgive.<br /> +The beasts, since we are fallen, their lords despise;<br /> +And, passing, look at me with glaring eyes:<br /> +Must I then wander helpless, and alone?<br /> +You'll pity me, too late, when I am gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Your penitence does my compassion move;<br /> +As you deserve it, I may give my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> On me, alone, let heaven's displeasure fall;<br /> +You merit none, and I deserve it all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> You all heaven's wrath! how could you bear a part,<br /> +Who bore not mine, but with a bleeding heart?<br /> +I was too stubborn, thus to make you sue;<br /> +Forgive me—I am more in fault than you.<br /> +Return to me, and to my love return;<br /> +And, both offending, for each other mourn.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_162" name="page_162"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Raphael.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Of sin to warn thee I before was sent;<br /> +For sin, I now pronounce thy punishment:<br /> +Yet that much lighter than thy crimes require;<br /> +Th' All-good does not his creatures' death desire:<br /> +Justice must punish the rebellious deed;<br /> +Yet punish so, as pity shall exceed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> I neither can dispute his will, nor dare:<br /> +Death will dismiss me from my future care,<br /> +And lay me softly in my native dust,<br /> +To pay the forfeit of ill-managed trust.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Why seek you death? consider, ere you speak,<br /> +The laws were hard, the power to keep them, weak.<br /> +Did we solicit heaven to mould our clay?<br /> +From darkness to produce us to the day?<br /> +Did we concur to life, or chuse to be?<br /> +Was it our will which formed, or was it He?<br /> +Since 'twas his choice, not ours, which placed us here,<br /> +The laws we did not chuse why should we bear?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Seek not, in vain, our Maker to accuse;<br /> +Terms were proposed; power left us to refuse.<br /> +The good we have enjoyed from heaven's free will,<br /> +And shall we murmur to endure the ill?<br /> +Should we a rebel son's excuse receive,<br /> +Because he was begot without his leave?<br /> +Heaven's right in us is more: first, formed to serve;<br /> +The good, we merit not; the ill, deserve.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Death is deferred, and penitence has room<br /> +To mitigate, if not reverse the doom:<br /> +But, for your crime, the Eternal does ordain<br /> +In Eden you no longer shall remain.<br /> +Hence, to the lower world, you are exiled;<br /> +This place with crimes shall be no more defiled.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Must we this blissful paradise forego?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Your lot must be where thorns and thistles grow,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_163" name="page_163"></a> +Unhid, as balm and spices did at first;<br /> +For man, the earth, of which he was, is cursed.<br /> +By thy own toil procured, thou food shalt eat;<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Adam.</span></span><br /> +And know no plenty, but from painful sweat.<br /> +She, by a curse, of future wives abhorred,<br /> +Shall pay obedience to her lawful lord;<br /> +And he shall rule, and she in thraldom live,<br /> +Desiring more of love than man can give.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Heaven is all mercy; labour I would chuse;<br /> +And could sustain this paradise to lose:<br /> +The bliss, but not the place: Here, could I say,<br /> +Heaven's winged messenger did pass the day;<br /> +Under this pine the glorious angel staid:<br /> +Then, show my wondering progeny the shade.<br /> +In woods and lawns, where-e'er thou didst appear,<br /> +Each place some monument of thee should bear.<br /> +I, with green turfs, would grateful altars raise,<br /> +And heaven, with gums, and offered incense, praise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Where-e'er thou art, He is; the Eternal Mind<br /> +Acts through all places; is to none confined:<br /> +Fills ocean, earth, and air, and all above,<br /> +And through the universal mass does move.<br /> +Thou canst be no where distant: Yet this place<br /> +Had been thy kingly seat, and here thy race,<br /> +From all the ends of peopled earth had come<br /> +To reverence thee, and see their native home.<br /> +Immortal, then; now sickness, care, and age,<br /> +And war, and luxury's more direful rage,<br /> +Thy crimes have brought, to shorten mortal breath,<br /> +With all the numerous family of death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> My spirits faint, while I these ills foreknow,<br /> +And find myself the sad occasion too.<br /> +But what is death?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> In vision thou shalt see his griesly face,<br /> +The king of terrors, raging in thy face.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_164" name="page_164"></a> +That, while in future fate thou shar'st thy part,<br /> +A kind remorse, for sin, may seize thy heart.</p> + +<p class="sdn">The <span class="cnm">Scene</span> shifts, and discovers deaths of several sorts. +A Battle at Land, and a Naval Fight.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> O wretched offspring! O unhappy state<br /> +Of all mankind, by me betrayed to fate!<br /> +Born, through my crime, to be offenders first;<br /> +And, for those sins they could not shun, accurst.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Why is life forced on man, who, might he chuse,<br /> +Would not accept what he with pain must lose?<br /> +Unknowing, he receives it; and when, known,<br /> +He thinks it his, and values it, 'tis gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Behold of every age; ripe manhood see,<br /> +Decrepid years, and helpless infancy:<br /> +Those who, by lingering sickness, lose their breath;<br /> +And those who, by despair, suborn their death:<br /> +See yon mad fools, who for some trivial right,<br /> +For love, or for mistaken honour, fight:<br /> +See those, more mad, who throw their lives away<br /> +In needless wars; the stakes which monarchs lay,<br /> +When for each other's provinces they play.<br /> +Then, as if earth too narrow were for fate,<br /> +On open seas their quarrels they debate:<br /> +In hollow wood they floating armies bear;<br /> +And force imprisoned winds to bring them near.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Who would the miseries of man foreknow?<br /> +Not knowing, we but share our part of woe:<br /> +Now, we the fate of future ages bear,<br /> +And, ere their birth, behold our dead appear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> The deaths, thou show'st, are forced and full of strife,<br /> +Cast headlong from the precipice of life.<br /> +Is there no smooth descent? no painless way<br /> +Of kindly mixing with our native clay?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_165" name="page_165"></a> +<span class="cnm">Raph.</span> There is; but rarely shall that path be trod,<br /> +Which, without horror, leads to death's abode.<br /> +Some few, by temperance taught, approaching slow,<br /> +To distant fate by easy journies go:<br /> +Gently they lay them down, as evening sheep<br /> +On their own woolly fleeces softly sleep.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> So noiseless would I live, such death to find;<br /> +Like timely fruit, not shaken by the wind,<br /> +But ripely dropping from the sapless bough,<br /> +And, dying, nothing to myself would owe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Thus, daily changing, with a duller taste<br /> +Of lessening joys, I, by degrees, would waste:<br /> +Still quitting ground, by unperceived decay,<br /> +And steal myself from life, and melt away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Death you have seen: Now see your race revive,<br /> +How happy they in deathless pleasures live;<br /> +Far more than I can show, or you can see,<br /> +Shall crown the blest with immortality.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Here a Heaven descends, full of Angels, and blessed +Spirits, with soft Music, a Song and Chorus.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> O goodness infinite! whose heavenly will<br /> +Can so much good produce from so much ill!<br /> +Happy their state!<br /> +Pure, and unchanged, and needing no defence<br /> +From sins, as did my frailer innocence.<br /> +Their joy sincere, and with no sorrow mixt:<br /> +Eternity stands permanent and fixt,<br /> +And wheels no longer on the poles of time;<br /> +Secure from fate, and more secure from crime.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Ravished with joy, I can but half repent<br /> +The sin, which heaven makes happy in the event.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> Thus armed, meet firmly your approaching ill;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_166" name="page_166"></a> +For see, the guards, from yon' far eastern hill,<br /> +Already move, nor longer stay afford;<br /> +High in the air they wave the flaming sword,<br /> +Your signal to depart; now down amain<br /> +They drive, and glide, like meteors, through the plain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Adam.</span> Then farewell all; I will indulgent be<br /> +To my own ease, and not look back to see.<br /> +When what we love we ne'er must meet again,<br /> +To lose the thought is to remove the pain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Eve.</span> Farewell, you happy shades!<br /> +Where angels first should practise hymns, and string<br /> +Their tuneful harps, when they to heaven would sing.<br /> +Farewell, you flowers, whose buds, with early care,<br /> +I watched, and to the chearful sun did rear:<br /> +Who now shall bind your stems? or, when you fall,<br /> +With fountain streams your fainting souls recal?<br /> +A long farewell to thee, my nuptial bower,<br /> +Adorned with every fair and fragrant flower!<br /> +And last, farewell, farewell my place of birth!<br /> +I go to wander in the lower earth,<br /> +As distant as I can; for, dispossest,<br /> +Farthest from what I once enjoyed, is best.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Raph.</span> The rising winds urge the tempestuous air;<br /> +And on their wings deformed winter bear:<br /> +The beasts already feel the change; and hence<br /> +They fly to deeper coverts, for defence:<br /> +The feebler herd before the stronger run;<br /> +For now the war of nature is begun:<br /> +But, part you hence in peace, and, having mourned your sin,<br /> +For outward Eden lost, find Paradise within.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<hr class="large"/> +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_167" name="page_167"></a></div> + +<h2 class="chap">AURENG-ZEBE.</h2> + +<h3>A<br /> +TRAGEDY.</h3> + +<div class="ctr"> +<table class="ctr" summary="Epigram"> +<tr><td><p class="epigram">—<i>Sed, cum fregit subsellia versu,<br /> +Esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendat Agaven.</i></p> +<p class="citation smcap">Juv.</p> +</td></tr></table> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_169" name="page_169"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">AURENG-ZEBE.</h3> + +<p>"Aureng-Zebe," or the Ornament of the Throne, for such +is the interpretation of his name, was the last descendant of Timur, +who enjoyed the plenitude of authority originally vested in the Emperor +of India. His father, Sha-Jehan, had four sons, to each of +whom he delegated the command of a province. Dara-Sha, the eldest, +superintended the district of Delhi, and remained near his father's +person; Sultan-Sujah was governor of Bengal, Aureng-Zebe of +the Decan, and Morat Bakshi of Guzerat. It happened, that +Sha-Jehan being exhausted by the excesses of the Haram, a report +of his death became current in the provinces, and proved +the signal for insurrection and discord among his children. Morat +Bakshi possessed himself of Surat, after a long siege, and Sultan-Sujah, +having declared himself independent in Bengal, advanced +as far as Lahor, with a large army. Dara-Sha, the legitimate +successor of the crown, was the only son of Sha-Jehan, who preferred +filial duty to the prospect of aggrandisement. He dispatched +an army against Sultan-Sujah, checked his progress, and +compelled him to retreat. But Aureng-Zebe, the third and most +wily of the brethren, had united his forces to those of Morat Bakshi, +and advancing against Dara-Sha, totally defeated him, and dissipated +his army. Aureng-Zebe availed himself of the military reputation +and treasures, acquired by his success, to seduce the +forces of Morat Bakshi, whom he had pretended to assist, and, seizing +upon his person at a banquet, imprisoned him in a strong +fortress. Meanwhile, he advanced towards Agra, where his father +had sought refuge, still affecting to believe that the old emperor +was dead. The more pains Sha-Jehan took to contradict +this report, the more obstinate was Aureng-Zebe in refusing to +believe that he was still alive. And, although the emperor dispatched +his most confidential servants to assure his dutiful son +that he was yet in being, the incredulity of Aureng-Zebe could +only be removed by a personal interview, the issue of which was +Sha-Jehan's imprisonment and speedy death. During these transactions +Dara-Sha, who, after his defeat, had fled with his treasures +to Lahor, again assembled an army, and advanced against the +conqueror; but, being deserted by his allies, defeated by Aureng-Zebe, +and betrayed by an Omrah, whom he trusted in his flight, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_170" name="page_170"></a> +he was delivered up to his brother, and by his command assassinated. +Aureng-Zebe now assumed the throne, and advanced against +Sultan-Sujah, his sole remaining brother; he seduced his chief +commanders, routed the forces who remained faithful, and drove +him out of Bengal into the Pagan countries adjacent, where, after +several adventures, he perished miserably in the mountains. +Aureng-Zebe also murdered one or two nephews, and a few +other near relations; but, in expiation of his complicated crimes, +renounced the use of flesh, fish, and wine, living only upon barley-bread +vegetables, and confections, although scrupling no excesses +by which he could extend and strengthen his usurped power<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_1-1">[1]</a>.</p> + +<p>Dr Johnson has supposed, that, in assuming for his subject a living +prince, Dryden incurred some risque; as, should Aureng-Zebe +have learned and resented the freedom, our Indian trade was +exposed to the consequences of his displeasure. It may, however, be +safely doubted, whether a monarch, who had actually performed +the achievements above narrated, would have been scandalized +by those imputed to him in the text. In other respects, the distance +and obscurity of the events gave a poet the same authority +over them, as if they had occurred in the annals of past ages; a +circumstance in which Dryden's age widely differed from ours, when +so much has our intimacy increased with the Oriental world, that +the transactions of Delhi are almost as familiar to us as those of +Paris.</p> + +<p>The tragedy of "Aureng-Zebe" is introduced by the poet's declaration +in the prologue, that his taste for heroic plays was now +upon the wane:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>But he has now another taste of wit;</p> +<p>And, to confess a truth, though out of time,</p> +<p>Grows weary of his long-loved mistress, Rhyme.</p> +<p>Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound,</p> +<p>And nature flies him, like enchanted ground,</p> +<p>What verse can do, he has performed in this,</p> +<p>Which he presumes the most correct of his.</p> +</div> + +<p>Agreeably to what might be expected from this declaration, the +verse used in "Aureng-Zebe" is of that kind which may be most +easily applied to the purposes of ordinary dialogue. There is +much less of ornate structure and emphatic swell, than occurs in +the speeches of Almanzor and Maximin; and Dryden, though +late, seems to have at length discovered, that the language of true +passion is inconsistent with that regular modulation, to maintain +<a class="pgnm" id="page_171" name="page_171"></a> +which, the actor must mouth each couplet in a sort of recitative. +The ease of the verse in "Aureng-Zebe," although managed with +infinite address, did not escape censure. In the "just remonstrance +of affronted <i>That</i>," transmitted to the Spectator, the offended +conjunction is made to plead, "What great advantage was <i>I</i> of +to Mr Dryden, in his "Indian Emperor?"</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>You force me still to answer you in <i>that,</i></p> +<p>To furnish out a rhime to Morat.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">And what a poor figure would Mr Bayes have made, without his +<i>Egad, and all that</i>?" But, by means of this easy flow of versification +in which the rhime is sometimes almost lost by the pause +being transferred to the middle of the line, Dryden, in some measure +indemnified himself for his confinement, and, at least, muffled +the clank of his fetters. Still, however, neither the kind of verse, +nor perhaps the poet, himself, were formed for expressing rapid +and ardent dialogue; and the beauties of "Aureng-Zebe" will be +found chiefly to consist in strains of didactic morality, or solemn +meditation. The passage, descriptive of life, has been distinguished +by all the critics, down to Dr Johnson:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat;<br /> +Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit;<br /> +Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay:<br /> +To-morrow's falser than the former day;<br /> +Lies worse; and, while it says, We shall be blest<br /> +With some new joys, cuts off what we possest.<br /> +Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,<br /> +Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;<br /> +And from the dregs of life think to receive<br /> +What the first sprightly running could not give.<br /> +I'm tired with waiting for this chemic gold,<br /> +Which fools us young, and beggars us when old.</p> +</div> + +<p>Nor is the answer of Nourmahal inferior in beauty:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> 'Tis not for nothing that we life pursue;<br /> +It pays our hopes with something still that's new;<br /> +Each day's a mistress, unenjoyed before;<br /> +Like travellers, we're pleased with seeing more.<br /> +Did you but know what joys your way attend,<br /> +You would not hurry to your journey's end.</p> +</div> + +<p>It might be difficult to point out a passage in English poetry, +in which so common and melancholy a truth is expressed in such +beautiful verse, varied with such just illustration. The declamation +<a class="pgnm" id="page_172" name="page_172"></a> +on virtue, also, has great merit, though, perhaps, not equal to +that on the vanity of life:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> How vain is virtue, which directs our ways<br /> +Through certain danger to uncertain praise!<br /> +Barren, and airy name! thee fortune flies,<br /> +With thy lean train, the pious and the wise.<br /> +Heaven takes thee at thy word, without regard;<br /> +And let's thee poorly be thy own reward.<br /> +The world is made for the bold impious man,<br /> +Who stops at nothing, seizes all he can.<br /> +Justice to merit does weak aid afford;<br /> +She trusts her balance, and neglects her sword.<br /> +Virtue is nice to take what's not her own;<br /> +And, while she long consults, the prize is gone.</p> +</div> + +<p>To this account may be added the following passage from Davies' +"Dramatic Miscellanies."</p> + +<p>"Dryden's last and most perfect rhiming tragedy was 'Aureng-Zebe.' +In this play, the passions are strongly depicted, the characters +well discriminated, and the diction more familiar and dramatic +than in any of his preceding pieces. Hart and Mohun greatly +distinguished themselves in the characters of Aureng-Zebe, and the +Old Emperor. Mrs Marshall was admired in Nourmahal, and +Kynaston has been much extolled by Cibber, for his happy expression +of the arrogant and savage fierceness in Morat. Booth, in +some part of this character, says the same critical historian, was +too tame, from an apprehension of raising the mirth of the audience +improperly.</p> + +<p>"Though I pay great deference to Cibber's judgment, yet I am +not sure whether Booth was not in the right. And I cannot help +approving the answer which this actor gave to one, who told him, +he was surprised, that he neglected to give a spirited turn to the +passage in question:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> 'Twill not be safe to let him live an hour.</p> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I'll do it to shew my arbitrary power.</p> +</div> + +<p>"'Sir,' said Booth, 'it was not through negligence, but by +design, that I gave no spirit to that ludicrous bounce of Morat. I +know very well, that a laugh of approbation may be obtained from +the understanding few, but there is nothing more dangerous than +exciting the laugh of simpletons, who know not where to stop. +The majority is not the wisest part of the audience, and therefore +I will run no hazard.'</p> + +<p>"The court greatly encouraged the play of 'Aureng-Zebe.' +The author tells us, in his dedication, that Charles II. altered an +incident in the plot, and pronounced it to be the best of all Dryden's +<a class="pgnm" id="page_173" name="page_173"></a> +tragedies. It was revived at Drury-Lane about the year +1726, with the public approbation: The Old Emperor, Mills; +Wilkes, Aureng-Zebe; Booth, Morat; Indamora, Mrs Oldfield; +Melesinda, the first wife of Theophilus Cibber, a very pleasing actress, +in person agreeable, and in private life unblemished. She +died in 1733."—Vol. I. p. 157.</p> + +<p>The introduction states all that can be said in favour of the +management of the piece; and it is somewhat amusing to see the +anxiety which Dryden uses to justify the hazardous experiment, of +ascribing to emperors and princesses the language of nature and of +passion. He appears with difficulty to have satisfied himself, that +the decorum of the scene was not as peremptory as the etiquette of +a court. "Aureng-Zebe" was received with the applause to which +it is certainly entitled. It was acted and printed in 1676.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnote:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Auren_1-1" name="Auren_1-1"></a>Voyages de Tavernier, seconde partie; livre seconde.</li> +</ol></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_174" name="page_174"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">TO +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE +JOHN,<br /> +EARL OF MULGRAVE,<br /> +GENTLEMAN OF HIS MAJESTY'S BED-CHAMBER,<br /> +AND KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER +OF THE GARTER<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_2-1">[1]</a>.</h3> + +<p class="noind smcap">My Lord,</p> + +<p>It is a severe reflection which Montaigne has made +on princes, that we ought not, in reason, to have +any expectations of favour from them; and that it is +kindness enough, if they leave us in possession of +<a class="pgnm" id="page_175" name="page_175"></a> +our own. The boldness of the censure shows the +free spirit of the author: And the subjects of England +may justly congratulate to themselves, that both +the nature of our government, and the clemency of +our king, secure us from any such complaint. I, in +particular, who subsist wholly by his bounty, am +obliged to give posterity a far other account of my +<a class="pgnm" id="page_176" name="page_176"></a> +royal master, than what Montaigne has left of his. +Those accusations had been more reasonable, if they +had been placed on inferior persons: For in all +courts, there are too many, who make it their business +to ruin wit; and Montaigne, in other places, +tells us, what effects he found of their good natures. +He describes them such, whose ambition, lust, or +private interest, seem to be the only end of their +creation. If good accrue to any from them, it is +only in order to their own designs: conferred most +commonly on the base and infamous; and never +given, but only happening sometimes on well-deservers. +Dulness has brought them to what they +<a class="pgnm" id="page_177" name="page_177"></a> +are; and malice secures them in their fortunes. +But somewhat of specious they must have, to recommend +themselves to princes, (for folly will not +easily go down in its own natural form with discerning +judges,) and diligence in waiting is their +gilding of the pill; for that looks like love, though +it is only interest. It is that which gains them +their advantage over witty men; whose love of liberty +and ease makes them willing too often to discharge +their burden of attendance on these officious +gentlemen. It is true, that the nauseousness +of such company is enough to disgust a reasonable +man; when he sees, he can hardly approach +greatness, but as a moated castle; he must first +pass through the mud and filth with which it is +encompassed. These are they, who, wanting wit, +affect gravity, and go by the name of solid men; +and a solid man is, in plain English, a solid, solemn +fool. Another disguise they have, (for fools, +as well as knaves, take other names, and pass by +an <i>alias</i>) and that is, the title of honest fellows. +But this honesty of theirs ought to have many +grains for its allowance; for certainly they are no +farther honest, than they are silly: They are naturally +mischievous to their power; and if they +speak not maliciously, or sharply, of witty men, +it is only because God has not bestowed on them +the gift of utterance. They fawn and crouch to +men of parts, whom they cannot ruin; quote their +wit when they are present, and, when they are absent +steal their jests; but to those who are under +them, and whom they can crush with ease, they +shew themselves in their natural antipathy; there +they treat wit like the common enemy, and giving +no more quarter, than a Dutchman would to an +English vessel in the Indies; they strike sail where +<a class="pgnm" id="page_178" name="page_178"></a> +they know they shall be mastered, and murder where +they can with safety.</p> + +<p>This, my lord, is the character of a courtier without +wit; and therefore that which is a satire to other +men, must be a panegyric to your lordship, who +are a master of it. If the least of these reflections +could have reached your person, no necessity of +mine could have made me to have sought so earnestly, +and so long, to have cultivated your kindness. +As a poet, I cannot but have made some observations +on mankind; the lowness of my fortune has +not yet brought me to flatter vice; and it is my duty +to give testimony to virtue. It is true, your lordship +is not of that nature, which either seeks a commendation, +or wants it. Your mind has always +been above the wretched affectation of popularity. +A popular man is, in truth, no better than a prostitute +to common fame, and to the people. He lies +down to every one he meets for the hire of praise; +and his humility is only a disguised ambition. Even +Cicero himself, whose eloquence deserved the admiration +of mankind, yet, by his insatiable thirst +of fame, he has lessened his character with succeeding +ages; his action against Catiline may be said +to have ruined the consul, when it saved the city; +for it so swelled his soul, which was not truly great, +that ever afterwards it was apt to be over-set with +vanity. And this made his virtue so suspected by +his friends, that Brutus, whom of all men he adored, +refused him a place in his conspiracy. A modern +wit has made this observation on him; that, coveting +to recommend himself to posterity, he begged +it as an alms of all his friends, the historians, to remember +his consulship: And observe, if you please, +the oddness of the event; all their histories are +lost, and the vanity of his request stands yet recorded +in his own writings. How much more great and +<a class="pgnm" id="page_179" name="page_179"></a> +manly in your lordship, is your contempt of popular +applause, and your retired virtue, which shines only +to a few; with whom you live so easily and freely, +that you make it evident, you have a soul which is +capable of all the tenderness of friendship, and that +you only retire yourself from those, who are not +capable of returning it. Your kindness, where you +have once placed it, is inviolable; and it is to that +only I attribute my happiness in your love. This +makes me more easily forsake an argument, on +which I could otherwise delight to dwell; I mean, +your judgment in your choice of friends; because I +have the honour to be one. After which I am sure +you will more easily permit me to be silent, in the +care you have taken of my fortune; which you have +rescued, not only from the power of others, but +from my worst of enemies, my own modesty and +laziness; which favour, had it been employed on +a more deserving subject, had been an effect of justice +in your nature; but, as placed on me, is only +charity. Yet, withal, it is conferred on such a man, +as prefers your kindness itself, before any of its consequences; +and who values, as the greatest of your +favours, those of your love, and of your conversation. +From this constancy to your friends, I might +reasonably assume, that your resentments would be +as strong and lasting, if they were not restrained by +a nobler principle of good nature and generosity; +for certainly, it is the same composition of mind, +the same resolution and courage, which makes the +greatest friendships, and the greatest enmities. +And he, who is too lightly reconciled, after high +provocations, may recommend himself to the world +for a Christian, but I should hardly trust him for +a friend. The Italians have a proverb to that purpose, +"To forgive the first time, shows me a good +Catholic; the second time, a fool." To this firmness +in all your actions, though you are wanting in no +<a class="pgnm" id="page_180" name="page_180"></a> +other ornaments of mind and body, yet to this I +principally ascribe the interest your merits have acquired +you in the royal family. A prince, who is +constant to himself, and steady in all his undertakings; +one with whom that character of Horace will +agree,</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Si fractus illabatur orbis,</p> +<p>Impavidum ferient ruinæ<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_2-2">[2]</a>;—</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">such an one cannot but place an esteem, and repose +a confidence on him, whom no adversity, no change +of courts, no bribery of interests, or cabals of factions, +or advantages of fortune, can remove from the +solid foundations of honour and fidelity:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores</p> +<p>Abstulit; ille habeat secum, servetque sepulcro.</p> +</div> + +<p>How well your lordship will deserve that praise, +I need no inspiration to foretell. You have already +left no room for prophecy: Your early undertakings +have been such, in the service of your king and +country, when you offered yourself to the most +dangerous employment, that of the sea; when you +chose to abandon those delights, to which your +youth and fortune did invite you, to undergo the +hazards, and, which was worse, the company of common +seamen, that you have made it evident, you +will refuse no opportunity of rendering yourself useful +to the nation, when either your courage or conduct +shall be required<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_2-3">[3]</a>. The same zeal and faithfulness +<a class="pgnm" id="page_181" name="page_181"></a> +continue in your blood, which animated one +of your noble ancestors to sacrifice his life in the +quarrels of his sovereign<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_2-4">[4]</a>; though, I hope, both for +your sake, and for the public tranquillity, the same +occasion will never be offered to your lordship, and +that a better destiny will attend you. But I make +haste to consider you as abstracted from a court, +which (if you will give me leave to use a term of +logic) is only an adjunct, not a propriety of happiness. +The academics, I confess, were willing to admit +the goods of fortune into their notion of felicity; +but I do not remember, that any of the sects of +old philosophers did ever leave a room for greatness. +Neither am I formed to praise a court, who admire +and covet nothing, but the easiness and quiet of +retirement. I naturally withdraw my sight from a +precipice; and, admit the prospect be never so large +and goodly, can take no pleasure even in looking on +the downfal, though I am secure from the danger. +<a class="pgnm" id="page_182" name="page_182"></a> +Methinks, there is something of a malignant joy in +that excellent description of Lucretius;</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Suave, mari magno turbantibus æquora ventis,</p> +<p>E terrâ magnum alterius spectare laborem;</p> +<p>Non quia vexari quenquam est jucunda voluptas,</p> +<p>Sed, quibus ipse malis careas, quia cernere suave est.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">I am sure his master Epicurus, and my better master +Cowley, preferred the solitude of a garden, and +the conversation of a friend, to any consideration, +so much as a regard, of those unhappy people, whom, +in our own wrong, we call the great. True greatness, +if it be any where on earth, is in a private virtue; +removed from the notion of pomp and vanity, confined +to a contemplation of itself, and centering on +itself:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Omnis enim per se Divûm natura necesse est</p> +<p>Immortali ævo summâ cum pace fruatur;</p> +<p>—curâ semota, metuque,</p> +<p>Ipsa suis pollens opibus<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_2-5">[5]</a>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">If this be not the life of a deity, because it cannot +consist with Providence, it is, at least, a god-like +life. I can be contented, (and I am sure I have your +lordship of my opinion) with an humbler station in +the temple of virtue, than to be set on the pinnacle +of it:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_183" name="page_183"></a> +<p>Despicere unde queas alios, passimque videre</p> +<p>Errare, atque viam palantes quærere vitæ.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">The truth is, the consideration of so vain a creature +as man, is not worth our pains. I have fool enough +at home, without looking for it abroad; and am a +sufficient theatre to myself of ridiculous actions, +without expecting company, either in a court, a +town, or a play-house. It is on this account that I +am weary with drawing the deformities of life, and +lazars of the people, where every figure of imperfection +more resembles me than it can do others. +If I must be condemned to rhyme, I should find +some ease in my change of punishment. I desire +to be no longer the Sisyphus of the stage; to roll +up a stone with endless labour, (which, to follow +the proverb, gathers no moss) and which is perpetually +falling down again. I never thought myself +very fit for an employment, where many of my predecessors +have excelled me in all kinds; and some +of my contemporaries, even in my own partial judgement +have outdone me in Comedy. Some little +hopes I have yet remaining, and those too, considering +my abilities, may be vain, that I may make +the world some part of amends, for many ill plays, +by an heroic poem. Your lordship has been long +acquainted with my design; the subject of which +you know is great, the story English, and neither +too far distant from the present age, nor too near +approaching it. Such it is in my opinion, that I +could not have wished a nobler occasion to do honour +by it to my king, my country, and my friends; +most of our ancient nobility being concerned in the +action<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_2-6">[6]</a>. And your lordship has one particular reason +<a class="pgnm" id="page_184" name="page_184"></a> +to promote this undertaking, because you were +the first who gave me the opportunity of discoursing +it to his majesty, and his royal highness: They +were then pleased, both to commend the design, +and to encourage it by their commands. But the +unsettledness of my condition has hitherto put a +stop to my thoughts concerning it. As I am no +successor to Homer in his wit, so neither do I desire +to be in his poverty. I can make no rhapsodies +nor go a begging at the Grecian doors, while +I sing the praises of their ancestors. The times of +Virgil please me better, because he had an Augustus +for his patron; and, to draw the allegory nearer +you, I am sure I shall not want a Mecænas with +him. It is for your lordship to stir up that remembrance +in his majesty, which his many avocations +of business have caused him, I fear, to lay aside; +and, as himself and his royal brother are the heroes +of the poem, to represent to them the images of +their warlike predecessors; as Achilles is said to be +roused to glory, with the sight of the combat before +the ships. For my own part, I am satisfied to +have offered the design, and it may be to the advantage +of my reputation to have it refused me.</p> + +<p>In the mean time, my lord, I take the confidence +to present you with a tragedy, the characters of +which are the nearest to those of an heroic poem. +It was dedicated to you in my heart, before it was +presented on the stage. Some things in it have +passed your approbation, and many your amendment. +You were likewise pleased to recommend +it to the king's perusal, before the last hand was added +to it, when I received the favour from him, to +have the most considerable event of it modelled by +his royal pleasure. It may be some vanity in me +to add his testimony then, and which he graciously +confirmed afterwards, that it was the best of all my +<a class="pgnm" id="page_185" name="page_185"></a> +tragedies; in which he has made authentic my private +opinion of it; at least, he has given it a value +by his commendation, which it had not by my writing.</p> + +<p>That which was not pleasing to some of the fair +ladies in the last act of it, as I dare not vindicate, +so neither can I wholly condemn, till I find more +reason for their censures. The procedure of Indamora +and Melesinda seems yet, in my judgment, +natural, and not unbecoming of their characters. +If they, who arraign them, fail not more, the world +will never blame their conduct; and I shall be +glad, for the honour of my country, to find better +images of virtue drawn to the life in their behaviour, +than any I could feign to adorn the theatre. I +confess, I have only represented a practical virtue, +mixed with the frailties and imperfections of human +life. I have made my heroine fearful of death, +which neither Cassandra nor Cleopatra would have +been; and they themselves, I doubt it not, would +have outdone romance in that particular. Yet their +Mandana (and the Cyrus was written by a lady,) +was not altogether so hard-hearted: For she sat +down on the cold ground by the king of Assyria, +and not only pitied him, who died in her defence; +but allowed him some favours, such, perhaps, as +they would think, should only be permitted to her +Cyrus<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_2-7">[7]</a>. I have made my Melesinda, in opposition +to Nourmahal, a woman passionately loving of her +husband, patient of injuries and contempt, and constant +in her kindness, to the last; and in that, perhaps, +I may have erred, because it is not a virtue +much in use. Those Indian wives are loving fools, +and may do well to keep themselves in their own +<a class="pgnm" id="page_186" name="page_186"></a> +country, or, at least, to keep company with the Arrias +and Portias of old Rome: Some of our ladies +know better things. But, it may be, I am partial +to my own writings; yet I have laboured as much +as any man, to divest myself of the self-opinion of +an author; and am too well satisfied of my own +weakness, to be pleased with any thing I have written. +But, on the other side, my reason tells me, that, +in probability, what I have seriously and long considered +may be as likely to be just and natural, as +what an ordinary judge (if there be any such among +those ladies) will think fit, in a transient presentation, +to be placed in the room of that which they +condemn. The most judicious writer is sometimes +mistaken, after all his care; but the hasty critic, +who judges on a view, is full as liable to be deceived. +Let him first consider all the arguments, +which the author had, to write this, or to design +the other, before he arraigns him of a fault; and +then, perhaps, on second thoughts, he will find his +reason oblige him to revoke his censure. Yet, +after all, I will not be too positive. <i>Homo sum, humani +à me nihil alienum puto.</i> As I am a man, I +must be changeable; and sometimes the gravest of +us all are so, even upon ridiculous accidents. Our +minds are perpetually wrought on by the temperament +of our bodies; which makes me suspect, they +are nearer allied, than either our philosophers or +school-divines will allow them to be. I have observed, +says Montaigne, that when the body is out +of order, its companion is seldom at his ease. An +ill dream, or a cloudy day, has power to change this +wretched creature, who is so proud of a reasonable +soul, and make him think what he thought not yesterday. +And Homer was of this opinion, as Cicero +is pleased to translate him for us:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Tales sunt hominum mentes, quali pater ipse</p> +<p>Jupiter auctiferâ lustravit lampade terras.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind"><a class="pgnm" id="page_187" name="page_187"></a> +Or, as the same author, in his "Tusculan Questions," +speaks, with more modesty than usual, of himself: +<i>Nos in diem vivimus; quodcunque animos nostros probabilitate +percussit, id dicimus.</i> It is not therefore impossible +but that I may alter the conclusion of my +play, to restore myself into the good graces of my +fair critics; and your lordship, who is so well with +them, may do me the office of a friend and patron, +to intercede with them on my promise of amendment. +The impotent lover in Petronius, though his +was a very unpardonable crime, yet was received to +mercy on the terms I offer. <i>Summa excusationis +meæ hæc est: Placebo tibi, si culpam emendare permiseris.</i></p> + +<p>But I am conscious to myself of offering at a +greater boldness, in presenting to your view what +my meanness can produce, than in any other error of +my play; and therefore make haste to break off this +tedious address, which has, I know not how, already +run itself into so much of pedantry, with an excuse of +Tully's, which he sent with his books "De Finibus," +to his friend Brutus: <i>De ipsis rebus autem, sæpenumerò, +Brute, vereor ne reprehendar, cum hæc ad te +scribam, qui tum in poesi,</i> (I change it from <i>philosophiâ</i>) +<i>tum in optimo genere poeseos tantum processeris. +Quod si facerem quasi te erudiens, jure reprehenderer. +Sed ab eo plurimùm absum: Nec, ut ea cognoscas quæ +tibi notissima sunt, ad te mitto; sed quià facillimè in +nomine tuo acquiesco, et quia te habeo æquissimum eorum +studiorum, quæ mihi communia tecum sunt, æstimatorem +et judicem.</i> Which you may please, my +lord, to apply to yourself, from him, who is,</p> + +<p class="sig i1">Your Lordship's</p> +<p class="sig i2">Most obedient,</p> +<p class="sig i3">Humble servant,</p> +<p class="sig i4 smcap">Dryden.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Auren_2-1" name="Auren_2-1"></a>John Sheffield, earl of Mulgrave, afterwards created marquis +of Normanby, and at length duke of Buckingham, made a great +figure during the reigns of Charles II. of his unfortunate successor, +of William the Third, and of Queen Anne. His bravery as a soldier, +and abilities as a statesman, seem to have been unquestioned; +but for his poetical reputation, he was probably much indebted +to the assistance of those wits whom he relieved and patronized. +As, however, it has been allowed a sufficient proof of wisdom in a +monarch, that he could chuse able ministers, so it is no slight commendation +to the taste of this rhyming peer, that in youth he selected +Dryden to supply his own poetical deficiencies, and in age +became the friend and the eulogist of Pope. We may observe, +however, a melancholy difference betwixt the manner in which an +independent man of letters is treated by the great, and that in +which they think themselves entitled to use one to whom their +countenance is of consequence. In addressing Pope, Sheffield contents +himself with launching out into boundless panegyric, while +his praise of Dryden, in his "Essay on Poetry," is qualified by a +gentle sneer at the "Hind and Panther," our bard's most laboured +production. His lordship is treating of satire:<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>The laureat here may justly claim our praise,</p> +<p>Crowned by Mack Flecnoe with immortal bays;</p> +<p>Yet once his Pegasus has borne dead weight,</p> +<p>Rid by some lumpish minister of state.</p> +</div> + +<p>Lord Mulgrave, to distinguish him by his earliest title, certainly +received considerable assistance from Dryden in "The Essay on +Satire," which occasioned Rochester's base revenge; and was distinguished +by the name of the <i>Rose-Alley Satire</i>, from the place +in which Dryden was way-laid and beaten by the hired bravoes of +that worthless profligate. It is probable, that the patronage which +Dryden received from Mulgrave, was not entirely of an empty and +fruitless nature. It is at least certain, that their friendship continued +uninterrupted till the death of our poet. The "Discourse +upon Epic Poetry" is dedicated to Lord Mulgrave, then duke of +Buckingham, and in high favour with Queen Anne, for whom he +is supposed to have long cherished a youthful passion. After the +grave of Dryden had remained twenty years without a memorial, +this nobleman had the honour to raise the present monument at +his own expence; being the latest, and certainly one of the most +honourable acts of his life.</p> + +<p>Mr Malone, from Macky's "Secret Services," gives the following +character of Sheffield, duke of Buckingham:—"He is a nobleman +of learning and good natural parts, but of no principles. +Violent for the high church, yet seldom goes to it. Very proud, +insolent, and covetous, and takes all advantages. In paying his +debts unwilling, and is neither esteemed nor beloved; for notwithstanding +his great interest at court, it is certain he has none in either +house of parliament, or in the country. He is of a middle +stature, of a brown complexion, with a sour lofty look." Swift +sanctioned this severe character, by writing on the margin of his +copy of Macky's book, "<i>This character is the truest of any.</i>" To +so bitter a censure, let us contrast the panegyric of Pope:<br /><br /></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Muse, 'tis enough; at length thy labour ends,</p> +<p>And thou shalt live, for Buckingham commends;</p> +<p>Let crowds of critics now my verse assail,</p> +<p>Let Dennis write, and nameless numbers rail,</p> +<p>This more than pays whole years of thankless pain—</p> +<p>Time, health, and fortune, are not lost in vain.</p> +<p>Sheffield approves; consenting Phœbus bends,</p> +<p>And I and Malice from this hour are friends.</p> +</div> + +<p>It may be worth the attention of the great to consider the value +of that genius, which can hand them down to posterity in an interesting +and amiable point of view, in spite of their own imbecilities, +errors, and vices. While the personal character of Mulgrave +has nothing to recommend it, and his poetical effusions are +sunk into oblivion, we still venerate the friend of Pope, and the +protector of Dryden.</p> + +<p>Sheffield, duke of Buckingham, marquis of Normanby, and earl +of Mulgrave, was born in 1649, and died in 1720. He was therefore +twenty-seven years old when he received this dedication.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Auren_2-2" name="Auren_2-2"></a>On perusing such ill applied flattery, I know not whether we +ought to feel most for Charles II. or for Dryden.</li> + +<li><a id="Auren_2-3" name="Auren_2-3"></a>The earl of Mulgrave, in the Dutch war of 1672, served as +a volunteer on board the Victory, commanded by the earl of Ossory. +He behaved with distinguished courage himself, and has +borne witness to that of his unfortunate admiral, James Duke of +York. His intrepid coolness appears from a passage in his Memoirs, +containing the observations he made during the action, +on the motion of cannon bullets in the recoil, and their effect +when passing near the human body. His bravery was rewarded +by his promotion to command the Katharine, the second best ship +in the fleet. This vessel had been captured by the Dutch during +the action, but was retaken by the English crew before she could +be carried into harbour. Lord Mulgrave had a picture of the +Katherine at his house in St James's Park.—See CARLETON'S +<i>Memoirs</i>, p. 5.</li> + +<li><a id="Auren_2-4" name="Auren_2-4"></a>In 1548-9, there were insurrections in several counties of England, +having for their object the restoration of the Catholic religion, +and the redress of grievances. The insurgents in Northamptonshire +were 20,000 strong, headed by one Ket, a tanner, who possessed +himself of Norwich. The earl of Northampton, marching +rashly and hastily against him, at the head of a very inferior force, +was defeated with loss. In the rout lord Sheffield, ancestor of the +earl of Mulgrave, and the person alluded to in the text, fell with his +horse into a ditch, and was slain by a butcher with a club. The +rebels were afterwards defeated by the earl of Warwick.—DUGDALE'S +<i>Baron</i>, vol. ii. p. 386. HOLLINSHED, p. 1035.</li> + +<li><a id="Auren_2-5" name="Auren_2-5"></a>The entire passage of Lucretius is somewhat different from +this quotation:<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Quæ bene, et eximie quamvis disposta ferantur,</p> +<p>Longe sunt tamen a verâ ratione repulsa.</p> +<p>Omnia enim per se Divum natura necesse est</p> +<p>Immortali ævo summâ cum pace fruatur,</p> +<p>Semota a nostris rebus, sejunctaque longè.</p> +<p>Nam privata dolore omni, privata periclis,</p> +<p>Ipsa suis pollens opibus, nihil indiga nostri,</p> +<p>Nec bene promeritis capitur, nec tangitur ira.</p> +<p class="citation smcap">Lib. II.</p> +</div> + +<p>Dryden ingeniously applies, to the calm of philosophical retirement, +the Epicurean tranquillity of the Deities of Lucretius.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Auren_2-6" name="Auren_2-6"></a>The subject of this intended poem, was probably the exploits +of the Black Prince. See Life.</li> + +<li><a id="Auren_2-7" name="Auren_2-7"></a>An incident in "Artèmenes, ou Le Grand Cyrus," a huge romance, +written by Madame Scuderi.</li> +</ol> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_188" name="page_188"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">PROLOGUE.</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Our author, by experience, finds it true,</p> +<p>'Tis much more hard to please himself than you;</p> +<p>And out of no feigned modesty, this day</p> +<p>Damns his laborious trifle of a play:</p> +<p>Not that its worse than what before he writ,</p> +<p>But he has now another taste of wit;</p> +<p>And, to confess a truth, though out of time,</p> +<p>Grows weary of his long-loved mistress, Rhyme.</p> +<p>Passion's too fierce to be in fetters bound,</p> +<p>And nature flies him like enchanted ground:</p> +<p>What verse can do, he has performed in this,</p> +<p>Which he presumes the most correct of his;</p> +<p>But spite of all his pride, a secret shame</p> +<p>Invades his breast at Shakespeare's sacred name:</p> +<p>Awed when he hears his godlike Romans rage,</p> +<p>He, in a just despair, would quit the stage;</p> +<p>And to an age less polished, more unskilled,</p> +<p>Does, with disdain, the foremost honours yield.</p> +<p>As with the greater dead he dares not strive,</p> +<p>He would not match his verse with those who live:</p> +<p>Let him retire, betwixt two ages cast,</p> +<p>The first of this, and hindmost of the last.</p> +<p>A losing gamester, let him sneak away;</p> +<p>He bears no ready money from the play.</p> +<p>The fate, which governs poets, thought it fit</p> +<p>He should not raise his fortunes by his wit.</p> +<p>The clergy thrive, and the litigious bar;</p> +<p>Dull heroes fatten with the spoils of war:</p> +<p>All southern vices, heaven be praised, are here:</p> +<p>But wit's a luxury you think too dear.</p> +<p>When you to cultivate the plant are loth,</p> +<p>'Tis a shrewd sign 'twas never of your growth;</p> +<p>And wit in northern climates will not blow,</p> +<p>Except, like orange-trees, 'tis housed from snow.</p> +<p>There needs no care to put a playhouse down,</p> +<p>'Tis the most desart place of all the town:</p> +<p>We and our neighbours, to speak proudly, are,</p> +<p>Like monarchs, ruined with expensive war;</p> +<p>While, like wise English, unconcerned you sit,</p> +<p>And see us play the tragedy of wit.</p> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_190" name="page_190"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.</h3> + +<p class="noind" style="margin-bottom: 0;"><i>The Old Emperor.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Aureng-Zebe,</span> <i>his Son.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Morat,</span> <i>his younger Son.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Arimant,</span> <i>Governor of Agra.</i></p> +<table class="dpgrp" summary="Omrahs"> +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">Dianet,<br /> +Solyman,<br /> +Mir Baba,<br /> +Abas,<br /> +Asaph Chan,<br /> +Fazel Chan,</span></td> +<td>}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}</td> +<td><i>Indian Lords, or Omrahs, of several +Factions.</i></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="noind"><span class="smcap">Nourmahal,</span> <i>the Empress.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Indamora,</span> <i>a Captive Queen.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Melesinda,</span> <i>Wife to Morat.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Zayda,</span> <i>favourite Slave to the Empress.</i></p> + +<p>SCENE—<i>Agra,</i> in the year 1660.</p> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_191" name="page_191"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">AURENG-ZEBE.</h3> + + +<h4 class="scn">ACT I. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Arimant, Asaph Chan,</span> and <span class="cnm">Fazel Chan.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Heaven seems the empire of the east to lay<br /> +On the success of this important day:<br /> +Their arms are to the last decision bent,<br /> +And fortune labours with the vast event:<br /> +She now has in her hand the greatest stake,<br /> +Which for contending monarchs she can make.<br /> +Whate'er can urge ambitious youth to fight,<br /> +She pompously displays before their sight;<br /> +Laws, empire, all permitted to the sword,<br /> +And fate could ne'er an ampler scene afford.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> Four several armies to the field are led,<br /> +Which, high in equal hopes, four princes head:<br /> +Indus and Ganges, our wide empire's bounds,<br /> +Swell their dyed currents with their natives' wounds:<br /> +Each purple river winding, as he runs,<br /> +His bloody arms about his slaughtered sons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fazel.</span> I well remember you foretold the storm,<br /> +When first the brothers did their factions form:<br /> +When each, by cursed cabals of women, strove<br /> +To draw the indulgent king to partial love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_192" name="page_192"></a> +<span class="cnm">Arim.</span> What heaven decrees, no prudence can prevent.<br /> +To cure their mad ambition, they were sent<br /> +To rule a distant province each alone:<br /> +What could a careful father more have done?<br /> +He made provision against all, but fate,<br /> +While, by his health, we held our peace of state.<br /> +The weight of seventy winters prest him down,<br /> +He bent beneath the burden of a crown:<br /> +Sickness, at last, did his spent body seize,<br /> +And life almost sunk under the disease:<br /> +Mortal 'twas thought, at least by them desired,<br /> +Who, impiously, into his years inquired:<br /> +As at a signal, strait the sons prepare<br /> +For open force, and rush to sudden war:<br /> +Meeting, like winds broke loose upon the main,<br /> +To prove, by arms, whose fate it was to reign.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> Rebels and parricides!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Brand not their actions with so foul a name:<br /> +Pity at least what we are forced to blame.<br /> +When death's cold hand has closed the father's eye,<br /> +You know the younger sons are doomed to die.<br /> +Less ills are chosen greater to avoid,<br /> +And nature's laws are by the state's destroyed.<br /> +What courage tamely could to death consent,<br /> +And not, by striking first, the blow prevent?<br /> +Who falls in fight, cannot himself accuse,<br /> +And he dies greatly, who a crown pursues.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them <span class="cnm">Solyman Aga.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Solym.</span> A new express all Agra does affright:<br /> +Darah and Aureng-Zebe are joined in fight;<br /> +The press of people thickens to the court,<br /> +The impatient crowd devouring the report.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> T' each changing news they changed affections bring,<br /> +And servilely from fate expect a king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_193" name="page_193"></a> +<span class="cnm">Solym.</span> The ministers of state, who gave us law,<br /> +In corners, with selected friends, withdraw:<br /> +There, in deaf murmurs, solemnly are wise;<br /> +Whispering, like winds, ere hurricanes arise.<br /> +The most corrupt are most obsequious grown,<br /> +And those they scorned, officiously they own.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> In change of government,<br /> +The rabble rule their great oppressors' fate;<br /> +Do sovereign justice, and revenge the state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Solym.</span> The little courtiers, who ne'er come to know<br /> +The depth of factions, as in mazes go,<br /> +Where interests meet and cross so oft, that they,<br /> +With too much care, are wildered in their way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> What of the emperor?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Solym.</span> Unmoved, and brave, he like himself appears,<br /> +And, meriting no ill, no danger fears:<br /> +Yet mourns his former vigour lost so far,<br /> +To make him now spectator of a war:<br /> +Repining that he must preserve his crown<br /> +By any help or courage but his own:<br /> +Wishes, each minute, he could unbeget<br /> +Those rebel sons, who dare usurp his seat;<br /> +To sway his empire with unequal skill,<br /> +And mount a throne, which none but he can fill.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Oh! had he still that character maintained,<br /> +Of valour, which, in blooming youth, he gained!<br /> +He promised in his east a glorious race;<br /> +Now, sunk from his meridian, sets apace.<br /> +But as the sun, when he from noon declines,<br /> +And, with abated heat, less fiercely shines,<br /> +Seems to grow milder as he goes away,<br /> +Pleasing himself with the remains of day;<br /> +So he, who, in his youth, for glory strove,<br /> +Would recompense his age with ease and love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_194" name="page_194"></a> +<span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> The name of father hateful to him grows,<br /> +Which, for one son, produces him three foes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fazel.</span> Darah, the eldest, bears a generous mind,<br /> +But to implacable revenge inclined:<br /> +Too openly does love and hatred show;<br /> +A bounteous master, but a deadly foe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Solym.</span> From Sujah's valour I should much expect,<br /> +But he's a bigot of the Persian sect;<br /> +And by a foreign interest seeks to reign,<br /> +Hopeless by love the sceptre to obtain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> Morat's too insolent, too much a brave;<br /> +His courage to his envy is a slave.<br /> +What he attempts, if his endeavours fail<br /> +To effect, he is resolved no other shall.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> But Aureng-Zebe, by no strong passion swayed,<br /> +Except his love, more temperate is, and weighed:<br /> +This Atlas must our sinking state uphold;<br /> +In council cool, but in performance bold:<br /> +He sums their virtues in himself alone,<br /> +And adds the greatest, of a loyal son:<br /> +His father's cause upon his sword he wears,<br /> +And with his arms, we hope, his fortune bears.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Solym.</span> Two vast rewards may well his courage move,<br /> +A parent's blessing, and a mistress' love.<br /> +If he succeed, his recompence, we hear,<br /> +Must be the captive queen of Cassimere.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them <span class="cnm">Abas.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abas.</span> Mischiefs on mischiefs, greater still, and more!<br /> +The neighbouring plain with arms is covered o'er:<br /> +The vale an iron-harvest seems to yield,<br /> +Of thick-sprung lances in a waving field.<br /> +The polished steel gleams terribly from far,<br /> +And every moment nearer shows the war.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_195" name="page_195"></a> +The horses' neighing by the wind is blown,<br /> +And castled-elephants o'er-look the town.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> If, as I fear, Morat these powers commands,<br /> +Our empire on the brink of ruin stands:<br /> +The ambitious empress with her son is joined,<br /> +And, in his brother's absence, has designed<br /> +The unprovided town to take with ease,<br /> +And then the person of the king to seize.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Solym.</span> To all his former issue she has shown<br /> +Long hate, and laboured to advance her own.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abas.</span> These troops are his.<br /> +Surat he took; and thence, preventing fame,<br /> +By quick and painful marches hither came.<br /> +Since his approach, he to his mother sent,<br /> +And two long hours in close debate were spent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> I'll to my charge, the citadel, repair,<br /> +And show my duty by my timely care.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them the Emperor, with a letter in his hand: After +him, an Ambassador, with a train following.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> But see, the emperor! a fiery red<br /> +His brows and glowing temples does o'erspread;<br /> +Morat has some displeasing message sent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Amb.</span> Do not, great sir, misconstrue his intent;<br /> +Nor call rebellion what was prudent care,<br /> +To guard himself by necessary war:<br /> +While he believed you living, he obeyed;<br /> +His governments but as your viceroy swayed:<br /> +But, when he thought you gone<br /> +To augment the number of the blessed above,<br /> +He deemed them legacies of royal love:<br /> +Nor armed, his brothers' portions to invade,<br /> +But to defend the present you had made.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> By frequent messages, and strict commands,<br /> +He knew my pleasure to discharge his bands:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_196" name="page_196"></a> +Proof of my life my royal signet made;<br /> +Yet still he armed, came on, and disobeyed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Amb.</span> He thought the mandate forged, your death concealed;<br /> +And but delayed, till truth should be revealed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> News of my death from rumour he received;<br /> +And what he wished, he easily believed:<br /> +But long demurred, though from my hand he knew<br /> +I lived, so loth he was to think it true.<br /> +Since he pleads ignorance to that command,<br /> +Now let him show his duty, and disband.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Amb.</span> His honour, sir, will suffer in the cause;<br /> +He yields his arms unjust, if he withdraws:<br /> +And begs his loyalty may be declared,<br /> +By owning those he leads to be your guard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I, in myself, have all the guard I need!<br /> +Bid the presumptuous boy draw off with speed:<br /> +If his audacious troops one hour remain,<br /> +My cannon from the fort shall scour the plain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Amb.</span> Since you deny him entrance, he demands<br /> +His wife, whom cruelly you hold in bands:<br /> +Her, if unjustly you from him detain,<br /> +He justly will, by force of arms, regain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> O'er him and his a right from Heaven I have;<br /> +Subject and son, he's doubly born my slave.<br /> +But whatsoe'er his own demerits are,<br /> +Tell him, I shall not make on women war.<br /> +And yet I'll do her innocence the grace,<br /> +To keep her here, as in the safer place.<br /> +But thou, who dar'st this bold defiance bring,<br /> +May'st feel the rage of an offended king.<br /> +Hence, from my sight, without the least reply!<br /> +One word, nay one look more, and thou shalt die. +<span class="sdr">[Exit Ambassador.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_197" name="page_197"></a> +Re-enter <span class="cnm">Arimant.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> May heaven, great monarch, still augment your bliss<br /> +With length of days, and every day like this!<br /> +For, from the banks of Gemna news is brought,<br /> +Your army has a bloody battle fought:<br /> +Darah from loyal Aureng-Zebe is fled,<br /> +And forty thousand of his men lie dead.<br /> +To Sujah next your conquering army drew;<br /> +Him they surprised, and easily o'erthrew.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> 'Tis well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> But well! what more could at your wish be done,<br /> +Than two such conquests gained by such a son?<br /> +Your pardon, mighty sir;<br /> +You seem not high enough your joys to rate;<br /> +You stand indebted a vast sum to fate,<br /> +And should large thanks for the great blessing pay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> My fortune owes me greater every day;<br /> +And should my joy more high for this appear,<br /> +It would have argued me, before, of fear.<br /> +How is heaven kind, where I have nothing won,<br /> +And fortune only pays me with my own?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Great Aureng-Zebe did duteous care express,<br /> +And durst not push too far his good success;<br /> +But, lest Morat the city should attack,<br /> +Commanded his victorious army back;<br /> +Which, left to march as swiftly as they may,<br /> +Himself comes first, and will be here this day,<br /> +Before a close-formed siege shut up his way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Prevent his purpose! hence, with all thy speed!<br /> +Stop him; his entrance to the town forbid.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> How, sir? your loyal, your victorious son?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Him would I, more than all the rebels, shun.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_198" name="page_198"></a> +<span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Whom with your power and fortune, sir, you trust.<br /> +Now to suspect is vain, as 'tis unjust.<br /> +He comes not with a train to move your fear,<br /> +But trusts himself to be a prisoner here.<br /> +You knew him brave, you know him faithful now:<br /> +He aims at fame, but fame from serving you.<br /> +'Tis said, ambition in his breast does rage:<br /> +Who would not be the hero of an age?<br /> +All grant him prudent: Prudence interest weighs,<br /> +And interest bids him seek your love and praise.<br /> +I know you grateful; when he marched from hence,<br /> +You bade him hope an ample recompence:<br /> +He conquered in that hope; and, from your hands,<br /> +His love, the precious pledge he left, demands.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> No more; you search too deep my wounded mind,<br /> +And show me what I fear, and would not find.<br /> +My son has all the debts of duty paid:<br /> +Our prophet sends him to my present aid.<br /> +Such virtue to distrust were base and low:<br /> +I'm not ungrateful—or I was not so!<br /> +Inquire no farther, stop his coming on:<br /> +I will not, cannot, dare not, see my son.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> 'Tis now too late his entrance to prevent,<br /> +Nor must I to your ruin give consent;<br /> +At once your people's heart, and son's, you lose,<br /> +And give him all, when you just things refuse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Thou lov'st me, sure; thy faith has oft been tried,<br /> +In ten pitched fields not shrinking from my side,<br /> +Yet giv'st me no advice to bring me ease.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Can you be cured, and tell not your disease?<br /> +I asked you, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Thou shouldst have asked again:<br /> +There hangs a secret shame on guilty men.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_199" name="page_199"></a> +Thou shouldst have pulled the secret from my breast,<br /> +Torn out the bearded steel, to give me rest;<br /> +At least, thou should'st have guessed—<br /> +Yet thou art honest, thou couldst ne'er have guessed.<br /> +Hast thou been never base? did love ne'er bend<br /> +Thy frailer virtue, to betray thy friend?<br /> +Flatter me, make thy court, and say, It did;<br /> +Kings in a crowd would have their vices hid.<br /> +We would be kept in count'nance, saved from shame,<br /> +And owned by others who commit the same.<br /> +Nay, now I have confessed.<br /> +Thou seest me naked, and without disguise:<br /> +I look on Aureng-Zebe with rival's eyes.<br /> +He has abroad my enemies o'ercome,<br /> +And I have sought to ruin him at home.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> This free confession shows you long did strive;<br /> +And virtue, though opprest, is still alive.<br /> +But what success did your injustice find?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What it deserved, and not what I designed.<br /> +Unmoved she stood, and deaf to all my prayers,<br /> +As seas and winds to sinking mariners.<br /> +But seas grow calm, and winds are reconciled:<br /> +Her tyrant beauty never grows more mild;<br /> +Prayers, promises, and threats, were all in vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Then cure yourself, by generous disdain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Virtue, disdain, despair, I oft have tried,<br /> +And, foiled, have with new arms my foe defied.<br /> +This made me with so little joy to hear<br /> +The victory, when I the victor fear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Something you swiftly must resolve to do,<br /> +Lest Aureng-Zebe your secret love should know.<br /> +Morat without does for your ruin wait;<br /> +And would you lose the buckler of your state?<br /> +A jealous empress lies within your arms,<br /> +Too haughty to endure neglected charms.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_200" name="page_200"></a> +Your son is duteous, but, as man, he's frail,<br /> +And just revenge o'er virtue may prevail.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Go then to Indamora; say, from me,<br /> +Two lives depend upon her secrecy.<br /> +Bid her conceal my passion from my son:<br /> +Though Aureng-Zebe return a conqueror,<br /> +Both he and she are still within my power.<br /> +Say, I'm a father, but a lover too;<br /> +Much to my son, more to myself I owe.<br /> +When she receives him, to her words give law,<br /> +And even the kindness of her glances awe.<br /> +See, he appears! +<span class="sdr">[After a short whisper, <span class="cnm">Arimant</span> departs.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe, Dianet,</span> and Attendants.—<span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe</span> +kneels to his Father, and kisses his +hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> My vows have been successful as my sword;<br /> +My prayers are heard, you have your health restored.<br /> +Once more 'tis given me to behold your face;<br /> +The best of kings and fathers to embrace.<br /> +Pardon my tears; 'tis joy which bids them flow,<br /> +A joy which never was sincere till now.<br /> +That, which my conquest gave, I could not prize;<br /> +Or 'twas imperfect till I saw your eyes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Turn the discourse: I have a reason why<br /> +I would not have you speak so tenderly.<br /> +Knew you what shame your kind expressions bring,<br /> +You would, in pity, spare a wretched king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> A king! you rob me, sir, of half my due;<br /> +You have a dearer name,—a father too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I had that name.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> What have I said or done,<br /> +That I no longer must be called your son?<br /> +'Tis in that name, heaven knows, I glory more,<br /> +Than that of prince, or that of conqueror.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_201" name="page_201"></a> +<span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Then you upbraid me; I am pleased to see<br /> +You're not so perfect, but can fail, like me.<br /> +I have no God to deal with.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Now I find,<br /> +Some sly court-devil has seduced your mind;<br /> +Filled it with black suspicions not your own,<br /> +And all my actions through false optics shown.<br /> +I ne'er did crowns ambitiously regard;<br /> +Honour I sought, the generous mind's reward.<br /> +Long may you live! while you the sceptre sway,<br /> +I shall be still most happy to obey.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Oh, Aureng-Zebe! thy virtues shine too bright,<br /> +They flash too fierce: I, like the bird of night,<br /> +Shut my dull eyes, and sicken at the sight.<br /> +Thou hast deserved more love than I can show;<br /> +But 'tis thy fate to give, and mine to owe.<br /> +Thou seest me much distempered in my mind;<br /> +Pulled back, and then pushed forward to be kind.<br /> +Virtue, and—fain I would my silence break,<br /> +But have not yet the confidence to speak.<br /> +Leave me, and to thy needful rest repair.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Rest is not suiting with a lover's care.<br /> +I have not yet my Indamora seen.<span class="sdr">[Is going.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Somewhat I had forgot; come back again:<br /> +So weary of a father's company?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Sir, you were pleased yourself to license me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> You made me no relation of the fight;<br /> +Besides, a rebel's army is in sight.<br /> +Advise me first: Yet go—<br /> +He goes to Indamora; I should take<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +A kind of envious joy to keep him back.<br /> +Yet to detain him makes my love appear;—<br /> +I hate his presence, and his absence fear.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> To some new clime, or to thy native sky,<br /> +Oh friendless and forsaken Virtue, fly!<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_202" name="page_202"></a> +Thy Indian air is deadly to thee grown:<br /> +Deceit and cankered malice rule thy throne.<br /> +Why did my arms in battle prosperous prove,<br /> +To gain the barren praise of filial love?<br /> +The best of kings by women is misled,<br /> +Charmed by the witchcraft of a second bed.<br /> +Against myself I victories have won,<br /> +And by my fatal absence am undone.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To him <span class="cnm">Indamora,</span> with <span class="cnm">Arimant.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">But here she comes!<br /> +In the calm harbour of whose gentle breast,<br /> +My tempest-beaten soul may safely rest.<br /> +Oh, my heart's joy! whate'er my sorrows be,<br /> +They cease and vanish in beholding thee!<br /> +Care shuns thy walks; as at the cheerful light,<br /> +The groaning ghosts and birds obscene take flight.<br /> +By this one view, all my past pains are paid;<br /> +And all I have to come more easy made.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Such sullen planets at my birth did shine,<br /> +They threaten every fortune mixt with mine.<br /> +Fly the pursuit of my disastrous love,<br /> +And from unhappy neighbourhood remove.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Bid the laborious hind,<br /> +Whose hardened hands did long in tillage toil,<br /> +Neglect the promised harvest of the soil.<br /> +Should I, who cultivated love with blood,<br /> +Refuse possession of approaching good?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Love is an airy good, opinion makes;<br /> +Which he, who only thinks he has, partakes:<br /> +Seen by a strong imagination's beam,<br /> +That tricks and dresses up the gaudy dream:<br /> +Presented so, with rapture 'tis enjoyed;<br /> +Raised by high fancy, and by low destroyed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> If love be vision, mine has all the fire,<br /> +Which, in first dreams, young prophets does inspire:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_203" name="page_203"></a> +I dream, in you, our promised paradise:<br /> +An age's tumult of continued bliss.<br /> +But you have still your happiness in doubt;<br /> +Or else 'tis past, and you have dreamt it out.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Perhaps not so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Can Indamora prove<br /> +So altered? Is it but, perhaps you love?<br /> +Then farewell all! I thought in you to find<br /> +A balm, to cure my much distempered mind.<br /> +I came to grieve a father's heart estranged;<br /> +But little thought to find a mistress changed.<br /> +Nature herself is changed to punish me;<br /> +Virtue turned vice, and faith inconstancy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> You heard me not inconstancy confess:<br /> +'Twas but a friend's advice to love me less.<br /> +Who knows what adverse fortune may befal?<br /> +Arm well your mind: hope little, and fear all.<br /> +Hope, with a goodly prospect, feeds your eye;<br /> +Shows, from a rising ground, possession nigh;<br /> +Shortens the distance, or o'erlooks it quite;<br /> +So easy 'tis to travel with the sight.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Then to despair you would my love betray,<br /> +By taking hope, its last kind friend, away.<br /> +You hold the glass, but turn the perspective,<br /> +And farther off the lessened object drive.<br /> +You bid me fear: In that your change I know;<br /> +You would prepare me for the coming blow.<br /> +But, to prevent you, take my last adieu;<br /> +I'll sadly tell my self you are untrue,<br /> +Rather than stay to hear it told by you.<span class="sdr">[Going.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Stay, Aureng-Zebe, I must not let you go,—<br /> +And yet believe yourself your own worst foe;<br /> +Think I am true, and seek no more to know,<br /> +Let in my breast the fatal secret lie;<br /> +'Tis a sad riddle, which, if known, we die.<span class="sdr">[Seeming to pause.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_204" name="page_204"></a> +<span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Fair hypocrite, you seek to cheat in vain;<br /> +Your silence argues you ask time to feign.<br /> +Once more, farewell! The snare in sight is laid,<br /> +'Tis my own fault if I am now betrayed.<span class="sdr">[Going again.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Yet once more stay; you shall believe me true,<br /> +Though in one fate I wrap myself and you.<br /> +Your absence—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Hold! you know the hard command,<br /> +I must obey: You only can withstand<br /> +Your own mishap. I beg you, on my knee,<br /> +Be not unhappy by your own decree.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Speak, madam; by (if that be yet an oath)<br /> +Your love, I'm pleased we should be ruined both.<br /> +Both is a sound of joy.<br /> +In death's dark bowers our bridals we will keep;<br /> +And his cold hand<br /> +Shall draw the curtain, when we go to sleep.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Know then, that man, whom both of us did trust,<br /> +Has been to you unkind, to me unjust.<br /> +The guardian of my faith so false did prove,<br /> +As to solicit me with lawless love:<br /> +Prayed, promised, threatened, all that man could do;<br /> +Base as he's great; and need I tell you who?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Yes; for I'll not believe my father meant:<br /> +Speak quickly, and my impious thoughts prevent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> You've said; I wish I could some other name!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> My duty must excuse me, sir, from blame.<br /> +A guard there!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Guards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Slave, for me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> My orders are<br /> +To seize this princess, whom the laws of war<br /> +Long since made prisoner.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_205" name="page_205"></a> +<span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Villain!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Sir, I know<br /> +Your birth, nor durst another call me so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I have redeemed her; and, as mine, she's free.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> You may have right to give her liberty;<br /> +But with your father, sir, that right dispute;<br /> +For his commands to me were absolute,<br /> +If she disclosed his love, to use the right<br /> +Of war, and to secure her from your sight.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I'll rescue her, or die.<span class="sdr">[Draws.</span><br /> +And you, my friends, though few, are yet too brave,<br /> +To see your general's mistress made a slave.<span class="sdr">[All draw.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Hold, my dear love! if so much power there lies,<br /> +As once you owned, in Indamora's eyes,<br /> +Lose not the honour you have early won,<br /> +But stand the blameless pattern of a son.<br /> +My love your claim inviolate secures;<br /> +'Tis writ in fate, I can be only yours.<br /> +My sufferings for you make your heart my due;<br /> +Be worthy me, as I am worthy you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I've thought, and blessed be you who gave me time; +<span class="sdr">[Putting up his Sword.</span><br /> +My virtue was surprised into a crime.<br /> +Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still;<br /> +Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill.<br /> +I to a son's and lover's praise aspire,<br /> +And must fulfil the parts which both require.<br /> +How dear the cure of jealousy has cost!<br /> +With too much care and tenderness you're lost.<br /> +So the fond youth from hell redeemed his prize,<br /> +Till, looking back, she vanished from his eyes! +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt severally.</span></p> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_206" name="page_206"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT II. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Betwixt the Acts, a warlike Tune is played, shooting +of Guns and shouts of Soldiers are heard, as in +an Assault.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe, Arimant, Asaph Chan, Fazel +Chan,</span> and <span class="cnm">Solyman.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> What man could do, was by Morat performed;<br /> +The fortress thrice himself in person stormed.<br /> +Your valour bravely did the assault sustain,<br /> +And filled the moats and ditches with the slain;<br /> +'Till, mad with rage, into the breach he fired,<br /> +Slew friends and foes, and in the smoke retired.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> To us you give what praises are not due;<br /> +Morat was thrice repulsed, but thrice by you.<br /> +High, over all, was your great conduct shown;<br /> +You sought our safety, but forgot your own.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> Their standard, planted on the battlement,<br /> +Despair and death among the soldiers sent;<br /> +You the bold Omrah tumbled from the wall,<br /> +And shouts of victory pursued his fall.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Fazel.</span> To you alone we owe this prosperous day;<br /> +Our wives and children rescued from the prey:<br /> +Know your own interest, sir; where'er you lead,<br /> +We jointly vow to own no other head.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Solym.</span> Your wrongs are known. Impose but your commands,<br /> +This hour shall bring you twenty thousand hands.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Let them, who truly would appear my friends,<br /> +Employ their swords, like mine, for noble ends.<br /> +No more: Remember you have bravely done;<br /> +Shall treason end what loyalty begun?<br /> +I own no wrongs; some grievance I confess;<br /> +But kings, like gods, at their own time redress.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_207" name="page_207"></a> +Yet, some becoming boldness I may use;<br /> +I've well deserved, nor will he now refuse.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +I'll strike my fortunes with him at a heat,<br /> +And give him not the leisure to forget. +<span class="sdr">[Exit, attended by the Omrahs.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Oh! Indamora, hide these fatal eyes!<br /> +Too deep they wound whom they too soon surprise;<br /> +My virtue, prudence, honour, interest, all<br /> +Before this universal monarch fall.<br /> +Beauty, like ice, our footing does betray;<br /> +Who can tread sure on the smooth slippery way?<br /> +Pleased with the passage, we slide swiftly on,<br /> +And see the dangers which we cannot shun.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To him <span class="cnm">Indamora.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> I hope my liberty may reach thus far;<br /> +These terrace walks within my limits are.<br /> +I came to seek you, and to let you know,<br /> +How much I to your generous pity owe.<br /> +The king, when he designed you for my guard,<br /> +Resolved he would not make my bondage hard:<br /> +If otherwise, you have deceived his end;<br /> +And whom he meant a guardian, made a friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> A guardian's title I must own with shame;<br /> +But should be prouder of another name.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> And therefore 'twas I changed that name before;<br /> +I called you friend, and could you wish for more?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> I dare not ask for what you would not grant.<br /> +But wishes, madam, are extravagant;<br /> +They are not bounded with things possible:<br /> +I may wish more than I presume to tell.<br /> +Desire's the vast extent of human mind;<br /> +It mounts above, and leaves poor hope behind.<br /> +I could wish—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> What?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_208" name="page_208"></a> +<span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Why did you speak? you've dashed my fancy quite,<br /> +Even in the approaching minute of delight.<br /> +I must take breath,<br /> +Ere I the rapture of my wish renew,<br /> +And tell you then,—it terminates in you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Have you considered what the event would be?<br /> +Or know you, Arimant, yourself, or me?<br /> +Were I no queen, did you my beauty weigh,<br /> +My youth in bloom, your age in its decay?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> I, my own judge, condemned myself before;<br /> +For pity aggravate my crime no more!<br /> +So weak I am, I with a frown am slain;<br /> +You need have used but half so much disdain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> I am not cruel yet to that degree;<br /> +Have better thoughts both of yourself and me.<br /> +Beauty a monarch is,<br /> +Which kingly power magnificently proves,<br /> +By crowds of slaves, and peopled empire loves:<br /> +And such a slave as you what queen would lose?<br /> +Above the rest, I Arimant would chuse,<br /> +For counsel, valour, truth, and kindness too;<br /> +All I could wish in man, I find in you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> What lover could to greater joy be raised?<br /> +I am, methinks, a god, by you thus praised.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> To what may not desert like yours pretend?<br /> +You have all qualities, that fit a friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> So mariners mistake the promised coast;<br /> +And, with full sails, on the blind rocks are lost.<br /> +Think you my aged veins so faintly beat,<br /> +They rise no higher than to friendship's heat?<br /> +So weak your charms, that, like a winter's night,<br /> +Twinkling with stars, they freeze me, while they light?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Mistake me not, good Arimant; I know<br /> +My beauty's power, and what my charms can do.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_209" name="page_209"></a> +You your own talent have not learned so well;<br /> +But practise one, where you can ne'er excel.<br /> +You can, at most,<br /> +To an indifferent lover's praise pretend;<br /> +But you would spoil an admirable friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Never was amity so highly prized,<br /> +Nor ever any love so much despised.<br /> +Even to myself ridiculous I grow,<br /> +And would be angry, if I knew but how.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Do not. Your anger, like your love, is vain;<br /> +Whene'er I please, you must be pleased again.<br /> +Knowing what power I have your will to bend,<br /> +I'll use it; for I need just such a friend.<br /> +You must perform, not what you think is fit;<br /> +But to whatever I propose submit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Madam, you have a strange ascendant gained;<br /> +You use me like a courser, spurred and reined:<br /> +If I fly out, my fierceness you command,<br /> +Then sooth, and gently stroke me with your hand.<br /> +Impose; but use your power of taxing well;<br /> +When subjects cannot pay, they soon rebel.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter the Emperor, unseen by them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> My rebel's punishment would easy prove;<br /> +You know you're in my power, by making love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Would I, without dispute, your will obey,<br /> +And could you, in return, my life betray?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What danger, Arimant, is this you fear?<br /> +Or what love-secret, which I must not hear?<br /> +These altered looks some inward motion show:<br /> +His cheeks are pale, and yours with blushes glow.<span class="sdr">[To her.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> 'Tis what, with justice, may my anger move;<br /> +He has been bold, and talked to me of love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> I am betrayed, and shall be doomed to die.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Did he, my slave, presume to look so high?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_210" name="page_210"></a> +That crawling insect, who from mud began,<br /> +Warmed by my beams, and kindled into man?<br /> +Durst he, who does but for my pleasure live,<br /> +Intrench on love, my great prerogative?<br /> +Print his base image on his sovereign's coin?<br /> +'Tis treason if he stamp his love with mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> 'Tis true, I have been bold, but if it be<br /> +A crime—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> He means, 'tis only so to me.<br /> +You, sir, should praise, what I must disapprove.<br /> +He insolently talked to me of love;<br /> +But, sir, 'twas yours, he made it in your name;<br /> +You, if you please, may all he said disclaim.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I must disclaim whate'er he can express;<br /> +His groveling sense will show my passion less:<br /> +But stay,—if what he said my message be,<br /> +What fear, what danger, could arrive from me?<br /> +He said, he feared you would his life betray.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Should he presume again, perhaps I may.<br /> +Though in your hands he hazard not his life,<br /> +Remember, sir, your fury of a wife;<br /> +Who, not content to be revenged on you,<br /> +The agents of your passion will pursue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> If I but hear her named, I'm sick that day;<br /> +The sound is mortal, and frights life away.—<br /> +Forgive me, Arimant, my jealous thought:<br /> +Distrust in lovers is the tenderest fault.<br /> +Leave me, and tell thyself, in my excuse,<br /> +Love, and a crown, no rivalship can bear;<br /> +And precious things are still possessed with fear. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Arimant,</span> bowing.</span><br /> +This, madam, my excuse to you may plead;<br /> +Love should forgive the faults, which love has made.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> From me, what pardon can you hope to have,<br /> +Robbed of my love, and treated as a slave?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Force is the last relief which lovers find;<br /> +And 'tis the best excuse of woman-kind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_211" name="page_211"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Force never yet a generous heart did gain;<br /> +We yield on parley, but are stormed in vain.<br /> +Constraint in all things makes the pleasure less;<br /> +Sweet is the love which comes with willingness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> No; 'tis resistance that inflames desire,<br /> +Sharpens the darts of love, and blows his fire.<br /> +Love is disarmed, that meets with too much ease;<br /> +He languishes, and does not care to please:<br /> +And therefore 'tis, your golden fruit you guard<br /> +With so much care,—to make possession hard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Was't not enough, you took my crown away,<br /> +But cruelly you must my love betray?<br /> +I was well pleased to have transferred my right,<br /> +And better changed your claim of lawless might,<br /> +By taking him, whom you esteemed above<br /> +Your other sons, and taught me first to love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> My son by my command his course must steer:<br /> +I bade him love, I bid him now forbear.<br /> +If you have any kindness for him still,<br /> +Advise him not to shock a father's will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Must I advise?<br /> +Then let me see him, and I'll try to obey.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I had forgot, and dare not trust your way.<br /> +But send him word,<br /> +He has not here an army to command:<br /> +Remember, he and you are in my hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Yes, in a father's hand, whom he has served,<br /> +And, with the hazard of his life, preserved.<br /> +But piety to you, unhappy prince,<br /> +Becomes a crime, and duty an offence;<br /> +Against yourself you with your foes combine,<br /> +And seem your own destruction to design.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> You may be pleased your politics to spare;<br /> +I'm old enough, and can myself take care.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Advice from me was, I confess, too bold:<br /> +You're old enough; it may be, sir, too old.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_212" name="page_212"></a> +<span class="cnm">Emp.</span> You please yourself with your contempt of age;<br /> +But love, neglected, will convert to rage.<br /> +If on your head my fury does not turn,<br /> +Thank that fond dotage which so much you scorn;<br /> +But, in another's person, you may prove,<br /> +There's warmth for vengeance left, though not for love.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Arimant.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> The empress has the antichambers past,<br /> +And this way moves with a disordered haste:<br /> +Her brows the stormy marks of anger bear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Madam, retire; she must not find you here. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Indamora</span> with <span class="cnm">Arimant.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Nourmahal</span> hastily.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> What have I done, that Nourmahal must prove<br /> +The scorn and triumph of a rival's love?<br /> +My eyes are still the same; each glance, each grace,<br /> +Keep their first lustre, and maintain their place;<br /> +Not second yet to any other face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What rage transports you? Are you well awake?<br /> +Such dreams distracted minds in fevers make.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Those fevers you have given, those dreams have bred,<br /> +By broken faith, and an abandoned bed.<br /> +Such visions hourly pass before my sight,<br /> +Which from my eyes their balmy slumbers fright,<br /> +In the severest silence of the night;<br /> +Visions, which in this citadel are seen,—<br /> +Bright glorious visions of a rival queen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Have patience,—my first flames can ne'er decay;<br /> +These are but dreams, and soon will pass away;<br /> +Thou know'st, my heart, my empire, all is thine.<br /> +In thy own heaven of love serenely shine;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_213" name="page_213"></a> +Fair as the face of nature did appear,<br /> +When flowers first peep'd, and trees did blossoms bear,<br /> +And winter had not yet deformed the inverted year;<br /> +Calm as the breath which fans our eastern groves,<br /> +And bright as when thy eyes first lighted up our loves.<br /> +Let our eternal peace be sealed by this,<br /> +With the first ardour of a nuptial kiss.<span class="sdr">[Offers to kiss her.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Me would you have,—me your faint kisses prove,<br /> +The dregs and droppings of enervate love?<br /> +Must I your cold long-labouring age sustain,<br /> +And be to empty joys provoked in vain?<br /> +Receive you, sighing after other charms,<br /> +And take an absent husband in my arms?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Even these reproaches I can bear from you;<br /> +You doubted of my love, believe it true:<br /> +Nothing but love this patience could produce,<br /> +And I allow your rage that kind excuse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Call it not patience; 'tis your guilt stands mute;<br /> +You have a cause too foul to bear dispute.<br /> +You wrong me first, and urge my rage to rise:<br /> +Then I must pass for mad; you, meek and wise.<br /> +Good man! plead merit by your soft replies.<br /> +Vain privilege poor women have of tongue;<br /> +Men can stand silent, and resolve on wrong.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What can I more? my friendship you refuse.<br /> +And even my mildness, as my crime, accuse.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Your sullen silence cheats not me, false man;<br /> +I know you think the bloodiest things you can.<br /> +Could you accuse me, you would raise your voice,<br /> +Watch for my crimes, and in my guilt rejoice:<br /> +But my known virtue is from scandal free,<br /> +And leaves no shadow for your calumny.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Such virtue is the plague of human life;<br /> +A virtuous woman, but a cursed wife.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_214" name="page_214"></a> +In vain of pompous chastity you're proud;<br /> +Virtue's adultery of the tongue, when loud.<br /> +I, with less pain, a prostitute could bear,<br /> +Than the shrill sound of—"<i>Virtue! virtue!</i>" hear.<br /> +In unchaste wives<br /> +There's yet a kind of recompensing ease;<br /> +Vice keeps them humble, gives them care to please;<br /> +But against clamorous virtue, what defence?<br /> +It stops our mouths, and gives your noise pretence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Since virtue does your indignation raise,<br /> +'Tis pity but you had that wife you praise:<br /> +Your own wild appetites are prone to range,<br /> +And then you tax our humours with your change.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What can be sweeter than our native home?<br /> +Thither for ease and soft repose we come:<br /> +Home is the sacred refuge of our life;<br /> +Secured from all approaches, but a wife.<br /> +If thence we fly, the cause admits no doubt;<br /> +None but an inmate foe could force us out:<br /> +Clamours our privacies uneasy make;<br /> +Birds leave their nests disturbed, and beasts their haunts forsake.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Honour's my crime, that has your loathing bred;<br /> +You take no pleasure in a virtuous bed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What pleasure can there be in that estate,<br /> +Which your unquietness has made me hate?<br /> +I shrink far off,<br /> +Dissembling sleep, but wakeful with the fright;<br /> +The day takes off the pleasure of the night.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> My thoughts no other joys but power pursue;<br /> +Or, if they did, they must be lost in you.<br /> +And yet the fault's not mine,<br /> +Though youth and beauty cannot warmth command;<br /> +The sun in vain shines on the barren sand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_215" name="page_215"></a> +<span class="cnm">Emp.</span> 'Tis true, of marriage-bands I'm weary grown;<br /> +Love scorns all ties, but those that are his own.<br /> +Chains, that are dragged, must needs uneasy prove,<br /> +For there's a godlike liberty in love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> What's love to you?<br /> +The bloom of beauty other years demands,<br /> +Nor will be gathered by such withered hands:<br /> +You importune it with a false desire,<br /> +Which sparkles out, and makes no solid fire.<br /> +This impudence of age, whence can it spring?<br /> +All you expect, and yet you nothing bring:<br /> +Eager to ask, when you are past a grant;<br /> +Nice in providing what you cannot want.<br /> +Have conscience; give not her you love this pain;<br /> +Solicit not yourself and her in vain:<br /> +All other debts may compensation find;<br /> +But love is strict, and will be paid in kind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Sure, of all ills, domestic are the worst;<br /> +When most secure of blessings, we are curst.<br /> +When we lay next us what we hold most dear,<br /> +Like Hercules, envenomed shirts we wear,<br /> +And cleaving mischiefs.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> What you merit, have;<br /> +And share, at least, the miseries you gave.<br /> +Your days I will alarm, I'll haunt your nights.<br /> +And, worse than age, disable your delights.<br /> +May your sick fame still languish till it die,<br /> +All offices of power neglected lie,<br /> +And you grow cheap in every subject's eye!<br /> +Then, as the greatest curse that I can give,<br /> +Unpitied be deposed, and, after, live!<span class="sdr">[Going off.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Stay, and now learn,<br /> +How criminal soe'er we husbands are,<br /> +'Tis not for wives to push our crimes too far.<br /> +Had you still mistress of your temper been,<br /> +I had been modest, and not owned my sin.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_216" name="page_216"></a> +Your fury hardens me; and whate'er wrong<br /> +You suffer, you have cancelled by your tongue.<br /> +A guard there!—Seize her; she shall know this hour,<br /> +What is a husband's and a monarch's power.<span class="sdr">[Guard seizes her.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> I see for whom your charter you maintain;<br /> +I must be fettered, and my son be slain,<br /> +That Zelyma's ambitious race may reign.<br /> +Not so you promised, when my beauty drew<br /> +All Asia's vows; when, Persia left for you,<br /> +The realm of Candahar for dower I brought;<br /> +That long-contended prize for which you fought.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> The name of stepmother, your practised art,<br /> +By which you have estranged my father's heart,<br /> +All you have done against me, or design,<br /> +Shows your aversion, but begets not mine.<br /> +Long may my father India's empire guide,<br /> +And may no breach your nuptial vows divide!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Since love obliges not, I from this hour<br /> +Assume the right of man's despotic power;<br /> +Man is by nature formed your sex's head,<br /> +And is himself the canon of his bed:<br /> +In bands of iron fettered you shall be,—<br /> +An easier yoke than what you put on me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Though much I fear my interest is not great,<br /> +Let me your royal clemency intreat.<span class="sdr">[Kneeling.</span><br /> +Secrets of marriage still are sacred held;<br /> +Their sweet and bitter by the wise concealed.<br /> +Errors of wives reflect on husbands still,<br /> +And, when divulged, proclaim you've chosen ill;<br /> +And the mysterious power of bed and throne<br /> +Should always be maintained, but rarely shown.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> To so perverse a sex all grace is vain;<br /> +It gives them courage to offend again:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_217" name="page_217"></a> +For with feigned tears they penitence pretend,<br /> +Again are pardoned, and again offend;<br /> +Fathom our pity when they seem to grieve,<br /> +Only to try how far we can forgive;<br /> +Till, launching out into a sea of strife,<br /> +They scorn all pardon, and appear all wife.<br /> +But be it as you please; for your loved sake,<br /> +This last and fruitless trial I will make:<br /> +In all requests your right of merit use;<br /> +And know, there is but one I can refuse. +<span class="sdr">[He signs to the Guards, and they remove from +the Empress.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> You've done enough, for you designed my chains;<br /> +The grace is vanished, but the affront remains.<br /> +Nor is't a grace, or for his merit done;<br /> +You durst no farther, for you feared my son.<br /> +This you have gained by the rough course you prove;<br /> +I'm past repentance, and you past my love.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> A spirit so untamed the world ne'er bore.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> And yet worse usage had incensed her more.<br /> +But since by no obligement she is tied,<br /> +You must betimes for your defence provide.<br /> +I cannot idle in your danger stand,<br /> +But beg once more I may your arms command:<br /> +Two battles your auspicious cause has won;<br /> +My sword can perfect what it has begun,<br /> +And from your walls dislodge that haughty son.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> My son, your valour has this day been such,<br /> +None can enough admire, or praise too much:<br /> +But now, with reason, your success I doubt;<br /> +Her faction's strong within, his arms without.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I left the city in a panic fright;<br /> +Lions they are in council, lambs in fight.<br /> +But my own troops, by Mirzah led, are near;<br /> +I, by to-morrow's dawn, expect them here:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_218" name="page_218"></a> +To favour them, I'll sally out ere day,<br /> +And through our slaughtered foes enlarge their way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Age has not yet<br /> +So shrunk my sinews, or so chilled my veins,<br /> +But conscious virtue in my breast remains:<br /> +But had I now<br /> +That strength, with which my boiling youth was fraught,<br /> +When in the vale of Balasor I fought,<br /> +And from Bengal their captive monarch brought;<br /> +When elephant 'gainst elephant did rear<br /> +His trunk, and castles jostled in the air;<br /> +My sword thy way to victory had shown,<br /> +And owed the conquest to itself alone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Those fair ideas to my aid I'll call,<br /> +And emulate my great original;<br /> +Or, if they fail, I will invoke, in arms,<br /> +The power of love, and Indamora's charms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I doubt the happy influence of your star;<br /> +To invoke a captive's name bodes ill in war.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Sir, give me leave to say, whatever now<br /> +The omen prove, it boded well to you.<br /> +Your royal promise, when I went to fight,<br /> +Obliged me to resign a victor's right:<br /> +Her liberty I fought for, and I won,<br /> +And claim it, as your general, and your son.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> My ears still ring with noise; I'm vexed to death,<br /> +Tongue-killed, and have not yet recovered breath;<br /> +Nor will I be prescribed my time by you.<br /> +First end the war, and then your claim renew;<br /> +While to your conduct I my fortune trust,<br /> +To keep this pledge of duty is but just.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Some hidden cause your jealousy does move,<br /> +Or you could ne'er suspect my loyal love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> What love soever by an heir is shown,<br /> +He waits but time to step into the throne;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_219" name="page_219"></a> +You're neither justified, nor yet accused;<br /> +Meanwhile, the prisoner with respect is used.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I know the kindness of her guardian such,<br /> +I need not fear too little, but too much.<br /> +But, how, sir, how have you from virtue swerved?<br /> +Or what so ill return have I deserved?<br /> +You doubt not me, nor have I spent my blood,<br /> +To have my faith no better understood:<br /> +Your soul's above the baseness of distrust:<br /> +Nothing but love could make you so unjust.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> You know your rival then; and know 'tis fit,<br /> +The son should to the father's claim submit.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Sons may have rights which they can never quit.<br /> +Yourself first made that title which I claim:<br /> +First bade me love, and authorised my flame.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> The value of my gift I did not know:<br /> +If I could give, I can resume it too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Recall your gift, for I your power confess.<br /> +But first take back my life, a gift that's less.<br /> +Long life would now but a long burthen prove:<br /> +You're grown unkind, and I have lost your love.<br /> +My grief lets unbecoming speeches fall:<br /> +I should have died, and not complained at all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Witness, ye powers,<br /> +How much I suffered, and how long I strove<br /> +Against the assaults of this imperious love!<br /> +I represented to myself the shame<br /> +Of perjured faith, and violated fame;<br /> +Your great deserts, how ill they were repaid;<br /> +All arguments, in vain, I urged and weighed:<br /> +For mighty love, who prudence does despise,<br /> +For reason showed me Indamora's eyes.<br /> +What would you more? my crime I sadly view,<br /> +Acknowledge, am ashamed, and yet pursue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_220" name="page_220"></a> +<span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Since you can love, and yet your error see,<br /> +The same resistless power may plead for me.<br /> +With no less ardour I my claim pursue:<br /> +I love, and cannot yield her even to you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Your elder brothers, though o'ercome, have right:<br /> +The youngest yet in arms prepared to fight.<br /> +But, yielding her, I firmly have decreed,<br /> +That you alone to empire shall succeed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> To after-ages let me stand a shame,<br /> +When I exchange for crowns my love or fame!<br /> +You might have found a mercenary son,<br /> +To profit of the battles he had won.<br /> +Had I been such, what hindered me to take<br /> +The crown? nor had the exchange been yours to make.<br /> +While you are living, I no right pretend;<br /> +Wear it, and let it where you please descend.<br /> +But from my love, 'tis sacrilege to part:<br /> +There, there's my throne, in Indamora's heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> 'Tis in her heart alone that you must reign:<br /> +You'll find her person difficult to gain.<br /> +Give willingly what I can take by force:<br /> +And know, obedience is your safest course.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I'm taught, by honour's precepts, to obey:<br /> +Fear to obedience is a slavish way.<br /> +If aught my want of duty could beget,<br /> +You take the most prevailing means, to threat.<br /> +Pardon your blood, that boils within my veins;<br /> +It rises high, and menacing disdains.<br /> +Even death's become to me no dreadful name:<br /> +I've often met him, and have made him tame:<br /> +In fighting fields, where our acquaintance grew,<br /> +I saw him, and contemned him first for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Of formal duty make no more thy boast:<br /> +Thou disobey'st where it concerns me most.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_221" name="page_221"></a> +Fool! with both hands thus to push back a crown,<br /> +And headlong cast thyself from empire down!<br /> +Though Nourmahal I hate, her son shall reign:<br /> +Inglorious thou, by thy own fault, remain.<br /> +Thy younger brother I'll admit this hour:<br /> +So mine shall be thy mistress, his thy power.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> How vain is virtue, which directs our ways<br /> +Through certain danger to uncertain praise!<br /> +Barren, and airy name! thee fortune flies,<br /> +With thy lean train, the pious and the wise.<br /> +Heaven takes thee at thy word, without regard,<br /> +And lets thee poorly be thy own reward.<br /> +The world is made for the bold impious man,<br /> +Who stops at nothing, seizes all he can.<br /> +Justice to merit does weak aid afford;<br /> +She trusts her balance, and neglects her sword.<br /> +Virtue is nice to take what's not her own;<br /> +And, while she long consults, the prize is gone.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To him <span class="cnm">Dianet.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dia.</span> Forgive the bearer of unhappy news:<br /> +Your altered father openly pursues<br /> +Your ruin; and, to compass his intent,<br /> +For violent Morat in haste has sent.<br /> +The gates he ordered all to be unbarred,<br /> +And from the market-place to draw the guard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> How look the people in this turn of state?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dia.</span> They mourn your ruin as their proper fate;<br /> +Cursing the empress: For they think it done<br /> +By her procurement, to advance her son.<br /> +Him too, though awed, they scarcely can forbear:<br /> +His pride they hate, his violence they fear.<br /> +All bent to rise, would you appear their chief,<br /> +Till your own troops come up to your relief.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Ill treated, and forsaken, as I am,<br /> +I'll not betray the glory of my name:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_222" name="page_222"></a> +'Tis not for me, who have preserved a state,<br /> +To buy an empire at so base a rate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dia.</span> The points of honour poets may produce;<br /> +Trappings of life, for ornament, not use:<br /> +Honour, which only does the name advance,<br /> +Is the mere raving madness of romance.<br /> +Pleased with a word, you may sit tamely down;<br /> +And see your younger brother force the crown.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I know my fortune in extremes does lie;<br /> +The sons of Indostan must reign, or die;<br /> +That desperate hazard courage does create,<br /> +As he plays frankly, who has least estate;<br /> +And that the world the coward will despise,<br /> +When life's a blank, who pulls not for a prize.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dia.</span> Of all your knowledge, this vain fruit you have,<br /> +To walk with eyes broad open to your grave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> From what I've said, conclude, without reply,<br /> +I neither would usurp, nor tamely die.<br /> +The attempt to fly, would guilt betray, or fear:<br /> +Besides, 'twere vain; the fort's our prison here.<br /> +Somewhat I have resolved.<br /> +Morat, perhaps, has honour in his breast;<br /> +And, in extremes, both counsels are the best.<br /> +Like emp'ric remedies, they last are tried,<br /> +And by the event condemned, or justified.<br /> +Presence of mind, and courage in distress,<br /> +Are more than armies, to procure success.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_223" name="page_223"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT III. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Arimant,</span> with a letter in his hand: <span class="cnm">Indamora.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> And I the messenger to him from you?<br /> +Your empire you to tyranny pursue:<br /> +You lay commands, both cruel and unjust,<br /> +To serve my rival, and betray my trust.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> You first betrayed your trust, in loving me;<br /> +And should not I my own advantage see?<br /> +Serving my love, you may my friendship gain;<br /> +You know the rest of your pretences vain.<br /> +You must, my Arimant, you must be kind:<br /> +'Tis in your nature, and your noble mind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> I'll to the king, and straight my trust resign.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> His trust you may, but you shall never mine.<br /> +Heaven made you love me for no other end,<br /> +But to become my confidant and friend:<br /> +As such, I keep no secret from your sight,<br /> +And therefore make you judge how ill I write:<br /> +Read it, and tell me freely then your mind;<br /> +If 'tis indited, as I meant it, kind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> <i>I ask not heaven my freedom to restore,</i> +<span class="sdr">[Reading.</span><br /> +<i>But only for your sake</i>—I'll read no more:<br /> +And yet I must—<br /> +<i>Less for my own, than for your sorrow sad</i>—<span class="sdr">[Reading.</span><br /> +Another line, like this, would make me mad—<br /> +Heaven! she goes on—yet more—and yet more kind!<span class="sdr">[As reading.</span><br /> +Each sentence is a dagger to my mind.<br /> +<i>See me this night</i>—<span class="sdr">[Reading.</span><br /> +<i>Thank fortune, who did such a friend provide,<br /> +For faithful Arimant shall be your guide.</i><br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_224" name="page_224"></a> +Not only to be made an instrument,<br /> +But pre-engaged without my own consent!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Unknown to engage you still augments my score,<br /> +And gives you scope of meriting the more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> The best of men<br /> +Some interest in their actions must confess;<br /> +None merit, but in hope they may possess.<br /> +The fatal paper rather let me tear,<br /> +Than, like Bellerophon, my own sentence bear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> You may; but 'twill not be your best advice:<br /> +'Twill only give me pains of writing twice.<br /> +You know you must obey me, soon or late:<br /> +Why should you vainly struggle with your fate?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> I thank thee, heaven, thou hast been wondrous kind!<br /> +Why am I thus to slavery designed,<br /> +And yet am cheated with a freeborn mind?<br /> +Or make thy orders with my reason suit,<br /> +Or let me live by sense a glorious brute—<span class="sdr">[She frowns.</span><br /> +You frown, and I obey with speed, before<br /> +That dreadful sentence comes, <i>See me no more:</i><br /> +See me no more! that sound, methinks, I hear<br /> +Like the last trumpet thundering in my ear.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Solyman.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Solym.</span> The princess Melesinda, bathed in tears,<br /> +And tossed alternately with hopes and fears,<br /> +If your affairs such leisure can afford,<br /> +Would learn from you the fortunes of her lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Tell her, that I some certainty may bring,<br /> +I go this minute to attend the king.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> This lonely turtle I desire to see:<br /> +Grief, though not cured, is eased by company.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_225" name="page_225"></a> +<span class="cnm">Arim.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Solym.</span></span>]<br /> +Say, if she please, she hither may repair,<br /> +And breathe the freshness of the open air.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Solym.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Poor princess! how I pity her estate,<br /> +Wrapt in the ruins of her husband's fate!<br /> +She mourned Morat should in rebellion rise;<br /> +Yet he offends, and she's the sacrifice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Not knowing his design, at court she staid;<br /> +'Till, by command, close prisoner she was made.<br /> +Since when,<br /> +Her chains with Roman constancy she bore,<br /> +But that, perhaps, an Indian wife's is more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Go, bring her comfort; leave me here alone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> My love must still he in obedience shown. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Arim.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Melesinda,</span> led by <span class="cnm">Solyman,</span> who retires +afterwards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> When graceful sorrow in her pomp appears,<br /> +Sure she is dressed in Melesinda's tears.<br /> +Your head reclined, (as hiding grief from view)<br /> +Droops, like a rose, surcharged with morning dew.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Can flowers but droop in absence of the sun,<br /> +Which waked their sweets? And mine, alas! is gone.<br /> +But you the noblest charity express:<br /> +For they, who shine in courts, still shun distress.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Distressed myself, like you, confined, I live:<br /> +And, therefore, can compassion take and give.<br /> +We're both love's captives, but with fate so cross,<br /> +One must be happy by the other's loss.<br /> +Morat, or Aureng-Zebe, must fall this day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Too truly Tamerlane's successors they;<br /> +Each thinks a world too little for his sway.<br /> +Could you and I the same pretences bring,<br /> +Mankind should with more ease receive a king:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_226" name="page_226"></a> +I would to you the narrow world resign,<br /> +And want no empire while Morat was mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Wished freedom, I presage, you soon will find;<br /> +If heaven be just, and be to virtue kind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Quite otherwise my mind foretels my fate:<br /> +Short is my life, and that unfortunate.<br /> +Yet should I not complain, would heaven afford<br /> +Some little time, ere death, to see my lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> These thoughts are but your melancholy's food;<br /> +Raised from a lonely life, and dark abode:<br /> +But whatsoe'er our jarring fortunes prove,<br /> +Though our lords hate, methinks we two may love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Such be our loves as may not yield to fate;<br /> +I bring a heart more true than fortunate.<span class="sdr">[Giving their hands.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">To them, <span class="cnm">Arimant.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> I come with haste surprising news to bring:<br /> +In two hours time, since last I saw the king,<br /> +The affairs of court have wholly changed their face:<br /> +Unhappy Aureng-Zebe is in disgrace;<br /> +And your Morat, proclaimed the successor,<br /> +Is called, to awe the city with his power.<br /> +Those trumpets his triumphant entry tell,<br /> +And now the shouts waft near the citadel.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> See, madam, see the event by me foreshown:<br /> +I envy not your chance, but grieve my own.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> A change so unexpected must surprise:<br /> +And more, because I am unused to joys.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> May all your wishes ever prosperous be!<br /> +But I'm too much concerned the event to see.<br /> +My eyes too tender are,<br /> +To view my lord become the public scorn.—<br /> +I came to comfort, and I go to mourn.<span class="sdr">[Taking her leave.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Stay, I'll not see my lord,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_227" name="page_227"></a> +Before I give your sorrow some relief;<br /> +And pay the charity you lent my grief.<br /> +Here he shall see me first, with you confined;<br /> +And, if your virtue fail to move his mind,<br /> +I'll use my interest that he may be kind.<br /> +Fear not, I never moved him yet in vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> So fair a pleader any cause may gain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I have no taste, methinks, of coming joy;<br /> +For black presages all my hopes destroy.<br /> +"Die!" something whispers,—"Melesinda, die!<br /> +Fulfil, fulfil, thy mournful destiny!"—<br /> +Mine is a gleam of bliss, too hot to last;<br /> +Watry it shines, and will be soon o'ercast. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Ind.</span> and <span class="cnm">Mel.</span> retire.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Fortune seems weary grown of Aureng-Zebe,<br /> +While to her new-made favourite Morat,<br /> +Her lavish hand is wastefully profuse:<br /> +With fame and flowing honours tided in,<br /> +Borne on a swelling current smooth beneath him.<br /> +The king, and haughty empress, to our wonder,<br /> +If not atoned, yet seemingly at peace,<br /> +As fate for him that miracle reserved.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter, in triumph, Emperor, <span class="cnm">Morat,</span> and Train.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I have confessed I love.<br /> +As I interpret fairly your design,<br /> +So look not with severer eyes on mine.<br /> +Your fate has called you to the imperial seat:<br /> +In duty be, as you in arms are, great;<br /> +For Aureng-Zebe a hated name is grown,<br /> +And love less bears a rival than the throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> To me, the cries of fighting fields are charms:<br /> +Keen be my sabre, and of proof my arms,<br /> +I ask no other blessing of my stars:<br /> +No prize but fame, nor mistress but the wars.<br /> +I scarce am pleased I tamely mount the throne:—<br /> +Would Aureng-Zebe had all their souls in one!<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_228" name="page_228"></a> +With all my elder brothers I would fight,<br /> +And so from partial nature force my right.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Had we but lasting youth, and time to spare,<br /> +Some might be thrown away on fame and war;<br /> +But youth, the perishing good, runs on too fast,<br /> +And, unenjoyed, will spend itself to waste;<br /> +Few know the use of life before 'tis past.<br /> +Had I once more thy vigour to command,<br /> +I would not let it die upon my hand:<br /> +No hour of pleasure should pass empty by;<br /> +Youth should watch joys, and shoot them as they fly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Methinks, all pleasure is in greatness found.<br /> +Kings, like heaven's eye, should spread their beams around,<br /> +Pleased to be seen, while glory's race they run:<br /> +Rest is not for the chariot of the sun.<br /> +Subjects are stiff-necked animals; they soon<br /> +Feel slackened reins, and pitch their rider down.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> To thee that drudgery of power I give:<br /> +Cares be thy lot: Reign thou, and let me live.<br /> +The fort I'll keep for my security;<br /> +Business and public state resign to thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Luxurious kings are to their people lost:<br /> +They live, like drones, upon the public cost.<br /> +My arms from pole to pole the world shall shake,<br /> +And, with myself, keep all mankind awake.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Believe me, son, and needless trouble spare;<br /> +'Tis a base world, and is not worth our care:<br /> +The vulgar, a scarce animated clod,<br /> +Ne'er pleased with aught above them, prince or God.<br /> +Were I a God, the drunken globe should roll,<br /> +The little emmetts with the human soul<br /> +Care for themselves, while at my ease I sat,<br /> +And second causes did the work of fate;<br /> +Or, if I would take care, that care should be<br /> +For wit that scorned the world, and lived like me.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_229" name="page_229"></a> +To them, <span class="cnm">Nourmahal, Zayda,</span> and Attendants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> My dear Morat,<span class="sdr">[Embracing her son.</span><br /> +This day propitious to us all has been:<br /> +You're now a monarch's heir, and I a queen.<br /> +Your faithful father now may quit the state,<br /> +And find the ease he sought, indulged by fate.<br /> +Cares shall not keep him on the throne awake,<br /> +Nor break the golden slumbers he would take.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> In vain I struggled to the gaol of life,<br /> +While rebel-sons, and an imperious wife,<br /> +Still dragged me backward into noise and strife.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Be that remembrance lost; and be it my pride<br /> +To be your pledge of peace on either side.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them, <span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> With all the assurance innocence can bring,<br /> +Fearless without, because secure within,<br /> +Armed with my courage, unconcerned I see<br /> +This pomp; a shame to you, a pride to me.<br /> +Shame is but where with wickedness 'tis joined;<br /> +And, while no baseness in this breast I find,<br /> +I have not lost the birth-right of my mind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Children, the blind effect of love and chance,<br /> +Formed by their sportive parents' ignorance,<br /> +Bear from their birth the impressions of a slave;<br /> +Whom heaven for play-games first, and then for service gave:<br /> +One then may be displaced, and one may reign,<br /> +And want of merit render birth-right vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Comes he to upbraid us with his innocence?<br /> +Seize him, and take the preaching Brachman hence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Stay, sir!—I from my years no merit plead: +<span class="sdr">[To his Father.</span><br /> +All my designs and acts to duty lead.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_230" name="page_230"></a> +Your life and glory are my only end;<br /> +And for that prize I with Morat contend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Not him alone: I all mankind defy.<br /> +Who dares adventure more for both than I?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I know you brave, and take you at your word:<br /> +That present service, which you vaunt, afford.<br /> +Our two rebellious brothers are not dead:<br /> +Though vanquished, yet again they gather head.<br /> +I dare you, as your rival in renown,<br /> +March out your army from the imperial town:<br /> +Chuse whom you please, the other leave to me;<br /> +And set our father absolutely free.<br /> +This, if you do, to end all future strife,<br /> +I am content to lead a private life;<br /> +Disband my army, to secure the state,<br /> +Nor aim at more, but leave the rest to fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I'll do it.—Draw out my army on the plain!<br /> +War is to me a pastime, peace a pain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Think better first.—<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Mor.</span></span><br /> +You see yourself enclosed beyond escape,<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Aur.</span></span><br /> +And, therefore, Proteus-like, you change your shape;<br /> +Of promise prodigal, while power you want,<br /> +And preaching in the self-denying cant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Plot better; for these arts too obvious are,<br /> +Of gaming time, the master-piece of war.<br /> +Is Aureng-Zebe so known?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> If acts like mine,<br /> +So far from interest, profit, or design,<br /> +Can show my heart, by those I would be known:<br /> +I wish you could as well defend your own.<br /> +My absent army for my father fought:<br /> +Yours, in these walls, is to enslave him brought.<br /> +If I come singly, you an armed guest,<br /> +The world with ease may judge whose cause is best.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> My father saw you ill designs pursue;<br /> +And my admission showed his fear of you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_231" name="page_231"></a> +<span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Himself best knows why he his love withdraws:<br /> +I owe him more than to declare the cause.<br /> +But still I press, our duty may be shown<br /> +By arms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I'll vanquish all his foes alone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> You speak, as if you could the fates command,<br /> +And had no need of any other hand.<br /> +But, since my honour you so far suspect,<br /> +'Tis just I should on your designs reflect.<br /> +To prove yourself a loyal son, declare<br /> +You'll lay down arms when you conclude the war.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No present answer your demand requires;<br /> +The war once done, I'll do what heaven inspires;<br /> +And while this sword this monarchy secures,<br /> +'Tis managed by an abler arm than yours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Morat's design a doubtful meaning bears:<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +In Aureng-Zebe true loyalty appears.<br /> +He, for my safety, does his own despise;<br /> +Still, with his wrongs, I find his duty rise.<br /> +I feel my virtue struggling in my soul,<br /> +But stronger passion does its power controul.—<br /> +Yet be advised your ruin to prevent:<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Aur.</span> aside.</span><br /> +You might be safe, if you would give consent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> So to your welfare I of use may be,<br /> +My life or death are equal both to me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> The people's hearts are yours; the fort yet mine:<br /> +Be wise, and Indamora's love resign.<br /> +I am observed: Remember, that I give<br /> +This my last proof of kindness—die, or live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Life, with my Indamora, I would chuse;<br /> +But, losing her, the end of living lose.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_232" name="page_232"></a> +I had considered all I ought before;<br /> +And fear of death can make me change no more.<br /> +The people's love so little I esteem,<br /> +Condemned by you, I would not live by them.<br /> +May he, who must your favour now possess,<br /> +Much better serve you, and not love you less.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> I've heard you; and, to finish the debate,<span class="sdr">[Aloud.</span><br /> +Commit that rebel prisoner to the state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The deadly draught he shall begin this day:<br /> +And languish with insensible decay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I hate the lingering summons to attend;<br /> +Death all at once would be the nobler end.<br /> +Fate is unkind! methinks, a general<br /> +Should warm, and at the head of armies fall;<br /> +And my ambition did that hope pursue,<br /> +That so I might have died in fight for you.<span class="sdr">[To his Father.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Would I had been disposer of thy stars!<br /> +Thou shouldst have had thy wish, and died in wars.<br /> +'Tis I, not thou, have reason to repine,<br /> +That thou shouldst fall by any hand, but mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> When thou wert formed, heaven did a man begin;<br /> +But the brute soul, by chance, was shuffled in.<br /> +In woods and wilds thy monarchy maintain,<br /> +Where valiant beasts, by force and rapine, reign.<br /> +In life's next scene, if transmigration be,<br /> +Some bear, or lion, is reserved for thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Take heed thou com'st not in that lion's way!<br /> +I prophecy, thou wilt thy soul convey<br /> +Into a lamb, and be again my prey.—<br /> +Hence with that dreaming priest!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Let me prepare<br /> +The poisonous draught: His death shall be my care.<br /> +Near my apartment let him prisoner be,<br /> +That I his hourly ebbs of life may see.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_233" name="page_233"></a> +<span class="cnm">Aur.</span> My life I would not ransom with a prayer:<br /> +'Tis vile, since 'tis not worth my father's care.<br /> +I go not, sir, indebted to my grave:<br /> +You paid yourself, and took the life you gave.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> O that I had more sense of virtue left,<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +Or were of that, which yet remains, bereft!<br /> +I've just enough to know how I offend,<br /> +And, to my shame, have not enough to mend.<br /> +Lead to the mosque.—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Love's pleasures, why should dull devotion stay?<br /> +Heaven to my Melesinda's but the way. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt Emperor, <span class="cnm">Morat,</span> and train.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> Sure Aureng-Zebe has somewhat of divine,<br /> +Whose virtue through so dark a cloud can shine.<br /> +Fortune has from Morat this day removed<br /> +The greatest rival, and the best beloved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> He is not yet removed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> He lives, 'tis true;<br /> +But soon must die, and, what I mourn, by you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> My Zayda, may thy words prophetic be! +<span class="sdr">[Embracing her eagerly.</span><br /> +I take the omen; let him die by me!<br /> +He, stifled in my arms, shall lose his breath;<br /> +And life itself shall envious be of death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> Bless me, you powers above!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Why dost thou start?<br /> +Is love so strange? Or have not I a heart?<br /> +Could Aureng-Zebe so lovely seem to thee,<br /> +And I want eyes that noble worth to see?<br /> +Thy little soul was but to wonder moved:<br /> +My sense of it was higher, and I loved.<br /> +That man, that god-like man, so brave, so great—<br /> +But these are thy small praises I repeat.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_234" name="page_234"></a> +I'm carried by a tide of love away:<br /> +He's somewhat more than I myself can say,</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> Though all the ideas you can form be true,<br /> +He must not, cannot, be possessed by you.<br /> +If contradicting interests could be mixt,<br /> +Nature herself has cast a bar betwixt;<br /> +And, ere you reach to this incestuous love,<br /> +You must divine and human rights remove.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Count this among the wonders love has done:<br /> +I had forgot he was my husband's son.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> Nay, more, you have forgot who is your own:<br /> +For whom your care so long designed the throne.<br /> +Morat must fall, if Aureng-Zebe should rise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> 'Tis true; but who was e'er in love, and wise?<br /> +Why was that fatal knot of marriage tied,<br /> +Which did, by making us too near, divide?<br /> +Divides me from my sex! for heaven, I find,<br /> +Excludes but me alone of womankind.<br /> +I stand with guilt confounded, lost with shame,<br /> +And yet made wretched only by a name.<br /> +If names have such command on human life,<br /> +Love sure's a name that's more divine than wife.<br /> +That sovereign power all guilt from action takes,<br /> +At least the stains are beautiful it makes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> The incroaching ill you early should oppose:<br /> +Flattered, 'tis worse, and by indulgence grows.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Alas! and what have I not said or done?<br /> +I fought it to the last,—and love has won.<br /> +A bloody conquest, which destruction brought,<br /> +And ruined all the country where he fought.<br /> +Whether this passion from above was sent,<br /> +The fate of him heaven favours to prevent;<br /> +Or as the curse of fortune in excess,<br /> +That, stretching, would beyond its reach possess;<br /> +And, with a taste which plenty does deprave,<br /> +Loaths lawful good, and lawless ill does crave—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> But yet, consider—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_235" name="page_235"></a> +<span class="cnm">Nour.</span> No, 'tis loss of time:<br /> +Think how to further, not divert my crime.<br /> +My artful engines instantly I'll move,<br /> +And chuse the soft and gentlest hour of love.<br /> +The under-provost of the fort is mine.—<br /> +But see, Morat! I'll whisper my design.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Morat</span> with <span class="cnm">Arimant,</span> as talking: +Attendants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> And for that cause was not in public seen,<br /> +But stays in prison with the captive queen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Let my attendants wait; I'll be alone:<br /> +Where least of state, there most of love is shewn.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> My son, your business is not hard to guess; +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Morat.</span></span><br /> +Long absence makes you eager to possess:<br /> +I will not importune you by my stay;<br /> +She merits all the love which you can pay.<span class="sdr">[Exit with <span class="cnm">Zayda.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Arimant,</span> with <span class="cnm">Melesinda;</span> then exit. +<span class="cnm">Morat</span> runs to <span class="cnm">Melesinda,</span> and embraces her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Should I not chide you, that you chose to stay<br /> +In gloomy shades, and lost a glorious day?<br /> +Lost the first fruits of joy you should possess<br /> +In my return, and made my triumph less?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Should I not chide, that you could stay and see<br /> +Those joys, preferring public pomp to me?<br /> +Through my dark cell your shouts of triumph rung:<br /> +I heard with pleasure, but I thought them long.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The public will in triumphs rudely share,<br /> +And kings the rudeness of their joys must bear:<br /> +But I made haste to set my captive free,<br /> +And thought that work was only worthy me.<br /> +The fame of ancient matrons you pursue,<br /> +And stand a blameless pattern to the new. +<a class="pgnm" id="page_236" name="page_236"></a><br /> +I have not words to praise such acts as these:<br /> +But take my heart, and mould it as you please.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> A trial of your kindness I must make,<br /> +Though not for mine so much as virtue's sake.<br /> +The queen of Cassimere—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No more, my love;<br /> +That only suit I beg you not to move.<br /> +That she's in bonds for Aureng-Zebe I know,<br /> +And should, by my consent, continue so;<br /> +The good old man, I fear, will pity shew.<br /> +My father dotes, and let him still dote on;<br /> +He buys his mistress dearly, with his throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> See her; and then be cruel if you can.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> 'Tis not with me as with a private man.<br /> +Such may be swayed by honour, or by love;<br /> +But monarchs only by their interest move.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Heaven does a tribute for your power demand:<br /> +He leaves the opprest and poor upon your hand;<br /> +And those, who stewards of his pity prove,<br /> +He blesses, in return, with public love:<br /> +In his distress some miracle is shewn;<br /> +If exiled, heaven restores him to his throne:<br /> +He needs no guard, while any subject's near,<br /> +Nor, like his tyrant neighbours, lives in fear:<br /> +No plots the alarm to his retirement give:<br /> +'Tis all mankind's concern that he should live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You promised friendship in your low estate,<br /> +And should forget it in your better fate.<br /> +Such maxims are more plausible than true;<br /> +But somewhat must be given to love and you.<br /> +I'll view this captive queen; to let her see,<br /> +Prayers and complaints are lost on such as me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I'll bear the news: Heaven knows how much I'm pleased,<br /> +That, by my care, the afflicted may be eased.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_237" name="page_237"></a> +As she is going off, enter <span class="cnm">Indamora.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> I'll spare your pains, and venture out alone,<br /> +Since you, fair princess, my protection own.<br /> +But you, brave prince, a harder task must find; +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Morat</span> kneeling, who takes her up.</span><br /> +In saving me, you would but half be kind.<br /> +An humble suppliant at your feet I lie;<br /> +You have condemned my better part to die.<br /> +Without my Aureng-Zebe I cannot live;<br /> +Revoke his doom, or else my sentence give.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> If Melesinda in your love have part,—<br /> +Which, to suspect, would break my tender heart,—<br /> +If love, like mine, may for a lover plead,<br /> +By the chaste pleasures of our nuptial bed,<br /> +By all the interest my past sufferings make,<br /> +And all I yet would suffer for your sake;<br /> +By you yourself, the last and dearest tie—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You move in vain; for Aureng-Zebe must die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Could that decree from any brother come?<br /> +Nature herself is sentenced in your doom.<br /> +Piety is no more, she sees her place<br /> +Usurped by monsters, and a savage race.<br /> +From her soft eastern climes you drive her forth,<br /> +To the cold mansions of the utmost north.<br /> +How can our prophet suffer you to reign,<br /> +When he looks down, and sees your brother slain?<br /> +Avenging furies will your life pursue:<br /> +Think there's a heaven, Morat, though not for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Her words imprint a terror on my mind.<br /> +What if this death, which is for him designed,<br /> +Had been your doom, (far be that augury!)<br /> +And you, not Aureng-Zebe, condemned to die?<br /> +Weigh well the various turns of human fate,<br /> +And seek, by mercy, to secure your state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Had heaven the crown for Aureng-Zebe designed,<br /> +Pity for you had pierced his generous mind.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_238" name="page_238"></a> +Pity does with a noble nature suit:<br /> +A brother's life had suffered no dispute.<br /> +All things have right in life; our prophet's care<br /> +Commands the beings even of brutes to spare.<br /> +Though interest his restraint has justified,<br /> +Can life, and to a brother, be denied?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> All reasons, for his safety urged, are weak:<br /> +And yet, methinks, 'tis heaven to hear you speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> 'Tis part of your own being to invade—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Nay, if she fail to move, would you persuade? +<span class="sdr">[Turning to <span class="cnm">Inda.</span></span><br /> +My brother does a glorious fate pursue;<br /> +I envy him, that he must fall for you.<br /> +He had been base, had he released his right:<br /> +For such an empire none but kings should fight.<br /> +If with a father he disputes this prize,<br /> +My wonder ceases when I see those eyes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> And can you, then, deny those eyes you praise?<br /> +Can beauty wonder, and not pity raise?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Your intercession now is needless grown;<br /> +Retire, and let me speak with her alone. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Melesinda</span> retires, weeping, to the side of the Stage.</span><br /><br /> +Queen, that you may not fruitless tears employ, +<span class="sdr">[Taking <span class="cnm">Indamora's</span> hand.</span><br /> +I bring you news to fill your heart with joy:<br /> +Your lover, king of all the east shall reign;<br /> +For Aureng-Zebe to-morrow shall be slain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> The hopes you raised, you've blasted with a breath: +<span class="sdr">[Starting back.</span><br /> +With triumphs you began, but end with death.<br /> +Did you not say my lover should be king?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I, in Morat, the best of lovers bring.<br /> +For one, forsaken both of earth and heaven,<br /> +Your kinder stars a nobler choice have given:<br /> +My father, while I please, a king appears;<br /> +His power is more declining than his years.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_239" name="page_239"></a> +An emperor and lover, but in shew;<br /> +But you, in me, have youth and fortune too:<br /> +As heaven did to your eyes, and form divine,<br /> +Submit the fate of all the imperial line;<br /> +So was it ordered by its wise decree,<br /> +That you should find them all comprised in me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> If, sir, I seem not discomposed with rage,<br /> +Feed not your fancy with a false presage.<br /> +Farther to press your courtship is but vain;<br /> +A cold refusal carries more disdain.<br /> +Unsettled virtue stormy may appear;<br /> +Honour, like mine, serenely is severe;<br /> +To scorn your person, and reject your crown,<br /> +Disorder not my face into a frown.<span class="sdr">[Turns from him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Your fortune you should reverently have used:<br /> +Such offers are not twice to be refused.<br /> +I go to Aureng-Zebe, and am in haste<br /> +For your commands; they're like to be the last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Tell him,<br /> +With my own death I would his life redeem;<br /> +But less than honour both our lives esteem.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Have you no more?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> What shall I do or say?<br /> +He must not in this fury go away.—<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +Tell him, I did in vain his brother move;<br /> +And yet he falsely said, he was in love:<br /> +Falsely; for, had he truly loved, at least<br /> +He would have given one day to my request.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> A little yielding may my love advance:<br /> +She darted from her eyes a sidelong glance,<br /> +Just as she spoke; and, like her words, it flew:<br /> +Seemed not to beg, what yet she bid me do.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +A brother, madam, cannot give a day;<span class="sdr">[To her.</span><br /> +A servant, and who hopes to merit, may.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> If, sir—<span class="sdr">[Coming to him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> No more—set speeches, and a formal tale,<br /> +With none but statesmen and grave fools prevail.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_240" name="page_240"></a> +Dry up your tears, and practice every grace,<br /> +That fits the pageant of your royal place.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Madam, the strange reverse of fate you see:<br /> +I pitied you, now you may pity me.<span class="sdr">[Exit after him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Poor princess! thy hard fate I could bemoan,<br /> +Had I not nearer sorrows of my own.<br /> +Beauty is seldom fortunate, when great:<br /> +A vast estate, but overcharged with debt.<br /> +Like those, whom want to baseness does betray,<br /> +I'm forced to flatter him, I cannot pay.<br /> +O would he be content to seize the throne!<br /> +I beg the life of Aureng-Zebe alone.<br /> +Whom heaven would bless, from pomp it will remove,<br /> +And make their wealth in privacy and love.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT IV. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe</span> alone.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Distrust, and darkness, of a future state,<br /> +Make poor mankind so fearful of their fate.<br /> +Death, in itself, is nothing; but we fear,<br /> +To be we know not what, we know not where.<span class="sdr">[Soft music.</span><br /> +This is the ceremony of my fate:<br /> +A parting treat; and I'm to die in state.<br /> +They lodge me, as I were the Persian King:<br /> +And with luxuriant pomp my death they bring.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To him, <span class="cnm">Nourmahal.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> I thought, before you drew your latest breath,<br /> +To smooth your passage, and to soften death;<br /> +For I would have you, when you upward move,<br /> +Speak kindly of me, to our friends above:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_241" name="page_241"></a> +Nor name me there the occasion of our fate;<br /> +Or what my interest does, impute to hate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I ask not for what end your pomp's designed;<br /> +Whether to insult, or to compose my mind:<br /> +I marked it not;<br /> +But, knowing death would soon the assault begin,<br /> +Stood firm collected in my strength within:<br /> +To guard that breach did all my forces guide,<br /> +And left unmanned the quiet sense's side.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Because Morat from me his being took,<br /> +All I can say will much suspected look:<br /> +'Tis little to confess, your fate I grieve;<br /> +Yet more than you would easily believe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Since my inevitable death you know,<br /> +You safely unavailing pity shew:<br /> +'Tis popular to mourn a dying foe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> You made my liberty your late request;<br /> +Is no return due from a grateful breast?<br /> +I grow impatient, 'till I find some way,<br /> +Great offices, with greater, to repay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat;<br /> +Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit;<br /> +Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay:<br /> +To-morrow's falser than the former day;<br /> +Lies worse, and, while it says, we shall be blest<br /> +With some new joys, cuts off what we possest.<br /> +Strange cozenage! None would live past years again,<br /> +Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain;<br /> +And, from the dregs of life, think to receive,<br /> +What the first sprightly running could not give.<br /> +I'm tired with waiting for this chemic gold,<br /> +Which fools us young, and beggars us when old.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> 'Tis not for nothing that we life pursue;<br /> +It pays our hopes with something still that's new:<br /> +Each day's a mistress, unenjoyed before;<br /> +Like travellers, we're pleased with seeing more.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_242" name="page_242"></a> +Did you but know what joys your way attend,<br /> +You would not hurry to your journey's end.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I need not haste the end of life to meet;<br /> +The precipice is just beneath my feet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Think not my sense of virtue is so small:<br /> +I'll rather leap down first, and break your fall.<br /> +My Aureng-Zebe, (may I not call you so?) +<span class="sdr">[Taking him by the hand.</span><br /> +Behold me now no longer for your foe;<br /> +I am not, cannot be your enemy:<br /> +Look, is there any malice in my eye?<br /> +Pray, sit.—<span class="sdr">[Both sit.</span><br /> +That distance shews too much respect, or fear;<br /> +You'll find no danger in approaching near.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Forgive the amazement of my doubtful state:<br /> +This kindness from the mother of Morat!<br /> +Or is't some angel, pitying what I bore,<br /> +Who takes that shape, to make my wonder more?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Think me your better genius in disguise;<br /> +Or any thing that more may charm your eyes.<br /> +Your guardian angel never could excel<br /> +In care, nor could he love his charge so well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Whence can proceed so wonderful a change?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Can kindness to desert, like yours, be strange?<br /> +Kindness by secret sympathy is tied;<br /> +For noble souls in nature are allied.<br /> +I saw with what a brow you braved your fate;<br /> +Yet with what mildness bore your father's hate.<br /> +My virtue, like a string, wound up by art<br /> +To the same sound, when yours was touched, took part,<br /> +At distance shook, and trembled at my heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I'll not complain, my father is unkind,<br /> +Since so much pity from a foe I find.<br /> +Just heaven reward this act!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> 'Tis well the debt no payment does demand;<br /> +You turn me over to another hand.<br /> +But happy, happy she,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_243" name="page_243"></a> +And with the blessed above to be compared,<br /> +Whom you yourself would, with yourself, reward:<br /> +The greatest, nay, the fairest of her kind,<br /> +Would envy her that bliss, which you designed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Great princes thus, when favourites they raise,<br /> +To justify their grace, their creatures praise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> As love the noblest passion we account,<br /> +So to the highest object it should mount.<br /> +It shews you brave when mean desires you shun;<br /> +An eagle only can behold the sun:<br /> +And so must you, if yet presage divine<br /> +There be in dreams,—or was't a vision mine?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Of me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> And who could else employ my thought?<br /> +I dreamed, your love was by love's goddess sought;<br /> +Officious Cupids, hovering o'er your head,<br /> +Held myrtle wreaths; beneath your feet were spread<br /> +What sweets soe'er Sabean springs disclose,<br /> +Our Indian jasmine, or the Syrian rose;<br /> +The wanton ministers around you strove<br /> +For service, and inspired their mother's love:<br /> +Close by your side, and languishing, she lies,<br /> +With blushing cheeks, short breath, and wishing eyes<br /> +Upon your breast supinely lay her head,<br /> +While on your face her famished sight she fed.<br /> +Then, with a sigh, into these words she broke,<br /> +(And gathered humid kisses as she spoke)<br /> +Dull, and ungrateful! Must I offer love?<br /> +Desired of gods, and envied even by Jove:<br /> +And dost thou ignorance or fear pretend?<br /> +Mean soul! and darest not gloriously offend?<br /> +Then, pressing thus his hand—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I'll hear no more.<span class="sdr">[Rising up.</span><br /> +'Twas impious to have understood before:<br /> +And I, till now, endeavoured to mistake<br /> +The incestuous meaning, which too plain you make.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> And why this niceness to that pleasure shewn,<br /> +Where nature sums up all her joys in one;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_244" name="page_244"></a> +Gives all she can, and, labouring still to give,<br /> +Makes it so great, we can but taste and live:<br /> +So fills the senses, that the soul seems fled,<br /> +And thought itself does, for the time, lie dead;<br /> +Till, like a string screwed up with eager haste,<br /> +It breaks, and is too exquisite to last?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Heavens! can you this, without just vengeance, hear?<br /> +When will you thunder, if it now be clear?<br /> +Yet her alone let not your thunder seize:<br /> +I, too, deserve to die, because I please.<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_3-1">[1]</a></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Custom our native royalty does awe;<br /> +Promiscuous love is nature's general law:<br /> +For whosoever the first lovers were,<br /> +Brother and sister made the second pair,<br /> +And doubled, by their love, their piety.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Hence, hence, and to some barbarous climate fly,<br /> +Which only brutes in human form does yield,<br /> +And man grows wild in nature's common field.<br /> +Who eat their parents, piety pretend;<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_3-2">[2]</a><br /> +Yet there no sons their sacred bed ascend.<br /> +To vail great sins, a greater crime you chuse;<br /> +And, in your incest, your adultery lose.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_245" name="page_245"></a> +<span class="cnm">Nour.</span> In vain this haughty fury you have shewn.<br /> +How I adore a soul, so like my own!<br /> +You must be mine, that you may learn to live;<br /> +Know joys, which only she who loves can give.<br /> +Nor think that action you upbraid, so ill;<br /> +I am not changed, I love my husband still<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_3-3">[3]</a>;<br /> +But love him as he was, when youthful grace,<br /> +And the first down began to shade his face:<br /> +That image does my virgin-flames renew,<br /> +And all your father shines more bright in you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> In me a horror of myself you raise;<br /> +Cursed by your love, and blasted by your praise.<br /> +You find new ways to prosecute my fate;<br /> +And your least-guilty passion was your hate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> I beg my death, if you can love deny. +<span class="sdr">[Offering him a dagger.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I'll grant you nothing; no, not even to die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Know then, you are not half so kind as I. +<span class="sdr">[Stamps with her foot.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Mutes, some with swords drawn, one with a cup.</p> + +<p class="dlg">You've chosen, and may now repent too late.<br /> +Behold the effect of what you wished,—my hate. +<span class="sdr">[Taking the cup to present him.</span><br /> +This cup a cure for both our ills has brought;<br /> +You need not fear a philtre in the draught.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> All must be poison which can come from thee; +<span class="sdr">[Receiving it from her.</span><br /> +But this the least. To immortal liberty<br /> +This first I pour, like dying Socrates; +<span class="sdr">[Spilling a little of it.</span><br /> +Grim though he be, death pleases, when he frees.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_246" name="page_246"></a> +As he is going to drink, Enter <span class="cnm">Morat</span> attended.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Make not such haste, you must my leisure stay;<br /> +Your fate's deferred, you shall not die to-day. +<span class="sdr">[Taking the cup from him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> What foolish pity has possessed your mind,<br /> +To alter what your prudence once designed?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> What if I please to lengthen out his date<br /> +A day, and take a pride to cozen fate?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> 'Twill not be safe to let him live an hour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I'll do't, to show my arbitrary power.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Fortune may take him from your hands again,<br /> +And you repent the occasion lost in vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I smile at what your female fear foresees;<br /> +I'm in fate's place, and dictate her decrees.—<br /> +Let Arimant be called.<span class="sdr">[Exit one of his Attendants.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Give me the poison, and I'll end your strife;<br /> +I hate to keep a poor precarious life.<br /> +Would I my safety on base terms receive,<br /> +Know, sir, I could have lived without your leave.<br /> +But those I could accuse, I can forgive;<br /> +By my disdainful silence, let them live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> What am I, that you dare to bind my hand? +<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Morat.</span></span><br /> +So low, I've not a murder at command!<br /> +Can you not one poor life to her afford,<br /> +Her, who gave up whole nations to your sword?<br /> +And from the abundance of whose soul and heat,<br /> +The o'erflowing served to make your mind so great?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> What did that greatness in a woman's mind?<br /> +Ill lodged, and weak to act what it designed?<br /> +Pleasure's your portion, and your slothful ease:<br /> +When man's at leisure, study how to please,<br /> +Soften his angry hours with servile care,<br /> +And, when he calls, the ready feast prepare.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_247" name="page_247"></a> +From wars, and from affairs of state abstain;<br /> +Women emasculate a monarch's reign;<br /> +And murmuring crowds, who see them shine with gold,<br /> +That pomp, as their own ravished spoils, behold.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Rage choaks my words: 'Tis womanly to weep: +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +In my swollen breast my close revenge I'll keep;<br /> +I'll watch his tenderest part, and there strike deep.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Your strange proceeding does my wonder move;<br /> +Yet seems not to express a brother's love.<br /> +Say, to what cause my rescued life I owe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> If what you ask would please, you should not know.<br /> +But since that knowledge, more than death, will grieve,<br /> +Know, Indamora gained you this reprieve.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> And whence had she the power to work your change?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The power of beauty is not new or strange.<br /> +Should she command me more, I could obey;<br /> +But her request was bounded with a day.<br /> +Take that; and, if you spare my farther crime,<br /> +Be kind, and grieve to death against your time.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Arimant.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Remove this prisoner to some safer place:<br /> +He has, for Indamora's sake, found grace;<br /> +And from my mother's rage must guarded be,<br /> +Till you receive a new command from me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Thus love, and fortune, persecute me still,<br /> +And make me slave to every rival's will.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> How I disdain a life, which I must buy<br /> +With your contempt, and her inconstancy!<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_248" name="page_248"></a> +For a few hours my whole content I pay:<br /> +You shall not force on me another day.<span class="sdr">[Exit with <span class="cnm">Ari.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Melesinda.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I have been seeking you this hour's long space,<br /> +And feared to find you in another place;<br /> +But since you're here, my jealousy grows less:<br /> +You will be kind to my unworthiness.<br /> +What shall I say? I love to that degree,<br /> +Each glance another way is robbed from me.<br /> +Absence, and prisons, I could bear again;<br /> +But sink, and die, beneath your least disdain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Why do you give your mind this needless care,<br /> +And for yourself, and me, new pains prepare?<br /> +I ne'er approved this passion in excess:<br /> +If you would show your love, distrust me less.<br /> +I hate to be pursued from place to place;<br /> +Meet, at each turn, a stale domestic face.<br /> +The approach of jealousy love cannot bear;<br /> +He's wild, and soon on wing, if watchful eyes come near.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> From your loved presence how can I depart?<br /> +My eyes pursue the object of my heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You talk as if it were our bridal night:<br /> +Fondness is still the effect of new delight,<br /> +And marriage but the pleasure of a day:<br /> +The metal's base, the gilding worn away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I fear I'm guilty of some great offence,<br /> +And that has bred this cold indifference.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The greatest in the world to flesh and blood:<br /> +You fondly love much longer than you should.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> If that be all which makes your discontent,<br /> +Of such a crime I never can repent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Would you force love upon me, which I shun?<br /> +And bring coarse fare, when appetite is gone?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_249" name="page_249"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Why did I not in prison die, before<br /> +My fatal freedom made me suffer more?<br /> +I had been pleased to think I died for you,<br /> +And doubly pleased, because you then were true:<br /> +Then I had hope; but now, alas! have none.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You say you love me; let that love be shown.<br /> +'Tis in your power to make my happiness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Speak quickly! To command me is to bless.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> To Indamora you my suit must move:<br /> +You'll sure speak kindly of the man you love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Oh, rather let me perish by your hand,<br /> +Than break my heart, by this unkind command!<br /> +Think, 'tis the only one I could deny;<br /> +And that 'tis harder to refuse, than die.<br /> +Try, if you please, my rival's heart to win;<br /> +I'll bear the pain, but not promote the sin.<br /> +You own whate'er perfections man can boast,<br /> +And, if she view you with my eyes, she's lost.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Here I renounce all love, all nuptial ties:<br /> +Henceforward live a stranger to my eyes:<br /> +When I appear, see you avoid the place,<br /> +And haunt me not with that unlucky face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Hard as it is, I this command obey,<br /> +And haste, while I have life, to go away:<br /> +In pity stay some hours, till I am dead,<br /> +That blameless you may court my rival's bed.<br /> +My hated face I'll not presume to show;<br /> +Yet I may watch your steps where'er you go.<br /> +Unseen, I'll gaze; and, with my latest breath,<br /> +Bless, while I die, the author of my death.<span class="sdr">[Weeping.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Emperor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> When your triumphant fortune high appears,<br /> +What cause can draw these unbecoming tears?<br /> +Let cheerfulness on happy fortune wait,<br /> +And give not thus the counter-time to fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_250" name="page_250"></a> +<span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Fortune long frowned, and has but lately smiled:<br /> +I doubt a foe so newly reconciled.<br /> +You saw but sorrow in its waning form,<br /> +A working sea remaining from a storm;<br /> +When the now weary waves roll o'er the deep,<br /> +And faintly murmur ere they fall asleep.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Your inward griefs you smother in your mind;<br /> +But fame's loud voice proclaims your lord unkind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Let fame be busy, where she has to do;<br /> +Tell of fought fields, and every pompous show.<br /> +Those tales are fit to fill the people's ears;<br /> +Monarchs, unquestioned, move in higher spheres.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Believe not rumour, but yourself; and see<br /> +The kindness 'twixt my plighted lord and me.<span class="sdr">[Kissing <span class="cnm">Morat.</span></span><br /> +This is our state; thus happily we live;<br /> +These are the quarrels which we take and give.<br /> +I had no other way to force a kiss.<span class="sdr">[Aside to <span class="cnm">Morat.</span></span><br /> +Forgive my last farewell to you and bliss.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Your haughty carriage shows too much of scorn,<br /> +And love, like hers, deserves not that return.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You'll please to leave me judge of what I do,<br /> +And not examine by the outward show.<br /> +Your usage of my mother might be good:<br /> +I judged it not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Nor was it fit you should.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Then, in as equal balance weigh my deeds.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> My right, and my authority, exceeds.<br /> +Suppose (what I'll not grant) injustice done;<br /> +Is judging me the duty of a son?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Not of a son, but of an emperor:<br /> +You cancelled duty when you gave me power.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_251" name="page_251"></a> +If your own actions on your will you ground,<br /> +Mine shall hereafter know no other bound.<br /> +What meant you when you called me to a throne?<br /> +Was it to please me with a name alone?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> 'Twas that I thought your gratitude would know<br /> +What to my partial kindness you did owe;<br /> +That what your birth did to your claim deny,<br /> +Your merit of obedience might supply.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> To your own thoughts such hope you might propose;<br /> +But I took empire not on terms like those.<br /> +Of business you complained; now take your ease;<br /> +Enjoy whate'er decrepid age can please;<br /> +Eat, sleep, and tell long tales of what you were<br /> +In flower of youth,—if any one will hear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Power, like new wine, does your weak brain surprise,<br /> +And its mad fumes, in hot discourses, rise:<br /> +But time these giddy vapours will remove;<br /> +Meanwhile, I'll taste the sober joys of love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You cannot love nor pleasures take, or give;<br /> +But life begin, when 'tis too late to live.<br /> +On a tired courser you pursue delight,<br /> +Let slip your morning, and set out at night.<br /> +If you have lived, take thankfully the past;<br /> +Make, as you can, the sweet remembrance last.<br /> +If you have not enjoyed what youth could give,<br /> +But life sunk through you, like a leaky sieve,<br /> +Accuse yourself, you lived not while you might;<br /> +But, in the captive queen resign your right.<br /> +I've now resolved to fill your useless place;<br /> +I'll take that post, to cover your disgrace,<br /> +And love her, for the honour of my race.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Thou dost but try how far I can forbear,<br /> +Nor art that monster, which thou wouldst appear;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_252" name="page_252"></a> +But do not wantonly my passion move;<br /> +I pardon nothing that relates to love.<br /> +My fury does, like jealous forts, pursue<br /> +With death, even strangers who but come to view.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I did not only view, but will invade.<br /> +Could you shed venom from your reverend shade,<br /> +Like trees, beneath whose arms 'tis death to sleep;<br /> +Did rolling thunder your fenced fortress keep,<br /> +Thence would I snatch my Semele, like Jove,<br /> +And 'midst the dreadful wrack enjoy my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Have I for this, ungrateful as thou art!<br /> +When right, when nature, struggled in my heart;<br /> +When heaven called on me for thy brother's claim,<br /> +Broke all, and sullied my unspotted fame?<br /> +Wert thou to empire, by my baseness, brought,<br /> +And wouldst thou ravish what so dear I bought?<br /> +Dear! for my conscience and its peace I gave;—<br /> +Why was my reason made my passion's slave?<br /> +I see heaven's justice; thus the powers divine<br /> +Pay crimes with crimes, and punish mine by thine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Crimes let them pay, and punish as they please;<br /> +What power makes mine, by power I mean to seize.<br /> +Since 'tis to that they their own greatness owe<br /> +Above, why should they question mine below?<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Prudence, thou vainly in our youth art sought,<br /> +And, with age purchased, art too dearly bought:<br /> +We're past the use of wit, for which we toil;<br /> +Late fruit, and planted in too cold a soil.<br /> +My stock of fame is lavished and decayed;<br /> +No profit of the vast profusion made.<br /> +Too late my folly I repent; I know<br /> +My Aureng-Zebe would ne'er have used me so.<br /> +But, by his ruin, I prepared my own;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_253" name="page_253"></a> +And, like a naked tree, my shelter gone,<br /> +To winds and winter-storms must stand exposed alone.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe</span> and <span class="cnm">Arimant.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Give me not thanks, which I will ne'er deserve;<br /> +But know, 'tis for a noble price I serve.<br /> +By Indamora's will you're hither brought:<br /> +All my reward in her command I sought.<br /> +The rest your letter tells you.—See, like light,<br /> +She comes, and I must vanish, like the night.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Indamora.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> 'Tis now, that I begin to live again;<br /> +Heavens, I forgive you all my fear and pain:<br /> +Since I behold my Aureng-Zebe appear,<br /> +I could not buy him at a price too dear.<br /> +His name alone afforded me relief,<br /> +Repeated as a charm to cure my grief.<br /> +I that loved name did, as some god, invoke,<br /> +And printed kisses on it, while I spoke.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Short ease, but long, long pains from you I find;<br /> +Health, to my eyes; but poison, to my mind.<br /> +Why are you made so excellently fair?<br /> +So much above what other beauties are,<br /> +That, even in cursing, you new form my breath;<br /> +And make me bless those eyes which give me death!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> What reason for your curses can you find?<br /> +My eyes your conquest, not your death, designed.<br /> +If they offend, 'tis that they are too kind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> The ruins they have wrought, you will not see;<br /> +Too kind they are, indeed, but not to me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Think you, base interest souls like mine can sway?<br /> +Or that, for greatness, I can love betray?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_254" name="page_254"></a> +No, Aureng-Zebe, you merit all my heart,<br /> +And I'm too noble but to give a part.<br /> +Your father, and an empire! Am I known<br /> +No more? Or have so weak a judgment shown,<br /> +In chusing you, to change you for a throne?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> How, with a truth, you would a falsehood blind!<br /> +'Tis not my father's love you have designed;<br /> +Your choice is fix'd where youth and power are join'd.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Where youth and power are joined!—has he a name?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> You would be told; you glory in your shame:<br /> +There's music in the sound; and, to provoke<br /> +Your pleasure more, by me it must be spoke.<br /> +Then, then it ravishes, when your pleased ear<br /> +The sound does from a wretched rival hear.<br /> +Morat's the name your heart leaps up to meet,<br /> +While Aureng-Zebe lies dying at your feet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Who told you this?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Are you so lost to shame?<br /> +Morat, Morat, Morat! You love the name<br /> +So well, your every question ends in that;<br /> +You force me still to answer you, Morat.<br /> +Morat, who best could tell what you revealed;<br /> +Morat, too proud to keep his joy concealed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Howe'er unjust your jealousy appear,<br /> +It shows the loss of what you love, you fear;<br /> +And does my pity, not my anger move:<br /> +I'll fond it, as the forward child of love.<br /> +To show the truth of my unaltered breast,<br /> +Know, that your life was given at my request,<br /> +At least reprieved. When heaven denied you aid,<br /> +She brought it, she, whose falsehood you upbraid.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> And 'tis by that you would your falsehood hide?<br /> +Had you not asked, how happy had I died!<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_255" name="page_255"></a> +Accurst reprieve! not to prolong my breath;<br /> +It brought a lingering, and more painful death,<br /> +I have not lived since first I heard the news;<br /> +The gift the guilty giver does accuse.<br /> +You knew the price, and the request did move,<br /> +That you might pay the ransom with your love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Your accusation must, I see, take place;—<br /> +And am I guilty, infamous, and base?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> If you are false, those epithets are small;<br /> +You're then the things, the abstract of them all.<br /> +And you are false: You promised him your love,—<br /> +No other price a heart so hard could move.<br /> +Do not I know him? Could his brutal mind<br /> +Be wrought upon? Could he be just, or kind?<br /> +Insultingly, he made your love his boast;<br /> +Gave me my life, and told me what it cost.<br /> +Speak; answer. I would fain yet think you true:<br /> +Lie; and I'll not believe myself, but you.<br /> +Tell me you love; I'll pardon the deceit,<br /> +And, to be fooled, myself assist the cheat.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> No; 'tis too late; I have no more to say:<br /> +If you'll believe I have been false, you may.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I would not; but your crimes too plain appear:<br /> +Nay, even that I should think you true, you fear.<br /> +Did I not tell you, I would be deceived?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> I'm not concerned to have my truth believed.<br /> +You would be cozened! would assist the cheat!<br /> +But I'm too plain to join in the deceit:<br /> +I'm pleased you think me false,<br /> +And, whatsoe'er my letter did pretend,<br /> +I made this meeting for no other end.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Kill me not quite, with this indifference!<br /> +When you are guiltless, boast not an offence.<br /> +I know you better than yourself you know:<br /> +Your heart was true, but did some frailty shew:<br /> +You promised him your love, that I might live;<br /> +But promised what you never meant to give.<br /> +Speak, was't not so? confess; I can forgive.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_256" name="page_256"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Forgive! what dull excuses you prepare,<br /> +As if your thoughts of me were worth my care!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Ah traitress! Ah ingrate! Ah faithless mind!<br /> +Ah sex, invented first to damn mankind!<br /> +Nature took care to dress you up for sin;<br /> +Adorned, without; unfinished left, within.<br /> +Hence, by no judgment you your loves direct;<br /> +Talk much, ne'er think, and still the wrong affect.<br /> +So much self-love in your composure's mixed,<br /> +That love to others still remains unfixed:<br /> +Greatness, and noise, and shew, are your delight;<br /> +Yet wise men love you, in their own despite:<br /> +And finding in their native wit no ease,<br /> +Are forced to put your folly on, to please.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Now you shall know what cause you have to rage;<br /> +But to increase your fury, not assuage:<br /> +I found the way your brother's heart to move.<br /> +Yet promised not the least return of love.<br /> +His pride and brutal fierceness I abhor;<br /> +But scorn your mean suspicions of me more.<br /> +I owed my honour and my fame this care:<br /> +Know what your folly lost you, and despair.<span class="sdr">[Turning from him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Too cruelly your innocence you tell:<br /> +Shew heaven, and damn me to the pit of hell.<br /> +Now I believe you; 'tis not yet too late:<br /> +You may forgive, and put a stop to fate;<br /> +Save me, just sinking, and no more to rise.<span class="sdr">[She frowns.</span><br /> +How can you look with such relentless eyes?<br /> +Or let your mind by penitence be moved,<br /> +Or I'm resolved to think you never loved.<br /> +You are not cleared, unless you mercy speak:<br /> +I'll think you took the occasion thus to break.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Small jealousies, 'tis true, inflame desire;<br /> +Too great, not fan, but quite blow out the fire:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_257" name="page_257"></a> +Yet I did love you, till such pains I bore,<br /> +That I dare trust myself and you no more.<br /> +Let me not love you; but here end my pain:<br /> +Distrust may make me wretched once again.<br /> +Now, with full sails, into the port I move,<br /> +And safely can unlade my breast of love;<br /> +Quiet, and calm: Why should I then go back,<br /> +To tempt the second hazard of a wreck?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Behold these dying eyes, see their submissive awe;<br /> +These tears, which fear of death could never draw:<br /> +Heard you that sigh? from my heaved heart it past,<br /> +And said,—"If you forgive not, 'tis my last."<br /> +Love mounts, and rolls about my stormy mind,<br /> +Like fire, that's borne by a tempestuous wind.<br /> +Oh, I could stifle you, with eager haste!<br /> +Devour your kisses with my hungry taste!<br /> +Rush on you! eat you! wander o'er each part,<br /> +Raving with pleasure, snatch you to my heart!<br /> +Then hold you off, and gaze! then, with new rage,<br /> +Invade you, till my conscious limbs presage<br /> +Torrents of joy, which all their banks o'erflow!<br /> +So lost, so blest, as I but then could know!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Be no more jealous!<span class="sdr">[Giving him her hand.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Give me cause no more:<br /> +The danger's greater after, than before;<br /> +If I relapse, to cure my jealousy,<br /> +Let me (for that's the easiest parting) die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> My life!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> My soul!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> My all that heaven can give!<br /> +Death's life with you; without you, death to live.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them, <span class="cnm">Arimant,</span> hastily.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Oh, we are lost, beyond all human aid!<br /> +The citadel is to Morat betrayed.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_258" name="page_258"></a> +The traitor, and the treason, known too late;<br /> +The false Abas delivered up the gate:<br /> +Even while I speak, we're compassed round with fate.<br /> +The valiant cannot fight, or coward fly;<br /> +But both in undistinguished crowds must die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Then my prophetic fears are come to pass:<br /> +Morat was always bloody; now, he's base:<br /> +And has so far in usurpation gone,<br /> +He will by parricide secure the throne.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them, the Emperor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Am I forsaken, and betrayed, by all?<br /> +Not one brave man dare, with a monarch, fall?<br /> +Then, welcome death, to cover my disgrace!<br /> +I would not live to reign o'er such a race.<br /> +My Aureng-Zebe!<span class="sdr">[Seeing <span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe.</span></span><br /> +But thou no more art mine; my cruelty<br /> +Has quite destroyed the right I had in thee.<br /> +I have been base,<br /> +Base even to him from whom I did receive<br /> +All that a son could to a parent give:<br /> +Behold me punished in the self-same kind;<br /> +The ungrateful does a more ungrateful find.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Accuse yourself no more; you could not be<br /> +Ungrateful; could commit no crime to me.<br /> +I only mourn my yet uncancelled score:<br /> +You put me past the power of paying more.<br /> +That, that's my grief, that I can only grieve,<br /> +And bring but pity, where I would relieve;<br /> +For had I yet ten thousand lives to pay,<br /> +The mighty sum should go no other way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Can you forgive me? 'tis not fit you should.<br /> +Why will you be so excellently good?<br /> +'Twill stick too black a brand upon my name:<br /> +The sword is needless; I shall die with shame.<br /> +What had my age to do with love's delight,<br /> +Shut out from all enjoyments but the sight?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_259" name="page_259"></a> +<span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Sir, you forget the danger's imminent:<br /> +This minute is not for excuses lent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Disturb me not;—<br /> +How can my latest hour be better spent?<br /> +To reconcile myself to him is more,<br /> +Than to regain all I possessed before.<br /> +Empire and life are now not worth a prayer;<br /> +His love, alone, deserves my dying care.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Fighting for you, my death will glorious be.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Seek to preserve yourself, and live for me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Arim.</span> Lose then no farther time.<br /> +Heaven has inspired me with a sudden thought,<br /> +Whence your unhoped for safety may be wrought,<br /> +Though with the hazard of my blood 'tis bought.<br /> +But since my life can ne'er be fortunate,<br /> +'Tis so much sorrow well redeemed from fate.<br /> +You, madam, must retire,<br /> +(Your beauty is its own security,)<br /> +And leave the conduct of the rest to me.<br /> +Glory will crown my life, if I succeed;<br /> +If not, she may afford to love me dead.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> My father's kind, and, madam, you forgive;<br /> +Were heaven so pleased, I now could wish to live.<br /> +And I shall live.<br /> +With glory and with love, at once, I burn:<br /> +I feel the inspiring heat, and absent god return.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT V. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Indamora</span> alone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> The night seems doubled with the fear she brings,<br /> +And o'er the citadel new-spreads her wings.<br /> +The morning, as mistaken, turns about,<br /> +And all her early fires again go out.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_260" name="page_260"></a> +Shouts, cries, and groans, first pierce my ears, and then<br /> +A flash of lightning draws the guilty scene,<br /> +And shows me arms, and wounds, and dying men.<br /> +Ah, should my Aureng-Zebe be fighting there,<br /> +And envious winds, distinguished to my ear,<br /> +His dying groans and his last accents bear!</p> + +<p class="sdn">To her, <span class="cnm">Morat,</span> attended.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> The bloody business of the night is done,<br /> +And, in the citadel, an empire won.<br /> +Our swords so wholly did the fates employ,<br /> +That they, at length, grew weary to destroy,<br /> +Refused the work we brought, and, out of breath,<br /> +Made sorrow and despair attend for death.<br /> +But what of all my conquest can I boast?<br /> +My haughty pride, before your eyes, is lost:<br /> +And victory but gains me to present<br /> +That homage, which our eastern world has sent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Your victory, alas, begets my fears:<br /> +Can you not then triumph without my tears?<br /> +Resolve me; (for you know my destiny<br /> +Is Aureng-Zebes) say, do I live or die?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Urged by my love, by hope of empire fired,<br /> +'Tis true, I have performed what both required:<br /> +What fate decreed; for when great souls are given,<br /> +They bear the marks of sovereignty from heaven.<br /> +My elder brothers my fore-runners came;<br /> +Rough-draughts of nature, ill designed, and lame:<br /> +Blown off, like blossoms never made to bear;<br /> +Till I came, finished, her last-laboured care.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> This prologue leads to your succeeding sin:<br /> +Blood ended what ambition did begin.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> 'Twas rumour'd,—but by whom I cannot tell,—<br /> +My father 'scaped from out the citadel;<br /> +My brother too may live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_261" name="page_261"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ind.</span> He may?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> He must:<br /> +I kill'd him not: and a less fate's unjust.<br /> +Heaven owes it me, that I may fill his room,<br /> +A phœnix-lover, rising from his tomb;<br /> +In whom you'll lose your sorrows for the dead;<br /> +More warm, more fierce, and fitter for your bed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Should I from Aureng-Zebe my heart divide,<br /> +To love a monster, and a parricide?<br /> +These names your swelling titles cannot hide.<br /> +Severe decrees may keep our tongues in awe;<br /> +But to our thoughts, what edict can give law?<br /> +Even you yourself, to your own breast, shall tell<br /> +Your crimes; and your own conscience be your hell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> What business has my conscience with a crown?<br /> +She sinks in pleasures, and in bowls will drown.<br /> +If mirth should fail, I'll busy her with cares,<br /> +Silence her clamorous voice with louder wars:<br /> +Trumpets and drums shall fright her from the throne,<br /> +As sounding cymbals aid the labouring moon.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Repelled by these, more eager she will grow,<br /> +Spring back more strongly than a Scythian bow.<br /> +Amidst your train, this unseen judge will wait;<br /> +Examine how you came by all your state;<br /> +Upbraid your impious pomp; and, in your ear,<br /> +Will hollow,—"Rebel, tyrant, murderer!"<br /> +Your ill-got power wan looks and care shall bring,<br /> +Known but by discontent to be a king.<br /> +Of crowds afraid, yet anxious when alone,<br /> +You'll sit and brood your sorrows on a throne.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Birth-right's a vulgar road to kingly sway;<br /> +'Tis every dull-got elder brother's way.<br /> +Dropt from above, he lights into a throne;<br /> +Grows of a piece with that he sits upon;<br /> +Heaven's choice, a low, inglorious, rightful drone.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_262" name="page_262"></a> +But who by force a sceptre does obtain,<br /> +Shows he can govern that, which he could gain.<br /> +Right comes of course, whate'er he was before;<br /> +Murder and usurpation are no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> By your own laws you such dominion make,<br /> +As every stronger power has right to take:<br /> +And parricide will so deform your name,<br /> +That dispossessing you will give a claim.<br /> +Who next usurps, will a just prince appear,<br /> +So much your ruin will his reign endear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I without guilt would mount the royal seat;<br /> +But yet 'tis necessary to be great.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> All greatness is in virtue understood:<br /> +'Tis only necessary to be good.<br /> +Tell me, what is't at which great spirits aim,<br /> +What most yourself desire?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Renown and fame,<br /> +And power, as uncontrouled as is my will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> How you confound desires of good and ill.<br /> +For true renown is still with virtue joined;<br /> +But lust of power lets loose the unbridled mind.<br /> +Yours is a soul irregularly great,<br /> +Which, wanting temper, yet abounds with heat,<br /> +So strong, yet so unequal pulses beat;<br /> +A sun, which does, through vapours, dimly shine;<br /> +What pity 'tis, you are not all divine!<br /> +New moulded, thorough lightened, and a breast<br /> +So pure, to bear the last severest test;<br /> +Fit to command an empire you should gain<br /> +By virtue, and without a blush to reign.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> You show me somewhat I ne'er learnt before;<br /> +But 'tis the distant prospect of a shore,<br /> +Doubtful in mists; which, like enchanted ground,<br /> +Flies from my sight, before 'tis fully found.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Dare to be great, without a guilty crown;<br /> +View it, and lay the bright temptation down:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_263" name="page_263"></a> +'Tis base to seize on all, because you may;<br /> +That's empire, that, which I can give away:<br /> +There's joy when to wild will you laws prescribe,<br /> +When you bid fortune carry back her bribe:<br /> +A joy, which none but greatest minds can taste;<br /> +A fame, which will to endless ages last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Renown, and fame, in vain, I courted long,<br /> +And still pursued them, though directed wrong.<br /> +In hazard, and in toils, I heard they lay;<br /> +Sailed farther than the coast, but missed my way:<br /> +Now you have given me virtue for my guide;<br /> +And, with true honour, ballasted my pride.<br /> +Unjust dominion I no more pursue;<br /> +I quit all other claims, but those to you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Oh be not just by halves! pay all you owe:<br /> +Think there's a debt to Melesinda too.<br /> +To leave no blemish on your after-life,<br /> +Reward the virtue of a suffering wife.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> To love, once past, I cannot backward move;<br /> +Call yesterday again, and I may love.<br /> +'Twas not for nothing I the crown resigned;<br /> +I still must own a mercenary mind;<br /> +I, in this venture, double gains pursue,<br /> +And laid out all my stock, to purchase you.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them, <span class="cnm">Asaph Chan.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Now, what success? does Aureng-Zebe yet live?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> Fortune has given you all that she can give.<br /> +Your brother—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Hold; thou showest an impious joy,<br /> +And think'st I still take pleasure to destroy:<br /> +Know, I am changed, and would not have him slain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> 'Tis past; and you desire his life in vain.<br /> +He, prodigal of soul, rushed on the stroke<br /> +Of lifted weapons, and did wounds provoke:<br /> +In scorn of night, he would not be concealed;<br /> +His soldiers, where he fought, his name revealed.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_264" name="page_264"></a> +In thickest crowds, still Aureng-Zebe did sound;<br /> +The vaulted roofs did Aureng-Zebe rebound;<br /> +Till late, and in his fall, the name was drowned.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Wither that hand which brought him to his fate,<br /> +And blasted be the tongue which did relate!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Asaph.</span> His body—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Cease to enhance her misery:<br /> +Pity the queen, and show respect to me.<br /> +'Tis every painter's art to hide from sight,<br /> +And cast in shades, what, seen, would not delight.—<br /> +Your grief in me such sympathy has bred,<span class="sdr">[To her.</span><br /> +I mourn, and wish I could recal the dead.<br /> +Love softens me; and blows up fires, which pass<br /> +Through my tough heart, and melt the stubborn mass.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Break, heart; or choak, with sobs, my hated breath!<br /> +Do thy own work: admit no foreign death.<br /> +Alas! why do I make this useless moan?<br /> +I'm dead already, for my soul is gone.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them, <span class="cnm">Mir Baba.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mir.</span> What tongue the terror of this night can tell,<br /> +Within, without, and round the citadel!<br /> +A new-formed faction does your power oppose;<br /> +The fight's confused, and all who meet are foes:<br /> +A second clamour, from the town, we hear;<br /> +And the far noise so loud, it drowns the near.<br /> +Abas, who seemed our friend, is either fled,<br /> +Or, what we fear, our enemies does head:<br /> +Your frighted soldiers scarce their ground maintain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I thank their fury; we shall fight again:<br /> +They rouse my rage; I'm eager to subdue:<br /> +'Tis fatal to with-hold my eyes from you. +<span class="sdr">[Exit with the two Omrahs.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_265" name="page_265"></a> +Enter <span class="cnm">Melesinda.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Can misery no place of safety know?<br /> +The noise pursues me wheresoe'er I go,<br /> +As fate sought only me, and, where I fled,<br /> +Aimed all its darts at my devoted head.<br /> +And let it; I am now past care of life;<br /> +The last of women; an abandoned wife.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Whether design or chance has brought you here,<br /> +I stand obliged to fortune, or to fear:<br /> +Weak women should, in danger, herd like deer.<br /> +But say, from whence this new combustion springs?<br /> +Are there yet more Morats? more fighting kings?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Him from his mother's love your eyes divide,<br /> +And now her arms the cruel strife decide.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> What strange misfortunes my vext life attend!<br /> +Death will be kind, and all my sorrows end.<br /> +If Nourmahal prevail, I know my fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I pity, as my own, your hard estate:<br /> +But what can my weak charity afford?<br /> +I have no longer interest in my lord:<br /> +Nor in his mother, he: she owns her hate<br /> +Aloud, and would herself usurp the state.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> I'm stupified with sorrow, past relief<br /> +Of tears; parched up, and withered with my grief.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Dry mourning will decays more deadly bring,<br /> +As a north wind burns a too forward spring.<br /> +Give sorrow vent, and let the sluices go.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> My tears are all congealed, and will not flow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Have comfort; yield not to the blows of fate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Comfort, like cordials after death, comes late.<br /> +Name not so vain a word; my hopes are fled:<br /> +Think your Morat were kind, and think him dead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> I can no more—<br /> +Can no more arguments, for comfort, find:<br /> +Your boding words have quite o'erwhelmed my mind. +<span class="sdr">[Clattering of weapons within.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_266" name="page_266"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ind.</span> The noise increases, as the billows roar,<br /> +When rolling from afar they threat the shore.<br /> +She comes; and feeble nature now, I find,<br /> +Shrinks back in danger, and forsakes my mind.<br /> +I wish to die, yet dare not death endure;<br /> +Detest the medicine, yet desire the cure.<br /> +I would have death; but mild, and at command:<br /> +I dare not trust him in another's hand.<br /> +In Nourmahal's, he would not mine appear;<br /> +But armed with terror, and disguised with fear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Beyond this place you can have no retreat:<br /> +Stay here, and I the danger will repeat.<br /> +I fear not death, because my life I hate;<br /> +And envious death will shun the unfortunate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> You must not venture.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Let me: I may do<br /> +Myself a kindness, in obliging you.<br /> +In your loved name, I'll seek my angry lord;<br /> +And beg your safety from his conquering sword:<br /> +So his protection all your fears will ease,<br /> +And I shall see him once, and not displease.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> O wretched queen! what power thy life can save?<br /> +A stranger, and unfriended, and a slave!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Nourmahal, Zayda,</span> and <span class="cnm">Abas,</span> with Soldiers.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Alas, she's here!<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Indamora</span> retires.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Heartless they fought, and quitted soon their ground,<br /> +While ours with easy victory were crowned.<br /> +To you, Abas, my life and empire too,<br /> +And, what's yet dearer, my revenge, I owe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abas.</span> The vain Morat, by his own rashness wrought,<br /> +Too soon discovered his ambitious thought;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_267" name="page_267"></a> +Believed me his, because I spoke him fair,<br /> +And pitched his head into the ready snare:<br /> +Hence 'twas I did his troops at first admit;<br /> +But such, whose numbers could no fears beget:<br /> +By them the emperor's party first I slew,<br /> +Then turned my arms the victors to subdue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Now let the head-strong boy my will controul!<br /> +Virtue's no slave of man; no sex confines the soul:<br /> +I, for myself, the imperial seat will gain,<br /> +And he shall wait my leisure for his reign.—<br /> +But Aureng-Zebe is no where to be found,<br /> +And now, perhaps, in death's cold arms he lies!<br /> +I fought, and conquered, yet have lost the prize.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> The chance of war determined well the strife,<br /> +That racked you, 'twixt the lover and the wife.<br /> +He's dead, whose love had sullied all your reign,<br /> +And made you empress of the world in vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> No; I my power and pleasure would divide:<br /> +The drudge had quenched my flames, and then had died.<br /> +I rage, to think without that bliss I live,<br /> +That I could wish what fortune would not give:<br /> +But, what love cannot, vengeance must supply;<br /> +She, who bereaved me of his heart, shall die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> I'll search: far distant hence she cannot be. +<span class="sdr">[Goes in.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> This wondrous master-piece I fain would see;<br /> +This fatal Helen, who can wars inspire,<br /> +Make kings her slaves, and set the world on fire.<br /> +My husband locked his jewel from my view;<br /> +Or durst not set the false one by the true.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Zayda,</span> leading <span class="cnm">Indamora.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zayd.</span> Your frighted captive, ere she dies, receive;<br /> +Her soul's just going else, without your leave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_268" name="page_268"></a> +<span class="cnm">Nour.</span> A fairer creature did my eyes ne'er see!<br /> +Sure she was formed by heaven, in spite to me!<br /> +Some angel copied, while I slept, each grace,<br /> +And moulded every feature from my face.<br /> +Such majesty does from her forehead rise,<br /> +Her cheeks such blushes cast, such rays her eyes,<br /> +Nor I, nor envy, can a blemish find.—<br /> +The palace is, without, too well designed:<br /> +Conduct me in, for I will view thy mind.<span class="sdr">[To her.</span><br /> +Speak, if thou hast a soul, that I may see,<br /> +If heaven can make, throughout, another me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> My tears and miseries must plead my cause; +<span class="sdr">[Kneeling.</span><br /> +My words, the terror of your presence awes:<br /> +Mortals, in sight of angels, mute become;<br /> +The nobler nature strikes the inferior dumb.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> The palm is, by the foe's confession, mine;<br /> +But I disdain what basely you resign.<br /> +Heaven did, by me, the outward model build;<br /> +Its inward work, the soul, with rubbish filled.<br /> +Yet, oh! the imperfect piece moves more delight;<br /> +'Tis gilded o'er with youth, to catch the sight.<br /> +The gods have poorly robbed my virgin bloom,<br /> +And what I am, by what I was, o'ercome.<br /> +Traitress! restore my beauty and my charms,<br /> +Nor steal my conquest with my proper arms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> What have I done thus to inflame your hate?<br /> +I am not guilty, but unfortunate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Not guilty, when thy looks my power betray,<br /> +Seduce mankind, my subject, from my sway,<br /> +Take all my hearts and all my eyes away?<br /> +My husband first; but that I could forgive;<br /> +He only moved, and talked, but did not live.<br /> +My Aureng-Zebe!—for I dare own the name,<br /> +The glorious sin, and the more glorious flame,—<br /> +Him from my beauty have thy eyes misled,<br /> +And starved the joys of my expected bed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_269" name="page_269"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ind.</span> His love so sought, he's happy that he's dead.<br /> +O had I courage but to meet my fate,<br /> +That short dark passage to a future state,<br /> +That melancholy riddle of a breath!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> That something, or that nothing, after death:<br /> +Take this, and teach thyself.<span class="sdr">[Giving a Dagger.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Alas!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Why dost thou shake?<br /> +Dishonour not the vengeance I designed:<br /> +A queen, and own a base Plebeian mind!<br /> +Let it drink deep in thy most vital part;<br /> +Strike home, and do me reason in thy heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> I dare not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Do't, while I stand by and see,<br /> +At my full gust, without the drudgery.<br /> +I love a foe, who dares my stroke prevent,<br /> +Who gives me the full scene of my content;<br /> +Shows me the flying soul's convulsive strife,<br /> +And all the anguish of departing life.<br /> +Disdain my mercy, and my rage defy;<br /> +Curse me with thy last breath, and make me see<br /> +A spirit, worthy to have rivalled me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Oh, I desire to die, but dare not yet!<br /> +Give me some respite, I'll discharge the debt.<br /> +Without my Aureng-Zebe I would not live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Thine, traitress! thine! that word has winged thy fate,<br /> +And put me past the tedious forms of hate:<br /> +I'll kill thee with such eagerness and haste,<br /> +As fiends, let loose, would lay all nature waste. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Indamora</span> runs back: As <span class="cnm">Nourmahal</span> is running +to her, clashing of swords is heard within.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Sold.</span> Yield, you're o'erpowered: Resistance is in vain. +<span class="sdr">[Within.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Then death's my choice: Submission I disdain. +<span class="sdr">[Within.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_270" name="page_270"></a> +<span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Retire, ye slaves! Ah, whither does he run +<span class="sdr">[At the door.</span><br /> +On pointed swords? Disarm, but save my son.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Morat</span> staggering, and upheld by Soldiers.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> She lives! and I shall see her once again!<br /> +I have not thrown away my life in vain. +<span class="sdr">[Catches hold of <span class="cnm">Indamora's</span> gown, and falls by +her: She sits.</span><br /> +I can no more; yet even in death I find<br /> +My fainting body biassed by my mind:<br /> +I fall toward you; still my contending soul<br /> +Points to your breast, and trembles to its pole.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To them <span class="cnm">Melesinda,</span> hastily casting herself on the +other side of <span class="cnm">Morat.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Ah woe, woe, woe! the worst of woes I find!<br /> +Live still; Oh live; live e'en to be unkind!—<br /> +With half-shut eyes he seeks the doubtful day;<br /> +But, ah! he bends his sight another way.<br /> +He faints! and in that sigh his soul is gone;<br /> +Yet heaven's unmoved, yet heaven looks careless on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Where are those powers which monarchs should defend?<br /> +Or do they vain authority pretend<br /> +O'er human fates, and their weak empire show,<br /> +Which cannot guard their images below?<br /> +If, as their image, he was not divine,<br /> +They ought to have respected him as mine.<br /> +I'll waken them with my revenge; and she,<br /> +Their Indamora, shall my victim be,<br /> +And helpless heaven shall mourn in vain, like me. +<span class="sdr">[As she is going to stab <span class="cnm">Indamora, Morat</span> +raises himself, and holds her hand.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Ah, what are we,<br /> +Who dare maintain with heaven this wretched strife,<br /> +Puft with the pride of heaven's own gift, frail life?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_271" name="page_271"></a> +That blast which my ambitious spirit swelled,<br /> +See by how weak a tenure it was held!<br /> +I only stay to save the innocent;<br /> +Oh envy not my soul its last content!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> No, let me die; I'm doubly summoned now;<br /> +First by my Aureng-Zebe, and since by you.<br /> +My soul grows hardy, and can death endure;<br /> +Your convoy makes the dangerous way secure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Let me at least a funeral marriage crave,<br /> +Nor grudge my cold embraces in the grave.<br /> +I have too just a title in the strife;<br /> +By me, unhappy me, he lost his life:<br /> +I called him hither, 'twas my fatal breath,<br /> +And I the screech-owl that proclaimed his death.<span class="sdr">[Shout within.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abas.</span> What new alarms are these? I'll haste and see. +<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> Look up and live; an empire shall be thine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> That I condemned, even when I thought it mine.—<br /> +Oh, I must yield to my hard destinies,<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Ind.</span></span><br /> +And must for ever cease to see your eyes!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Ah turn your sight to me, my dearest lord!<br /> +Can you not one, one parting look afford?<br /> +Even so unkind in death:—but 'tis in vain;<br /> +I lose my breath, and to the winds complain.<br /> +Yet 'tis as much in vain your cruel scorn;<br /> +Still I can love, without this last return.<br /> +Nor fate, nor you, can my vowed faith controul;<br /> +Dying, I follow your disdainful soul:<br /> +A ghost, I'll haunt your ghost; and, where you go,<br /> +With mournful murmurs fill the plains below.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> Be happy, Melesinda; cease to grieve,<br /> +And for a more deserving husband live:—<br /> +Can you forgive me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Can I! Oh, my heart!<br /> +Have I heard one kind word before I part?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_272" name="page_272"></a> +I can, I can forgive: Is that a task<br /> +To love like mine? Are you so good to ask!<br /> +One kiss—Oh, 'tis too great a blessing this!<span class="sdr">[Kisses him.</span><br /> +I would not live to violate the bliss,</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Abas.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Abas.</span> Some envious devil has ruined us yet more:<br /> +The fort's revolted to the emperor;<br /> +The gates are opened, the portcullis drawn,<br /> +And deluges of armies from the town<br /> +Come pouring in: I heard the mighty flaw,<br /> +When first it broke; the crowding ensigns saw,<br /> +Which choked the passage; and, what least I feared,<br /> +The waving arms of Aureng-Zebe appeared,<br /> +Displayed with your Morat's:<br /> +In either's flag the golden serpents bear<br /> +Erected crests alike, like volumes rear,<br /> +And mingle friendly hissings in the air.<br /> +Their troops are joined, and our destruction nigh.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Neur.</span> 'Tis vain to fight, and I disdain to fly.<br /> +I'll mock the triumphs which our foes intend,<br /> +And spite of fortune, make a glorious end.<br /> +In poisonous draughts my liberty I'll find,<br /> +And from the nauseous world set free my mind.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">At the other end of the Stage enter <span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe, +Dianet,</span> and Attendants. <span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe</span> turns +back, and speaks entering.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> The lives of all, who cease from combat, spare;<br /> +My brother's be your most peculiar care:<br /> +Our impious use no longer shall obtain;<br /> +Brothers no more by brothers shall be slain.— +<span class="sdr">[Seeing <span class="cnm">Indamora</span> and <span class="cnm">Morat.</span></span><br /> +Ha! do I dream? Is this my hoped success?<br /> +I grow a statue, stiff and motionless.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_273" name="page_273"></a> +Look, Dianet; for I dare not trust these eyes;<br /> +They dance in mists, and dazzle with surprise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dia.</span> Sir, 'tis Morat; dying he seems, or dead;<br /> +And Indamora's hand—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Supports his head.<span class="sdr">[Sighing.</span><br /> +Thou shalt not break yet, heart, nor shall she know<br /> +My inward torments by my outward show:<br /> +To let her see my weakness were too base;<br /> +Dissembled quiet sit upon my face:<br /> +My sorrow to my eyes no passage find,<br /> +But let it inward sink, and drown my mind.<br /> +Falsehood shall want its triumph: I begin<br /> +To stagger, but I'll prop myself within.<br /> +The specious tower no ruin shall disclose,<br /> +Till down at once the mighty fabric goes,</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> In sign that I die yours, reward my love,<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Ind.</span></span><br /> +And seal my passport to the blessed above.<span class="sdr">[Kissing her hand.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Oh stay; or take me with you when you go;<br /> +There's nothing now worth living for below.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mor.</span> I leave you not; for my expanded mind<br /> +Grows up to heaven, while it to you is joined:<br /> +Not quitting, but enlarged! A blazing fire,<br /> +Fed from the brand.<span class="sdr">[Dies.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Ah me! he's gone! I die!<span class="sdr">[Swoons.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Oh, dismal day!<br /> +Fate, thou hast ravished my last hope away! +<span class="sdr">[She turns, and sees <span class="cnm">Aureng-Zebe</span> standing +by her, and starts.</span><br /> +O heaven! my Aureng-Zebe—What strange surprise!<br /> +Or does my willing mind delude my eyes,<br /> +And shows the figure always present there?<br /> +Or liv'st thou? am I blessed, and see thee here?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> My brother's body see conveyed with care, +<span class="sdr">[Turning from her, to her Attendants.</span><br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_274" name="page_274"></a> +Where we may royal sepulture prepare.<br /> +With speed to Melesinda bring relief:<br /> +Recal her spirits, and moderate her grief— +<span class="sdr">[Half turning to <span class="cnm">Ind.</span></span><br /> +I go, to take for ever from your view,<br /> +Both the loved object, and the hated too. +<span class="sdr">[Going away after the bodies, which are +carried off.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Hear me! yet think not that I beg your stay; +<span class="sdr">[Laying hold of him.</span><br /> +I will be heard, and, after, take your way.<br /> +Go; but your late repentance shall be vain: +<span class="sdr">[He struggles still: she lets him go.</span><br /> +I'll never, never see your face again.<span class="sdr">[Turning away.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Madam, I know whatever you can say:<br /> +You might be pleased not to command my stay.<br /> +All things are yet disordered in the fort;<br /> +I must crave leave your audience may be short.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> You need not fear I shall detain you long:<br /> +Yet you may tell me your pretended wrong.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Is that the business? then my stay is vain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> How are you injured?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> When did I complain?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Leave off your forced respect,<br /> +And show your rage in its most furious form:<br /> +I'm armed with innocence to brave the storm.<br /> +You heard, perhaps, your brother's last desire,<br /> +And, after, saw him in my arms expire;<br /> +Saw me, with tears, so great a loss, bemoan;<br /> +Heard me complaining my last hopes were gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> "Oh stay, or take me with you when you go,<br /> +There's nothing now worth living for below."<br /> +Unhappy sex! whose beauty is your snare:<br /> +Exposed to trials; made too frail to bear.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_275" name="page_275"></a> +I grow a fool, and show my rage again:<br /> +'Tis nature's fault; and why should I complain?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Will you yet hear me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Yes, till you relate<br /> +What powerful motives did your change create.<br /> +You thought me dead, and prudently did weigh<br /> +Tears were but vain, and brought but youth's decay.<br /> +Then, in Morat, your hopes a crown designed;<br /> +And all the woman worked within your mind.—<br /> +I rave again, and to my rage return,<br /> +To be again subjected to your scorn.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> I wait till this long storm be over-blown.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> I'm conscious of my folly: I have done.—<br /> +I cannot rail; but silently I'll grieve.<br /> +How did I trust! and how did you deceive!<br /> +Oh, Arimant, would I had died for thee!<br /> +I dearly buy thy generosity.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Alas, is he then dead?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Unknown to me,<br /> +He took my arms; and, while I forced my way<br /> +Through troops of foes, which did our passage stay,<br /> +My buckler o'er my aged father cast,<br /> +Still fighting, still defending as I past,<br /> +The noble Arimant usurped my name;<br /> +Fought, and took from me, while he gave me, fame.<br /> +To Aureng-Zebe, he made his soldiers cry,<br /> +And, seeing not, where he heard danger nigh,<br /> +Shot, like a star, through the benighted sky,<br /> +A short, but mighty aid: At length he fell.<br /> +My own adventures 'twere lost time to tell;<br /> +Or how my army, entering in the night,<br /> +Surprised our foes; The dark disordered fight:<br /> +How my appearance, and my father shown,<br /> +Made peace; and all the rightful monarch own.<br /> +I've summed it briefly, since it did relate<br /> +The unwelcome safety of the man you hate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_276" name="page_276"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ind.</span> As briefly will I clear my innocence:<br /> +Your altered brother died in my defence.<br /> +Those tears you saw, that tenderness I showed,<br /> +Were just effects of grief and gratitude.<br /> +He died my convert.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> But your lover too:<br /> +I heard his words, and did your actions view;<br /> +You seemed to mourn another lover dead:<br /> +My sighs you gave him, and my tears you shed.<br /> +But, worst of all,<br /> +Your gratitude for his defence was shown:<br /> +It proved you valued life, when I was gone.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Not that I valued life, but feared to die:<br /> +Think that my weakness, not inconstancy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Fear showed you doubted of your own intent:<br /> +And she, who doubts, becomes less innocent.<br /> +Tell me not you could fear;<br /> +Fear's a large promiser; who subject live<br /> +To that base passion, know not what they give.<br /> +No circumstance of grief you did deny;<br /> +And what could she give more, who durst not die?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> My love, my faith.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Both so adulterate grown,<br /> +When mixed with fear, they never could be known.<br /> +I wish no ill might her I love befal;<br /> +But she ne'er loved, who durst not venture all.<br /> +Her life and fame should my concernment be;<br /> +But she should only be afraid for me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> My heart was yours; but, oh! you left it here,<br /> +Abandoned to those tyrants, hope and fear;<br /> +If they forced from me one kind look, or word,<br /> +Could you not that, not that small part afford?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> If you had loved, you nothing yours could call;<br /> +Giving the least of mine, you gave him all.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_277" name="page_277"></a> +True love's a miser; so tenacious grown,<br /> +He weighs to the least grain of what's his own;<br /> +More delicate than honour's nicest sense,<br /> +Neither to give nor take the least offence.<br /> +With, or without you, I can have no rest:<br /> +What shall I do? you're lodged within my breast:<br /> +Your image never will be thence displaced;<br /> +But there it lies, stabbed, mangled, and defaced.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Yet to restore the quiet of your heart,<br /> +There's one way left.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Oh, name it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> 'Tis to part.<br /> +Since perfect bliss with me you cannot prove,<br /> +I scorn to bless by halves the man I love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Now you distract me more: Shall then the day,<br /> +Which views my triumph, see our loves decay?<br /> +Must I new bars to my own joy create?<br /> +Refuse myself what I had forced from fate?<br /> +What though I am not loved?<br /> +Reason's nice taste does our delights destroy:<br /> +Brutes are more blessed, who grossly feed on joy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Such endless jealousies your love pursue,<br /> +I can no more be fully blessed than you.<br /> +I therefore go, to free us both from pain:<br /> +I prized your person, but your crown disdain.<br /> +Nay, even my own—<br /> +I give it you; for, since I cannot call<br /> +Your heart my subject, I'll not reign at all.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Go: Though thou leav'st me tortured on the rack,<br /> +'Twixt shame and pride, I cannot call thee back.—<br /> +She's guiltless, and I should submit; but oh!<br /> +When she exacts it, can I stoop so low?<br /> +Yes; for she's guiltless; but she's haughty too.<br /> +Great souls long struggle ere they own a crime:<br /> +She's gone; and leaves me no repenting time.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_278" name="page_278"></a> +I'll call her now; sure, if she loves, she'll stay;<br /> +Linger at least, or not go far away. +<span class="sdr">[Looks to the door, and returns.</span><br /> +For ever lost! and I repent too late.<br /> +My foolish pride would set my whole estate,<br /> +Till, at one throw, I lost all back to fate.</p> + +<p class="sdn">To him the Emperor, drawing in <span class="cnm">Indamora:</span> +Attendants.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> It must not be, that he, by whom we live,<br /> +Should no advantage of his gift receive.<br /> +Should he be wholly wretched? he alone,<br /> +In this blessed day, a day so much his own?<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Ind.</span></span><br /> +I have not quitted yet a victor's right:<br /> +I'll make you happy in your own despite.<br /> +I love you still; and, if I struggle hard<br /> +To give, it shows the worth of the reward.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Suppose he has o'ercome; must I find place<br /> +Among his conquered foes, and sue for grace?<br /> +Be pardoned, and confess I loved not well?<br /> +What though none live my innocence to tell,<br /> +I know it: Truth may own a generous pride:<br /> +I clear myself, and care for none beside.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Oh, Indamora, you would break my heart!<br /> +Could you resolve, on any terms, to part?<br /> +I thought your love eternal: Was it tied<br /> +So loosely, that a quarrel could divide?<br /> +I grant that my suspicions were unjust;<br /> +But would you leave me, for a small distrust?<br /> +Forgive those foolish words—<span class="sdr">[Kneeling to her.</span><br /> +They were the froth my raging folly moved,<br /> +When it boiled up: I knew not then I loved;<br /> +Yet then loved most.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Aur.</span></span>]<br /> +You would but half be blest!<span class="sdr">[Giving her hand, smiling.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_279" name="page_279"></a> +<span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Oh do but try<br /> +My eager love: I'll give myself the lie.<br /> +The very hope is a full happiness,<br /> +Yet scantly measures what I shall possess.<br /> +Fancy itself, even in enjoyment, is<br /> +But a dumb judge, and cannot tell its bliss.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Her eyes a secret yielding do confess,<br /> +And promise to partake your happiness.<br /> +May all the joys I did myself pursue,<br /> +Be raised by her, and multiplied on you!</p> + +<p class="sdn">A Procession of Priests, Slaves following, and, last, +<span class="cnm">Melesinda</span> in white.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Alas! what means this pomp?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> 'Tis the procession of a funeral vow,<br /> +Which cruel laws to Indian wives allow,<br /> +When fatally their virtue they approve;<br /> +Cheerful in flames, and martyrs of their love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> Oh, my foreboding heart! the event I fear:<br /> +And see! sad Melesinda does appear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> You wrong my love; what grief do I betray?<br /> +This is the triumph of my nuptial day,<br /> +My better nuptials; which, in spite of fate,<br /> +For ever join me to my dear Morat.<br /> +Now I am pleased; my jealousies are o'er:<br /> +He's mine; and I can lose him now no more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> Let no false show of fame, your reason blind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ind.</span> You have no right to die; he was not kind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Mel.</span> Had he been kind, I could no love have shown:<br /> +Each vulgar virtue would as much have done.<br /> +My love was such, it needed no return;<br /> +But could, though he supplied no fuel, burn.<br /> +Rich in itself, like elemental fire,<br /> +Whose pureness does no aliment require.<br /> +In vain you would bereave me of my lord;<br /> +For I will die:—Die is too base a word,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_280" name="page_280"></a> +I'll seek his breast, and, kindling by his side,<br /> +Adorned with flames, I'll mount a glorious bride.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Nourmahal,</span> distracted, with <span class="cnm">Zayda.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Zay.</span> She's lost, she's lost! but why do I complain,<br /> +For her, who generously did life disdain!<br /> +Poisoned, she raves—<br /> +The envenomed body does the soul attack;<br /> +The envenomed soul works its own poison back.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> I burn, I more than burn; I am all fire.<br /> +See how my mouth and nostrils flame expire!<br /> +I'll not come near myself—<br /> +Now I'm a burning lake, it rolls and flows;<br /> +I'll rush, and pour it all upon my foes.<br /> +Pull, pull that reverend piece of timber near:<br /> +Throw't on—'tis dry—'twill burn—<br /> +Ha, ha! how my old husband crackles there!<br /> +Keep him down, keep him down; turn him about:<br /> +I know him,—he'll but whiz, and strait go out.<br /> +Fan me, you winds: What, not one breath of air?<br /> +I'll burn them all, and yet have flames to spare.<br /> +Quench me: Pour on whole rivers. 'Tis in vain:<br /> +Morat stands there to drive them back again:<br /> +With those huge billows in his hands, he blows<br /> +New fire into my head: My brain-pan glows.<br /> +See! see! there's Aureng-Zebe too takes his part;<br /> +But he blows all his fire into my heart<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_3-4">[4]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Aur.</span> Alas, what fury's this?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Nour.</span> That's he, that's he! +<span class="sdr">[Staring upon him, and catching at him.</span><br /> +I know the dear man's voice:<br /> +And this my rival, this the cursed she.<br /> +They kiss; into each other's arms they run:<br /> +Close, close, close! must I see, and must have none?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_281" name="page_281"></a> +Thou art not hers: Give me that eager kiss.<br /> +Ungrateful! have I lost Morat for this?<br /> +Will you?—before my face?—poor helpless I<br /> +See all, and have my hell before I die!<span class="sdr">[Sinks down.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Emp.</span> With thy last breath thou hast thy crimes confest:<br /> +Farewell; and take, what thou ne'er gav'st me, rest.<br /> +But you, my son, receive it better here: +<span class="sdr">[Giving him <span class="cnm">Indamora's</span> hand.</span><br /> +The just rewards of love and honour wear.<br /> +Receive the mistress, you so long have served;<br /> +Receive the crown, your loyalty preserved.<br /> +Take you the reins, while I from cares remove,<br /> +And sleep within the chariot which I drove.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Auren_3-1" name="Auren_3-1"></a> +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Magne regnator deum,</p> +<p>Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides?</p> +<p>Ecquando sæva fulmen emittes manu,</p> +<p>Si nunc serenum est?</p> +<p>—Me velox cremet,</p> +<p>Transactus ignis. Sum nocens, merui mori,</p> +<p>Placui novercæ.</p> +<p class="citation">—Hippolitus apud Senecam.</p> +</div> + +<p>See Langbaine, on this play.</p></li> + +<li><a id="Auren_3-2" name="Auren_3-2"></a>In Dryden's time it was believed, that some Indian tribes devoured +the bodies of their parents; affirming, they could shew no +greater mark of respect, than to incorporate their remains with +their own substance.</li> + +<li><a id="Auren_3-3" name="Auren_3-3"></a>Langbaine traces this speech also to Seneca's Hippolitus.<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Thesei vultus amo;</p> +<p>Illos priores quos tulit quondam puer,</p> +<p>Cum prima puras barba signaret genas.</p> +</div></li> + +<li><a id="Auren_3-4" name="Auren_3-4"></a>I wish the duty of an editor had permitted me to omit this +extravagant and ludicrous rhapsody.</li> +</ol> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_282" name="page_282"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">EPILOGUE</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>A pretty task! and so I told the fool,</p> +<p>Who needs would undertake to please by rule:</p> +<p>He thought, that if his characters were good,</p> +<p>The scenes entire, and freed from noise and blood;</p> +<p>The action great, yet circumscribed by time,</p> +<p>The words not forced, but sliding into rhyme,</p> +<p>The passions raised, and calm by just degrees,</p> +<p>As tides are swelled, and then retire to seas;</p> +<p>He thought, in hitting these, his business done,</p> +<p>Though he, perhaps, has failed in every one:</p> +<p>But, after all, a poet must confess,</p> +<p>His art's like physic, but a happy guess.</p> +<p>Your pleasure on your fancy must depend:</p> +<p>The lady's pleased, just as she likes her friend.</p> +<p>No song! no dance! no show! he fears you'll say:</p> +<p>You love all naked beauties, but a play.</p> +<p>He much mistakes your methods to delight;</p> +<p>And, like the French, abhors our target-fight:</p> +<p>But those damned dogs can ne'er be in the right.</p> +<p>True English hate your Monsieur's paltry arts,</p> +<p>For you are all silk-weavers in your hearts<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_4-1">[1]</a>.</p> +<p>Bold Britons, at a brave Bear-Garden fray,</p> +<p>Are roused: And, clattering sticks, cry,—Play, play, play!<a class="ftnt" href="#Auren_4-2">[2]</a></p> +<p>Meantime, your filthy foreigner will stare,</p> +<p>And mutters to himself,—<i>Ha! gens barbare!</i></p> +<p>And, gad, 'tis well he mutters; well for him;</p> +<p>Our butchers else would tear him limb from limb.</p> +<p>'Tis true, the time may come, your sons may be</p> +<p>Infected with this French civility:</p> +<p>But this, in after ages will be done:</p> +<p>Our poet writes an hundred years too soon.</p> +<p>This age comes on too slow, or he too fast:</p> +<p>And early springs are subject to a blast!</p> +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_283" name="page_283"></a> +Who would excel, when few can make a test</p> +<p>Betwixt indifferent writing and the best?</p> +<p>For favours, cheap and common, who would strive,</p> +<p>Which, like abandoned prostitutes, you give?</p> +<p>Yet, scattered here and there, I some behold,</p> +<p>Who can discern the tinsel from the gold:</p> +<p>To these he writes; and, if by them allowed,</p> +<p>'Tis their prerogative to rule the crowd.</p> +<p>For he more fears, like a presuming man,</p> +<p>Their votes who cannot judge, than theirs who can.</p> +</div> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="Auren_4-1" name="Auren_4-1"></a>Enemies, namely, like the English silk-weavers to the manufactures of +France.</li> + +<li><a id="Auren_4-2" name="Auren_4-2"></a>Alluding to the prize-fighting with broad-swords at the Bear-Garden: an +amusement sufficiently degrading, yet more manly, and less brutal than that +of boxing, as now practised. We have found, in the lowest deep, a lower still.</li> +</ol> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_285" name="page_285"></a></div> + +<h2 class="chap">ALL FOR LOVE;</h2> + +<p class="ctr">OR,</p> + +<h3 class="nomarg">THE WORLD WELL LOST.</h3> + +<h3>A<br /> +TRAGEDY.</h3> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_287" name="page_287"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">ALL FOR LOVE.</h3> + +<p>The prologue to the preceding play has already acquainted us, +that Dryden's taste for Rhyming, or Heroic Plays, was then upon +the wane; and, accordingly "Aureng-Zebe" was the last tragedy +which he formed upon that once admired model. "Henceforth +a series of new times began," for, when given up by the only writer, +whose command of flowing and powerful numbers had rendered it +impressive, that department of the drama was soon abandoned by +the inferior class of play-writers, to whom it presented multiplied +difficulties, without a single advantage. The new taste, which our +author had now decidedly adopted, was founded upon the stile of +Shakespeare, of whose works he appears always to have been a persevering +student, and, at length, an ardent admirer. Accordingly, +he informs us, in the introduction, that this play is professedly +written in imitation of "the divine Shakespeare." As if to bring +this more immediately under the eye of the reader, he has chosen a +subject upon which his immortal original had already laboured; +and, perhaps, the most proper introduction to "All for Love" +may be a parallel betwixt it and Shakespeare's "Antony and Cleopatra."</p> + +<p>The first point of comparison is the general conduct, or plot, of +the tragedy. And here Dryden, having, to use his own language, +undertaken to shoot in the bow of Ulysses, imitates the wily Antinous +in using art to eke out his strength, and suppling the weapon +before he attempted to bend it.</p> + +<p>Shakespeare, with the license peculiar to his age and character, +had diffused the action of his play over Italy, Greece, and +Egypt; but Dryden, who was well aware of the advantage to be +derived from a simplicity and concentration of plot, has laid every +scene in the city of Alexandria. By this he guarded the audience +from that vague and puzzling distraction which must necessarily attend +a violent change of place. It is a mistake to suppose, that the +argument in favour of the unities depends upon preserving the deception +of the scene; they are necessarily connected with the intelligibility +of the piece. It may be true, that no spectator supposes +that the stage before him is actually the court of Alexandria; +yet, when he has once made up his mind to let it pass as such during +the representation, it is a cruel tax, not merely on his imagination, +but on his powers of comprehension, if the scene be suddenly +<a class="pgnm" id="page_288" name="page_288"></a> +transferred to a distant country. Time is lost before he can form +new associations, and reconcile their bearings with those originally +presented to him, and if he be a person of slow comprehension, +or happens to lose any part of the dialogue, announcing the changes, +the whole becomes unintelligible confusion. In this respect, +and in discarding a number of uninteresting characters, the plan +of Dryden's play must be unequivocally preferred to that of Shakespeare +in point of coherence, unity, and simplicity. It is a natural +consequence of this more artful arrangement of the story, that +Dryden contents himself with the concluding scene of Antony's history +instead of introducing the incidents of the war with Cneius +Pompey, the negociation with Lepidus, death of his first wife, and +other circumstances, which, in Shakespeare, only tend to distract +our attention from the main interest of the drama. The union of +time, as necessary as that of place to the intelligibility of the +drama, has, in like manner, been happily attained; and an interesting +event is placed before the audience with no other change of +place, and no greater lapse of time, than can be readily adapted to +an ordinary imagination.</p> + +<p>But, having given Dryden the praise of superior address in managing +the story, I fear he must be pronounced in most other respects +inferior to his grand prototype. Antony, the principal character +in both plays, is incomparably grander in that of Shakespeare. +The majesty and generosity of the military hero is happily expressed +by both poets; but the awful ruin of grandeur, undermined +by passion, and tottering to its fall, is far more striking in the +Antony of Shakespeare. Love, it is true, is the predominant; +but it is not the sole ingredient in his character. It has usurped +possession of his mind, but is assailed by his original passions, ambition +of power, and thirst for military fame. He is, therefore, +often, and it should seem naturally represented, as feeling for the +downfall of his glory and power, even so intensely as to withdraw +his thoughts from Cleopatra, unless considered as the cause of his +ruin. Thus, in the scene in which he compares himself to "black +Vesper's pageants," he runs on in a train of fantastic and melancholy +similes, having relation only to his fallen state, till the mention +of Egypt suddenly recalls the idea of Cleopatra. But Dryden has +taken a different view of Antony's character, and more closely approaching +to his title of "All for Love."—"He seems not now +that awful Antony." His whole thoughts and being are dedicated +to his fatal passion; and though a spark of resentment is occasionally +struck out by the reproaches of Ventidius, he instantly +relapses into love-sick melancholy. The following beautiful +speech exhibits the romance of despairing love, without the deep +<a class="pgnm" id="page_289" name="page_289"></a> +and mingled passion of a dishonoured soldier, and dethroned emperor:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Throwing himself down.</span>]<br /> +Lie there, thou shadow of an emperor;<br /> +The place, thou pressest on thy mother earth,<br /> +Is all thy empire now: Now, it contains thee;<br /> +Some few days hence, and then 'twill be too large,<br /> +When thou'rt contracted in the narrow urn,<br /> +Shrunk to a few cold ashes; then, Octavia,<br /> +For Cleopatra will not live to see it,<br /> +Octavia then will have thee all her own,<br /> +And bear thee in her widowed hand to Cæsar;<br /> +Cæsar will weep, the crocodile will weep,<br /> +To see his rival of the universe<br /> +Lie still and peaceful there. I'll think no more on't.<br /> +Give me some music; look that it be sad:<br /> +I'll sooth my melancholy, 'till I swell,<br /> +And burst myself with sighing—<span class="sdr">[Soft music.</span><br /> +'Tis somewhat to my humour: Stay, I fancy<br /> +I'm now turned wild, a commoner of nature;<br /> +Of all forsaken, and forsaking all;<br /> +Live in a shady forest's sylvan scene,<br /> +Stretched at my length beneath some blasted oak,<br /> +I lean my head upon the mossy bark,<br /> +And look just of a piece, as I grew from it:<br /> +My uncombed locks, matted like misletoe,<br /> +Hang o'er my hoary face; a murmuring brook<br /> +Runs at my foot.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ven.</span> Methinks I fancy<br /> +Myself there too.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> The herd come jumping by me,<br /> +And, fearless, quench their thirst, while I look on,<br /> +And take me for their fellow-citizen.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Even when Antony is finally ruined, the power of jealousy is +called upon to complete his despair, and he is less sensible to the +idea of Cæsar's successful arms, than to the risque of Dolabella's +rivalling him in the affections of Cleopatra. It is true, the +Antony of Shakespeare also starts into fury, upon Cleopatra permitting +Thyreus to kiss her hand; but this is not jealousy; it is +pride offended, that she, for whom he had sacrificed his glory and +empire, should already begin to court the favour of the conqueror, +and vouchsafe her hand to be saluted by a "jack of Cæsars." +Hence Enobarbus, the witness of the scene, alludes immediately to +the fury of mortified ambition and falling power:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>'Tis better playing with a lion's whelp,</p> +<p>Than with an old one dying—</p> +</div> + +<p>Having, however, adopted an idea of Antony's character, rather +suitable to romance than to nature, or history, we must not deny +<a class="pgnm" id="page_290" name="page_290"></a> +Dryden the praise of having exquisitely brought out the picture he +intended to draw. He has informed us, that this was the only +play written to please himself; and he has certainly exerted in it +the full force of his incomparable genius. Antony is throughout +the piece what the author meant him to be; a victim to the omnipotence +of love, or rather to the infatuation of one engrossing +passion<a class="ftnt" href="#All_1-1">[1]</a>.</p> + +<p>In the Cleopatra of Dryden, there is greatly less spirit and originality +than in Shakespeare's. The preparation of the latter for +death has a grandeur which puts to shame the same scene in Dryden, +and serves to support the interest during the whole fifth act, +although Antony has died in the conclusion of the fourth. No +circumstance can more highly evince the power of Shakespeare's +genius, in spite of his irregularities; since the conclusion in Dryden, +where both lovers die in the same scene, and after a reconciliation, +is infinitely more artful and better adapted to theatrical +effect.</p> + +<p>In the character of Ventidius, Dryden has filled up, with ability, +the rude sketches, which Shakespeare has thrown off in those +of Scæva and Eros. The rough old Roman soldier is painted with +great truth; and the quarrel betwixt him and Antony, in the +first act, is equal to any single scene that our author ever wrote, +excepting, perhaps, that betwixt Sebastian and Dorax; an opinion +in which the judgment of the critic coincides with that of the +poet. It is a pity, as has often been remarked, that this dialogue +occurs so early in the play, since what follows is necessarily inferior +in force. Dryden, while writing this scene, had unquestionably +in his recollection the quarrel betwixt Brutus and Cassius, +which was justly so great a favourite in his time, and to which he +had referred as inimitable in his prologue to "Aureng-Zebe.<a class="ftnt" href="#All_1-2">[2]</a>"</p> + +<p>The inferior characters are better supported in Dryden than in +<a class="pgnm" id="page_291" name="page_291"></a> +Shakespeare. We have no low buffoonery in the former, such as +disgraces Enobarbus, and is hardly redeemed by his affecting catastrophe. +Even the Egyptian Alexas acquires some respectability, +from his patriotic attachment to the interests of his country, +and from his skill as a wily courtier. He expresses, by a beautiful +image, the effeminate attachment to life, appropriated to his character and country:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>O, that I less could fear to lose this being,</p> +<p>Which, like a snow-ball in my coward hand,</p> +<p>The more 'tis grasped, the faster melts away.</p> +</div> + +<p>The Octavia of Dryden is a much more important personage +than in the "Antony and Cleopatra" of Shakespeare. She is, however, +more cold and unamiable; for, in the very short scenes in +which the Octavia of Shakespeare appears, she is placed in rather +an interesting point of view. But Dryden has himself informed +us, that he was apprehensive the justice of a wife's claim upon her +husband would draw the audience to her side, and lessen their interest +in the lover and the mistress. He seems accordingly to +have studiedly lowered the character of the injured Octavia, who, +in her conduct towards her husband, shews much duty and little +love; and plainly intimates, that her rectitude of conduct flows +from a due regard to her own reputation, rather than from attachment +to Antony's person, or sympathy with him in his misfortunes. +It happens, therefore, with Octavia, as with all other very +good selfish kind of people; we think it unnecessary to feel any +thing for her, as she is obviously capable of taking very good care +of herself. I must not omit, that her scolding scene with Cleopatra, +although anxiously justified by the author in the preface, +seems too coarse to be in character, and is a glaring exception to +the general good taste evinced throughout the rest of the piece.</p> + +<p>It would be too long a task to contrast the beauties of these +two great poets in point of diction and style. But the reader will +doubtless be pleased to compare the noted descriptions of the voyage +of Cleopatra down the Cydnus. It is thus given in Shakespeare:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne,</p> +<p>Burned on the water: The poop was beaten gold;</p> +<p>Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that</p> +<p>The winds were love-sick with them: The oars were silver;</p> +<p>Which, to the tune of flutes, kept stroke, and made</p> +<p>The water which they beat, to follow faster,</p> +<p>As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,</p> +<p>It beggared all description: she did lie</p> +<p>In her pavilion (cloth of gold, of tissue),</p> +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_292" name="page_292"></a> +O'er-picturing that Venus, where we see,</p> +<p>The fancy outwork nature; on each side her,</p> +<p>Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,</p> +<p>With diverse coloured fans, whose wind did seem</p> +<p>To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,</p> +<p>And what they undid, did.</p> +<p>Her gentlewomen, like the Nereids,</p> +<p>So many mermaids, tended her i' the eyes,</p> +<p>And made their bends adornings: At the helm</p> +<p>A seeming mermaid steers: The silken tackle</p> +<p>Swells with the touches of those flower-soft hands</p> +<p>That yarely frame the office. From the barge</p> +<p>A strange invisible perfume hits the sense</p> +<p>Of the adjacent wharfs. The city cast</p> +<p>Her people out upon her; and Antony,</p> +<p>Enthroned in the market-place, did sit alone,</p> +<p>Whistling to the air; which, but for vacancy,</p> +<p>Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too,</p> +<p>And made a gap in nature.</p> +<p class="citation"><i>Antony and Cleopatra</i>, Act i. Scene 2.</p> +</div> + +<p>The parallel passage in Dryden runs thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="dlg">The tackling silk, the streamers waved with gold,<br /> +The gentle winds were lodged in purple sails:<br /> +Her nymphs, like Nereids, round her couch were placed;<br /> +Where she, another sea-born Venus, lay,</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> No more: I would not hear it,</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O, you must!<br /> +She lay, and leant her cheek upon her hand,<br /> +And cast a look so languishingly sweet,<br /> +As if secure of all beholders hearts,<br /> +Neglecting she could take them: Boys, like Cupids,<br /> +Stood fanning, with their painted wings, the winds<br /> +That played about her face! But if she smiled,<br /> +A darting glory secured to blaze abroad:<br /> +That men's desiring eyes were never wearied,<br /> +But hung upon the object: To soft flutes<br /> +The silver oars kept time; and while they played,<br /> +The hearing gave new pleasure to the sight;<br /> +And both to thought. 'Twas heaven, or somewhat more;<br /> +For she so charmed all hearts, that gazing crowds<br /> +Stood panting on the shore, and wanted breath<br /> +To give their welcome voice.<br /> +Then, Dolabella, where was then thy soul?<br /> +Was not thy fury quite disarmed with murder?<br /> +Didst thou not shrink behind me from those eyes,<br /> +And whisper in my ear, Oh, tell her not<br /> +That I accused her of my brother's death?</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>In judging betwixt these celebrated passages, we feel almost +afraid to avow a preference of Dryden, founded partly upon the +easy flow of the verse, which seems to soften with the subject, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_293" name="page_293"></a> +but chiefly upon the beauty of the language and imagery, which +is flowery without diffusiveness, and rapturous without hyperbole. +I fear Shakespeare cannot be exculpated from the latter fault; +yet I am sensible, it is by sifting his beauties from his conceits +that his imitator has been enabled to excel him.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to bestow too much praise on the beautiful passages +which occur so frequently in "All for Love." Having already +given several examples of happy expression of melancholy +and tender feelings, I content myself with extracting the sublime +and terrific description of an omen presaging the downfall of +Egypt.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Last night, between the hours of twelve and one,<br /> +In a lone isle of the temple while I walked,<br /> +A whirlwind rose, that, with a violent blast,<br /> +Shook all the dome: The doors around me clapt;<br /> +The iron wicket, that defends the vault,<br /> +Where the long race of Ptolemies is laid,<br /> +Burst open, and disclosed the mighty dead.<br /> +From out each monument, in order placed,<br /> +An armed ghost starts up: The boy-king last<br /> +Reared his inglorious head. A peal of groans<br /> +Then followed, and a lamentable voice<br /> +Cried,—"Egypt is no more!" My blood ran back,<br /> +My shaking knees against each other knocked;<br /> +On the cold pavement down I fell entranced,<br /> +And so, unfinished, left the horrid scene.</p> +</div> + +<p>Having quoted so many passages of exquisite poetry, and having +set this play in no unequal opposition to that of Shakespeare, +it is, perhaps, unnecessary to mention by what other poets the +same subject has been treated. Daniel, Mary countess of Pembroke, +May, and Sir Charles Sedley, each produced a play on +the fortunes of Anthony. Of these pieces I have never read the +three former, and will assuredly never read the last a second +time<a class="ftnt" href="#All_1-3">[3]</a>.</p> + +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_294" name="page_294"></a> +"All for Love," as the most laboured performance of our author, +received the full tribute of applause and popularity which +had often graced his less perfect and more hurried performances. +Davies gives us the following account of its first representation.</p> + +<p>"In Dryden's "All for Love," Booth's dignified action and +forcible elocution, in the part of Antony, attracted the public to +that heavy, though, in many parts, well written play, six night's +successively, without the assistance of pantomime, or farce, +which, at that time, was esteemed something extraordinary.—But, +indeed, he was well supported by an Oldfield, in his Cleopatra, +who, to a most harmonious and powerful voice, and fine +person, added grace and elegance of gesture. When Booth and +Oldfield met in the second act, their dignity of deportment commanded +the applause and approbation of the most judicious critics. +When Antony said to Cleopatra,</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>You promised me your silence, and you break it</p> +<p>Ere I have scarce begun,—</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">this check was so well understood by Oldfield, and answered with +such propriety of behaviour, that, in Shakespeare's phrase; her +"bendings were adornings."</p> + +<p>"The elder Mills acted Ventidius with the true spirit of a rough +and generous old soldier. To render the play as acceptable to +the public as possible, Wilkes took the trifling part of Dolabella, +nor did Colley Cibber disdain to appear in Alexas. These parts +would scarcely be accepted now by third-rate actors. Still to +add more weight to the performance, Octavia was a short character +<a class="pgnm" id="page_295" name="page_295"></a> +of a scene or two, in which Mrs Porter drew not only respect, +but the more affecting approbation of tears from the audience. +Since that time, "All for Love" has gradually sunk into forgetfulness."</p> + +<p>If this last observation be true, it is, under Mr Davies' favour, a +striking illustration of the caprice of the public taste. The play +of "All for Love" was first acted and printed in 1678.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="All_1-1" name="All_1-1"></a>Dryden has himself, in the prologue, alluded to this predominance of sentiment +in his hero's character.<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>His hero, whom you wits his bully call,</p> +<p>Bates of his metal, and scarce rants at all;</p> +<p>He's somewhat lewd; but a well meaning mind,</p> +<p>Weeps much, fights little, but is wondrous kind.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="All_1-2" name="All_1-2"></a> +<div class="poem"> +<p>But, spite of all his pride, a secret shame</p> +<p>Invades his breast at Shakespeare's sacred name:</p> +<p>Awed, when he hears his god-like Romans rage,</p> +<p>He, in a just despair, would quit the stage,</p> +<p>And, to an age less polished, more unskilled,</p> +<p>Does, with disdain, the foremost honours yield.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="All_1-3" name="All_1-3"></a>Lest any reader should have anticipated better things of "Sedley's noble +muse," the Lisideius of our author's dialogue on dramatic poetry, I subjoin +a specimen, taken at hazard:<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Gape, hell, and to thy dismal bottom take</p> +<p>The lost Antonius; this was our last stake:</p> +<p>Warned by my ruin, let no Roman more,</p> +<p>Set foot on the inhospitable shore.</p> +<p>Cowards and traitors filled this impious land,</p> +<p>Faithless and fearful, without heart or hand,</p> +<p>Some ran to Cæsar, like a headlong tide,</p> +<p>The rest their fear made useless on our side.</p> +</div> + +<p>"This passion, with the death of a dear friend, would go nigh to make one +sad;" yet some of the authors of the day held a very different doctrine. +Shadwell, in his dedication to "A true Widow," tells Sedley, "You have +in that Mulberry Garden shewn the true wit, humour, and satire of a comedy; +and, in Antony and Cleopatra, the true spirit of a tragedy; the only one, +except two of Jonson's and one of Shakespeare's, wherein Romans are made +to speak and do like Romans. There are to be found the true characters of +Antony and Cleopatra, as they were; whereas a French author would have +made the Egyptian and Roman both become French under his pen. And +even our English authors are too much given to make history (in these plays) +romantic and impossible; but, in this play, the Romans are true Romans, +and their style is such; and I dare affirm, that there is not in any play of +this age so much of the spirit of the classic authors, as in your Antony and +Cleopatra." I cannot help suspecting that much of this hyperbolical praise +of Sedley was obliquely designed to mortify Dryden.</p></li> +</ol> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_296" name="page_296"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">TO +THE RIGHT HONOURABLE +THOMAS,<br /> +EARL OF DANBY, +VISCOUNT LATIMER, AND BARON OSBORNE OF +KIVETON IN YORKSHIRE;<br /> +LORD HIGH TREASURER OF ENGLAND, +ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY +COUNCIL, AND KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE +ORDER OF THE GARTER<a class="ftnt" href="#All_2-1">[1]</a>.</h3> + +<p class="noind smcap">My Lord,</p> + +<p>The gratitude of poets is so troublesome a virtue +to great men, that you are often in danger of your +own benefits: For you are threatened with some +epistle, and not suffered to do good in quiet, or to +<a class="pgnm" id="page_297" name="page_297"></a> +compound for their silence whom you have obliged. +Yet, I confess, I neither am or ought to be surprised +at this indulgence; for your lordship has the same +<a class="pgnm" id="page_298" name="page_298"></a> +right to favour poetry, which the great and noble +have ever had:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Carmen amat, quisquis carmine digna gerit.</p> +</div> + +<p>There is somewhat of a tie in nature betwixt +those who are born for worthy actions, and those +who can transmit them to posterity; and though +ours be much the inferior part, it comes at least +within the verge of alliance; nor are we unprofitable +members of the commonwealth, when we animate +others to those virtues, which we copy and +describe from you.</p> + +<p>It is indeed their interest, who endeavour the subversion +of governments, to discourage poets and historians; +for the best which can happen to them, is, to +be forgotten: But such who, under kings, are the +fathers of their country, and by a just and prudent +ordering of affairs preserve it, have the same reason +to cherish the chroniclers of their actions, as they +have to lay up in safety the deeds and evidences of +their estates; for such records are their undoubted +titles to the love and reverence of after-ages. Your +lordship's administration has already taken up a considerable +part of the English annals; and many of +its most happy years are owing to it. His majesty, +the most knowing judge of men, and the best master, +has acknowledged the ease and benefit he receives +in the incomes of his treasury, which you found +not only disordered, but exhausted. All things were +in the confusion of a chaos, without form or method +if not reduced beyond it, even to annihilation; +so that you had not only to separate the jarring elements, +but (if that boldness of expression might be +allowed me) to create them. Your enemies had so +embroiled the management of your office, that they +looked on your advancement as the instrument of +<a class="pgnm" id="page_299" name="page_299"></a> +your ruin. And as if the clogging of the revenue, +and the confusion of accounts, which you found in +your entrance, were not sufficient, they added their +own weight of malice to the public calamity, by +forestalling the credit which should cure it. Your +friends on the other side were only capable of pitying, +but not of aiding you; no farther help or counsel +was remaining to you, but what was founded on +yourself; and that indeed was your security; for +your diligence, your constancy, and your prudence, +wrought more surely within, when they were not +disturbed by any outward motion. The highest +virtue is best to be trusted with itself; for assistance +only can be given by a genius superior to that +which it assists; and it is the noblest kind of debt, +when we are only obliged to God and nature. This +then, my lord, is your just commendation, that you +have wrought out yourself a way to glory, by those +very means that were designed for your destruction: +You have not only restored, but advanced the revenues +of your master, without grievance to the +subject; and, as if that were little yet, the debts of +the exchequer, which lay heaviest both on the crown, +and on private persons, have by your conduct been +established in a certainty of satisfaction.<a class="ftnt" href="#All_2-2">[2]</a> An action +so much the more great and honourable, because +the case was without the ordinary relief of +laws; above the hopes of the afflicted, and beyond +the narrowness of the treasury to redress, had it +been managed by a less able hand. It is certainly +the happiest, and most unenvied part of all your +fortune, to do good to many, while you do injury +<a class="pgnm" id="page_300" name="page_300"></a> +to none; to receive at once the prayers of the subject, +and the praises of the prince; and, by the care +of your conduct, to give him means of exerting the +chiefest (if any be the chiefest) of his royal virtues, +his distributive justice to the deserving, and his +bounty and compassion to the wanting. The disposition +of princes towards their people cannot be +better discovered than in the choice of their ministers; +who, like the animal spirits betwixt the soul +and body, participate somewhat of both natures, +and make the communication which is betwixt them. +A king, who is just and moderate in his nature, who +rules according to the laws, whom God has made happy +by forming the temper of his soul to the constitution +of his government, and who makes us happy, +by assuming over us no other sovereignty than that +wherein our welfare and liberty consists; a prince, +I say, of so excellent a character, and so suitable +to the wishes of all good men, could not better have +conveyed himself into his people's apprehensions, than +in your lordship's person; who so lively express the +same virtues, that you seem not so much a copy, as +an emanation of him. Moderation is doubtless an +establishment of greatness; but there is a steadiness +of temper which is likewise requisite in a minister +of state; so equal a mixture of both virtues, +that he may stand like an isthmus betwixt the two +encroaching seas of arbitrary power, and lawless +anarchy. The undertaking would be difficult to any +but an extraordinary genius, to stand at the line, +and to divide the limits; to pay what is due to the +great representative of the nation, and neither to +enhance, nor to yield up, the undoubted prerogatives +of the crown. These, my lord, are the proper virtues +of a noble Englishman, as indeed they are +properly English virtues; no people in the world +being capable of using them, but we who have the +<a class="pgnm" id="page_301" name="page_301"></a> +happiness to be born under so equal, and so well +poised a government;—a government which has +all the advantages of liberty beyond a commonwealth, +and all the marks of kingly sovereignty, +without the danger of a tyranny. Both my nature, +as I am an Englishman, and my reason, as I am a +man, have bred in me a loathing to that specious +name of a republic; that mock appearance of a liberty, +where all who have not part in the government, +are slaves; and slaves they are of a viler +note, than such as are subjects to an absolute dominion. +For no Christian monarchy is so absolute, +but it is circumscribed with laws; but when the +executive power is in the law-makers, there is no +farther check upon them; and the people must suffer +without a remedy, because they are oppressed +by their representatives. If I must serve, the number +of my masters, who were born my equals, would +but add to the ignominy of my bondage. The nature +of our government, above all others, is exactly +suited both to the situation of our country, and the +temper of the natives; an island being more proper +for commerce and for defence, than for extending +its dominions on the Continent; for what the +valour of its inhabitants might gain, by reason of +its remoteness, and the casualties of the seas, it +could not so easily preserve: And, therefore, neither +the arbitrary power of One, in a monarchy, nor of +Many, in a commonwealth, could make us greater +than we are. It is true, that vaster and more frequent +taxes might be gathered, when the consent +of the people was not asked or needed; but this were +only by conquering abroad, to be poor at home; and +the examples of our neighbours teach us, that they +are not always the happiest subjects, whose kings extend +their dominions farthest. Since therefore we +cannot win by an offensive war, at least a land war, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_302" name="page_302"></a> +the model of our government seems naturally contrived +for the defensive part; and the consent of a +people is easily obtained to contribute to that power +which must protect it. <i>Felices nimium, bona si sua +nórint, Angligenæ!</i> And yet there are not wanting +malecontents amongst us, who, surfeiting themselves +on too much happiness, would persuade the +people that they might be happier by a change. It +was indeed the policy of their old forefather, when +himself was fallen from the station of glory, to seduce +mankind into the same rebellion with him, by +telling him he might yet be freer than he was; that +is, more free than his nature would allow, or, if I +may so say, than God could make him. We have +already all the liberty which free-born subjects can +enjoy, and all beyond it is but licence. But if it be +liberty of conscience which they pretend, the moderation +of our church is such, that its practice extends +not to the severity of persecution; and its +discipline is withal so easy, that it allows more freedom +to dissenters than any of the sects would allow +to it. In the mean time, what right can be +pretended by these men to attempt innovation in +church or state? Who made them the trustees, or, +to speak a little nearer their own language, the +keepers of the liberty of England? If their call be +extraordinary, let them convince us by working miracles; +for ordinary vocation they can have none, +to disturb the government under which they were +born, and which protects them. He who has often +changed his party, and always has made his interest +the rule of it, gives little evidence of his sincerity +for the public good; it is manifest he changes but +for himself, and takes the people for tools to work +his fortune. Yet the experience of all ages might +let him know, that they, who trouble the waters +first, have seldom the benefit of fishing; as they +<a class="pgnm" id="page_303" name="page_303"></a> +who began the late rebellion, enjoyed not the fruit +of their undertaking, but were crushed themselves +by the usurpation of their own instrument. Neither +is it enough for them to answer, that they only +intend a reformation of the government, but not +the subversion of it: on such pretence all insurrections +have been founded; it is striking at the +root of power, which is obedience. Every remonstrance +of private men has the seed of treason in it; +and discourses, which are couched in ambiguous +terms, are therefore the more dangerous, because +they do all the mischief of open sedition, yet are +safe from the punishment of the laws. These, my +lord, are considerations, which I should not pass so +lightly over, had I room to manage them as they +deserve; for no man can be so inconsiderable in a +nation, as not to have a share in the welfare of it; +and if he be a true Englishman, he must at the +same time be fired with indignation, and revenge +himself as he can on the disturbers of his country. +And to whom could I more fitly apply myself than +to your lordship, who have not only an inborn, but +an hereditary loyalty? The memorable constancy +and sufferings of your father, almost to the ruin of +his estate, for the royal cause, were an earnest of that, +which such a parent and such an institution would +produce in the person of a son. But so unhappy an +occasion of manifesting your own zeal, in suffering +for his present majesty, the providence of God, and +the prudence of your administration, will, I hope, +prevent; that, as your father's fortune waited on +the unhappiness of his sovereign, so your own may +participate of the better fate which attends his son. +The relation, which you have by alliance to the +noble family of your lady, serves to confirm to you +both this happy augury. For what can deserve a +greater place in the English chronicle, than the +<a class="pgnm" id="page_304" name="page_304"></a> +loyalty and courage, the actions and death, of the +general of an army, fighting for his prince and country? +The honour and gallantry of the earl of Lindsey +is so illustrious a subject, that it is fit to adorn +an heroic poem; for he was the proto-martyr of the +cause, and the type of his unfortunate royal master<a class="ftnt" href="#All_2-3">[3]</a>.</p> + +<p>Yet after all, my lord, if I may speak my thoughts, +you are happy rather to us than to yourself; for the +multiplicity, the cares, and the vexations of your +employment, have betrayed you from yourself, and +given you up into the possession of the public. +You are robbed of your privacy and friends, and +scarce any hour of your life you can call your own. +Those, who envy your fortune, if they wanted not +good-nature, might more justly pity it; and when +they see you watched by a crowd of suitors, whose +importunity it is impossible to avoid, would conclude, +with reason, that you have lost much more +in true content, than you have gained by dignity; +and that a private gentleman is better attended by +a single servant, than your lordship with so clamorous +a train. Pardon me, my lord, if I speak like a +philosopher on this subject; the fortune, which +makes a man uneasy, cannot make him happy; and +a wise man must think himself uneasy, when few +of his actions are in his choice.</p> + +<p><a class="pgnm" id="page_305" name="page_305"></a> +This last consideration has brought me to another, +and a very seasonable one for your relief; +which is, that while I pity your want of leisure, I +have impertinently detained you so long a time. I +have put off my own business, which was my dedication, +till it is so late, that I am now ashamed to +begin it; and therefore I will say nothing of the +poem, which I present to you, because I know not +if you are like to have an hour, which, with a good +conscience, you may throw away in perusing it; +and for the author, I have only to beg the continuance +of your protection to him, who is,</p> + +<p class="sig i1">My Lord,</p> +<p class="sig i2">Your Lordship's most obliged,</p> +<p class="sig i3">Most humble, and</p> +<p class="sig i4">Most obedient, servant,</p> +<p class="sig i5 smcap">John Dryden.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="All_2-1" name="All_2-1"></a><p>The person, to whom these high titles now belonged, was Sir +Thomas Osburne, a Baronet of good family, and decayed estate; +part of which had been lost in the royal cause. He was of a bold +undaunted character, and stood high for the prerogative. Hence +he was thought worthy of being sworn into the Privy Council +during the administration of the famous CABAL; and when that +was dissolved by the secession of Shaftesbury and the resignation +of Clifford, he was judged a proper person to succeed the latter +as Lord High Treasurer. He was created Earl of Danby, and +was supposed to be deeply engaged in the attempt to new-model +our Constitution on a more arbitrary plan; having been even heard +to say, when sitting in judgment, that a new proclamation from +the Crown was superior to an old act of Parliament. Nevertheless, +he was persecuted as well by the faction of the Duke of York, to +whom he was odious for having officiously introduced the famous Popish +plot to the consideration of parliament, as by the popular party, +who hated him as a favourite minister. Accordingly, in 1678, he was +impeached by a vote of the House of Commons, and in consequence, +notwithstanding the countenance of the King, was deprived of all +his offices, and finally committed to the tower, where he remained for +four years. Sir John Reresby has these reflections on Lord Danby's +greatness and sudden fall: "It was but a few months before, that +few things were transacted at court, but with the privity or consent +of this great man; the King's brother, and favourite mistress, +were glad to be fair with him, and the general address of all men +of business was to him, who was not only treasurer, but prime +minister also, who not only kept the purse, but was the first, and +greatest confident in all affairs of state. But now he is neglected +of all, forced to hide his head as a criminal, and in danger of losing +all he has got, and his life therewith: His family, raised from privacy +to the degree of Marquis, (a patent was then actually passing +to invest him with that dignity) is now on the brink of falling below +the humble stand of a yeoman; nor would almost the meanest +subject change conditions with him now, whom so very lately the +greatest beheld with envy." <i>Memoirs</i>, p. 85.</p> + +<p>As he was obnoxious to all parties, Lord Danby would probably +have been made a sacrifice, had not the disturbances, which +arose from the various plots of the time, turned the attention of +his enemies to other subjects. He was liberated in 1683-4, survived +the Revolution, was created Duke of Leeds, and died in 1712. +His character was of the most decided kind; he was fertile in expedients +and had always something new to substitute for those which +failed; a faculty highly acceptable to Charles, who loved to be relieved +even were it but in idea, from the labour of business, and the +pressure of difficulty. In other points, he was probably not very +scrupulous, since even Dryden found cause to say at length, that<br /><br /></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Danby's matchless impudence</p> +<p>Helped to support the knave.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="All_2-2" name="All_2-2"></a>This alludes to the stop of payments in exchequer, in 1671-2; +a desperate measure recommended by Clifford, to secure money for +the war against Holland.</li> + +<li><a id="All_2-3" name="All_2-3"></a>The Earl of Lindsey was general in chief for King Charles I. +at the breaking out of the civil war. As an evil omen of the royal +cause, he was mortally wounded and made prisoner at the battle +of Edgehill, the very first which was fought betwixt the king and +parliament. Clarendon says, "He had very many friends, and +very few enemies, and died generally lamented." His son Montague +Bertie, Earl of Lindsey, was a sufferer in the same cause. +Lord Danby was married to the Lady Bridget, the second daughter +of that nobleman.</li> +</ol> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_306" name="page_306"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">PREFACE.</h3> + +<p>The death of Antony and Cleopatra is a subject +which has been treated by the greatest wits of +our nation, after Shakespeare; and by all so variously, +that their example has given me the confidence +to try myself in this bow of Ulysses amongst the +crowd of shooters; and, withal, to take my own +measures, in aiming at the mark. I doubt not but +the same motive has prevailed with all of us in this +attempt; I mean the excellency of the moral: For +the chief persons represented, were famous patterns +of unlawful love; and their end accordingly was unfortunate. +All reasonable men have long since concluded, +that the hero of the poem ought not to be +a character of perfect virtue, for then he could not, +without injustice, be made unhappy; nor yet altogether +wicked, because he could not then be pitied. +I have therefore steered the middle course; and have +drawn the character of Antony as favourably as +Plutarch, Appian, and Dion Cassius would give me +leave; the like I have observed in Cleopatra. That +which is wanting to work up the pity to a greater +heighth, was not afforded me by the story; for the +crimes of love, which they both committed, were +not occasioned by any necessity, or fatal ignorance, +but were wholly voluntary; since our passions are, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_307" name="page_307"></a> +or ought to be, within our power. The fabric of +the play is regular enough, as to the inferior parts +of it; and the unities of time, place, and action, +more exactly observed, than perhaps the English +theatre requires. Particularly, the action is so much +one, that it is the only of the kind without episode, +or underplot; every scene in the tragedy conducing +to the main design, and every act concluding with +a turn of it. The greatest error in the contrivance +seems to be in the person of Octavia; for, though +I might use the privilege of a poet, to introduce her +into Alexandria, yet I had not enough considered, +that the compassion she moved to herself and children, +was destructive to that which I reserved for +Antony and Cleopatra; whose mutual love being +founded upon vice, must lessen the favour of the +audience to them, when virtue and innocence were +oppressed by it. And, though I justified Antony in +some measure, by making Octavia's departure to +proceed wholly from herself; yet the force of the +first machine still remained; and the dividing of +pity, like the cutting of a river into many channels, +abated the strength of the natural stream. But this +is an objection which none of my critics have urged +against me; and therefore I might have let it pass, +if I could have resolved to have been partial to myself. +The faults my enemies have found, are rather +cavils concerning little and not essential decencies; +which a master of the ceremonies may decide betwixt +us. The French poets, I confess, are strict observers +of these punctilios: They would not, for example, +have suffered Cleopatra and Octavia to have met; or, +if they had met, there must have only passed betwixt +them some cold civilities, but no eagerness of repartee, +for fear of offending against the greatness +of their characters, and the modesty of their sex. +This objection I foresaw, and at the same time contemned; +<a class="pgnm" id="page_308" name="page_308"></a> +for I judged it both natural and probable, +that Octavia, proud of her new-gained conquest, +would search out Cleopatra to triumph over her; +and that Cleopatra thus attacked, was not of a spirit +to shun the encounter: And it is not unlikely, +that two exasperated rivals should use such satire as +I have put into their mouths; for, after all, though +the one were a Roman, and the other a queen, they +were both women. It is true, some actions, though +natural, are not fit to be represented; and broad obscenities +in words, ought in good manners to be +avoided: expressions therefore are a modest clothing +of our thoughts, as breeches and petticoats are +of our bodies. If I have kept myself within the +bounds of modesty, all beyond it is but nicety and +affectation; which is no more but modesty depraved +into a vice. They betray themselves, who are too +quick of apprehension in such cases, and leave all +reasonable men to imagine worse of them, than of +the poet.</p> + +<p>Honest Montaigne goes yet farther: <i>Nous ne +sommes que ceremonie; la ceremonie nous emporte, et +laissons la substance des choses: Nous nous tenons aux +branches, et abandonnons le tronc et le corps. Nous +avons appris aux dames de rougir, oyans seulement +nommer ce qu'elles ne craignent aucunement à faire; +Nous n'esons appeller à droict nos membres, et ne craignons +pas de les employer à toute sorte de debauche. La +ceremonie nous defend d'exprimer par paroles les choses +licites et naturelles, et nous l'en croyons; la raison nous +defend de n'en faire point d'illicites et mauvaises, et +personne ne l'en croit.</i> My comfort is, that by this +opinion my enemies are but sucking critics, who +would fain be nibbling ere their teeth are come.</p> + +<p>Yet, in this nicety of manners does the excellency +of French poetry consist. Their heroes are the +most civil people breathing; but their good breeding +<a class="pgnm" id="page_309" name="page_309"></a> +seldom extends to a word of sense; all their +wit is in their ceremony; they want the genius +which animates our stage; and therefore it is but +necessary, when they cannot please, that they should +take care not to offend. But as the civillest man +in the company is commonly the dullest, so these +authors, while they are afraid to make you laugh or +cry, out of pure good manners, make you sleep. +They are so careful not to exasperate a critic, that +they never leave him any work; so busy with the +broom, and make so clean a riddance, that there is +little left either for censure or for praise: For no +part of a poem is worth our discommending, where +the whole is insipid; as when we have once tasted +of palled wine, we stay not to examine it glass by +glass. But while they affect to shine in trifles, they +are often careless in essentials. Thus, their Hippolitus +is so scrupulous in point of decency, that he +will rather expose himself to death, than accuse his +step-mother to his father; and my critics I am sure +will commend him for it: But we of grosser apprehensions +are apt to think, that this excess of generosity +is not practicable, but with fools and madmen. +This was good manners with a vengeance; +and the audience is like to be much concerned at +the misfortunes of this admirable hero. But take +Hippolitus out of his poetic fit, and I suppose he +would think it a wiser part, to set the saddle on the +right horse, and chuse rather to live with the reputation +of a plain-spoken honest man, than to die +with the infamy of an incestuous villain.<a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-1">[1]</a> In the +<a class="pgnm" id="page_310" name="page_310"></a> +mean time we may take notice, that where the poet +ought to have preserved the character as it was delivered +to us by antiquity, when he should have +given us the picture of a rough young man, of the +Amazonian strain, a jolly huntsman, and both by +his profession and his early rising a mortal enemy +to love, he has chosen to give him the turn of gallantry +sent him to travel from Athens to Paris, +taught him to make love, and transformed the Hippolitus +of Euripides into Monsieur Hippolite. I should +not have troubled myself thus far with French poets, +but that I find our <i>Chedreux</i><a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-2">[2]</a> critics wholly form +<a class="pgnm" id="page_311" name="page_311"></a> +their judgments by them. But for my part, I desire +to be tried by the laws of my own country; for +it seems unjust to me, that the French should prescribe +here, till they have conquered. Our little +sonetteers, who follow them, have too narrow souls +to judge of poetry. Poets themselves are the most +proper, though I conclude not the only critics. But +till some genius, as universal as Aristotle, shall arise, +one who can penetrate into all arts and sciences, +without the practice of them, I shall think it reasonable +that the judgment of an artificer in his own +art should be preferable to the opinion of another +man; at least where he is not bribed by interest, +or prejudiced by malice. And this, I suppose, is manifest +by plain inductions: For, first, the crowd cannot +be presumed to have more than a gross instinct, +of what pleases or displeases them: Every man will +grant me this; but then, by a particular kindness +to himself, he draws his own stake first, and will be +distinguished from the multitude, of which other +men may think him one. But, if I come closer to +those who are allowed for witty men, either by the +advantage of their quality, or by common fame, +and affirm that neither are they qualified to decide +sovereignly concerning poetry, I shall yet have a +strong party of my opinion; for most of them severally +will exclude the rest, either from the number +<a class="pgnm" id="page_312" name="page_312"></a> +of witty men, or at least of able judges. But here +again they are all indulgent to themselves; and +every one who believes himself a wit, that is, every +man, will pretend at the same time to a right judgeing. +But to press it yet farther, there are many +witty men, but few poets; neither have all poets a +taste of tragedy. And this is the rock on which they +are daily splitting. Poetry, which is a picture of nature, +must generally please; but it is not to be understood +that all parts of it must please every man; therefore +is not tragedy to be judged by a witty man, whose +taste is only confined to comedy. Nor is every man +who loves tragedy, a sufficient judge of it; he must +understand the excellencies of it too, or he will +only prove a blind admirer, not a critic. From hence +it comes that so many satires on poets, and censures +of their writings, fly abroad. Men of pleasant conversation, +(at least esteemed so) and endued with a +trifling kind of fancy, perhaps helped out with +some smattering of Latin, are ambitious to distinguish +themselves from the herd of gentlemen, +by their poetry;</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Rarus enim fermè; sensus communis in illâ</p> +<p>Fortunâ.</p> +</div> + +<p>And is not this a wretched affectation, not to be +contented with what fortune has done for them, and +sit down quietly with their estates, but they must +call their wits in question, and needlessly expose +their nakedness to public view? Not considering +that they are not to expect the same approbation +from sober men, which they have found from their +flatterers after the third bottle. If a little glittering +in discourse has passed them on us for witty men, +where was the necessity of undeceiving the world? +Would a man who has an ill title to an estate, but +<a class="pgnm" id="page_313" name="page_313"></a> +yet is in possession of it; would he bring it of his +own accord, to be tried at Westminster? We who +write, if we want the talent, yet have the excuse +that we do it for a poor subsistence; but what can +be urged in their defence, who, not having the vocation +of poverty to scribble, out of mere wantonness +take pains to make themselves ridiculous? Horace +was certainly in the right, where he said, "That +no man is satisfied with his own condition." A poet +is not pleased, because he is not rich; and the rich +are discontented, because the poets will not admit +them of their number. Thus the case is hard with +writers: If they succeed not, they must starve; and +if they do, some malicious satire is prepared to level +them, for daring to please without their leave. But +while they are so eager to destroy the fame of others, +their ambition is manifest in their concernment; +some poem of their own is to lie produced, and the +slaves are to be laid flat with their faces on the +ground, that the monarch may appear in the greater +majesty<a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-3">[3]</a>.</p> + +<p>Dionysius and Nero had the same longing, but with +all their power they could never bring their business +well about. 'Tis true, they proclaimed themselves +poets by sound of trumpet; and poets they were, upon +<a class="pgnm" id="page_314" name="page_314"></a> +pain of death to any man who durst call them otherwise. +The audience had a fine time on't, you may +imagine; they sat in a bodily fear, and looked as +demurely as they could: for it was a hanging matter +to laugh unseasonably; and the tyrants were suspicious, +as they had reason, that their subjects had them +in the wind; so, every man, in his own defence, set +as good a face upon the business as he could. It was +known before-hand that the monarchs were to be +crowned laureats; but when the show was over, +and an honest man was suffered to depart quietly, +he took out his laughter which he had stifled; with +a firm resolution never more to see an emperor's +play, though he had been ten years a making it. In +the mean time the true poets were they who made +the best markets, for they had wit enough to yield +the prize with a good grace, and not contend with +him who had thirty legions<a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-4">[4]</a>. They were sure to +be rewarded, if they confessed themselves bad writers, +and that was somewhat better than to be martyrs +for their reputation. Lucan's example was enough +to teach them manners; and after he was put to +death, for overcoming Nero, the emperor carried it +without dispute for the best poet in his dominions. +No man was ambitious of that grinning honour; +for if he heard the malicious trumpeter proclaiming +his name before his betters, he knew there was but +one way with him. Mecænas took another course, +and we know he was more than a great man, for +he was witty too: But finding himself far gone in +poetry, which Seneca assures us was not his talent, +<a class="pgnm" id="page_315" name="page_315"></a> +he thought it his best way to be well with Virgil +and with Horace; that at least he might be a poet +at the second hand; and we see how happily it has +succeeded with him; for his own bad poetry is forgotten, +and their panegyricks of him still remain. +But they who should be our patrons, are for no such +expensive ways to fame; they have much of the +poetry of Mecænas, but little of his liberality. They +are for persecuting Horace and Virgil, in the persons +of their successors; for such is every man, who has +any part of their soul and fire, though in a less degree. +Some of their little zanies yet go farther; +for they are persecutors even of Horace himself; as +far as they are able, by their ignorant and vile imitations +of him; by making an unjust use of his authority +and turning his artillery against his friends. +But how would he disdain to be copied by such +hands! I dare answer for him, he would be more +uneasy in their company, than he was with Crispinus, +their forefather, in the Holy Way; and would no +more have allowed them a place amongst the critics, +than he would Demetrius the mimic, and Tigellius +the buffoon;</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Demetri, teque, Tigelli,</p> +<p>Discipulorum inter jubeo plorare cathedras.</p> +</div> + +<p>With what scorn would he look down on such miserable +translators, who make doggrel of his Latin, +mistake his meaning, mis-apply his censures, and +often contradict their own? He is fixed as a landmark +to set out the bounds of poetry:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Saxum antiquum, ingens,—</p> +<p>Limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis.</p> +</div> + +<p>But other arms than theirs, and other sinews +are required, to raise the weight of such an author; +<a class="pgnm" id="page_316" name="page_316"></a> +and when they would toss him against their +enemies,</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Genua labant, gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis.</p> +<p>Tum lapis ipse, viri vacuum per inane volutus,</p> +<p>Nec spatium evasit totum, nec pertulit ictum<a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-5">[5]</a>.</p> +</div> + +<p>For my part, I would wish no other revenge, either +for myself, or the rest of the poets, from this rhyming +judge of the twelve-penny gallery, this legitimate +son of Sternhold, than that he would subscribe +his name to his censure, or (not to tax him beyond +his learning) set his mark: For, should he own himself +publicly, and come from behind the lion's skin, +they, whom he condemns, would be thankful to him, +they, whom he praises, would chuse to be condemned; +and the magistrates, whom he has elected, would +modestly withdraw from their employment, to avoid +the scandal of his nomination<a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-6">[6]</a>. The sharpness of +<a class="pgnm" id="page_317" name="page_317"></a> +his satire, next to himself, falls most heavily on his +friends, and they ought never to forgive him for +commending them perpetually the wrong way, and +sometimes by contraries. If he have a friend, whose +hastiness in writing is his greatest fault, Horace +would have taught him to have minced the matter, +and to have called it readiness of thought, and a +flowing fancy; for friendship will allow a man to +christen an imperfection by the name of some neighbour +virtue;</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Vellem in amicitiâ sic erraremus; et isti</p> +<p>Errori nomen virtus posuisset honestum.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind">But he would never have allowed him to have called +a slow man hasty, or a hasty writer a slow drudge<a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-7">[7]</a>, +as Juvenal explains it:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Canibus pigris, scabieque vetustâ</p> +<p>Lævibus, et siccæ lambentibus ora lucernæ,</p> +<p>Nomen erit, Pardus, Tygris, Leo; si quid adhuc est</p> +<p>Quod fremit in terris violentius<a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-8">[8]</a>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="noind"><a class="pgnm" id="page_318" name="page_318"></a> +Yet Lucretius laughs at a foolish lover, even for excusing +the imperfections of his mistress:</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>Nigra +<span class="Greek" title="melichroos"> +μελιχροος +</span> +est, immunda et fœtida +<span class="Greek" title="akosmos"> +ακοσμος +</span>.</p> +<p>Balba loqui non quit, +<span class="Greek" title="traulizei"> +τραυλιζει +</span>; +muta pudens est, &c.</p> +</div> + +<p>But to drive it <i>ad Æthiopem cygnum</i> is not to be +endured. I leave him to interpret this by the benefit +of his French version on the other side, and +without farther considering him, than I have the +rest of my illiterate censors, whom I have disdained +to answer, because they are not qualified for +judges. It remains that I acquaint the reader, that +I have endeavoured in this play to follow the practice +of the ancients, who, as Mr Rymer has judiciously +observed, are and ought to be our masters<a class="ftnt" href="#All_3-9">[9]</a>. +Horace likewise gives it for a rule in his art of +poetry.</p> + +<div class="poem pi"> +<p>—Vos exemplaria Græca</p> +<p>Nocturnâ versate manu, versate diurnâ.</p> +</div> + +<p>Yet, though their models are regular, they are +too little for English tragedy; which requires to +be built in a larger compass. I could give an instance +in the "Oedipus Tyrannus," which was the +master piece of Sophocles; but I reserve it for a +<a class="pgnm" id="page_319" name="page_319"></a> +more fit occasion, which I hope to have hereafter. +In my style, I have professed to imitate +the divine Shakespeare; which that I might perform +more freely, I have disincumbered myself +from rhyme. Not that I condemn my former +way, but that this is more proper to my present +purpose. I hope I need not to explain myself, +that I have not copied my author servilely: Words +and phrases must of necessity receive a change in +succeeding ages; but it is almost a miracle that much +of his language remains so pure; and that he who +began dramatic poetry amongst us, untaught by +any, and, as Ben Jonson tells us, without learning, +should by the force of his own genius perform so +much, that in a manner he has left no praise for any +who come after him. The occasion is fair, and the +subject would be pleasant to handle the difference +of styles betwixt him and Fletcher, and wherein, +and how far they are both to be imitated. But +since I must not be over-confident of my own performance +after him, it will be prudence in me to +be silent. Yet, I hope, I may affirm, and without +vanity, that, by imitating him, I have excelled myself +throughout the play; and particularly, that I +prefer the scene betwixt Antony and Ventidius in +the first act, to any thing which I have written in +this kind.</p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="All_3-1" name="All_3-1"></a>That the reader may himself judge of the justice of Dryden's +censure, I subjoin the argument on this knotty point, as it is +stated by Hippolytus and his mistress in the 5th act of the "Phedre" +of Racine.<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p class="i6"><b>Aricie.</b></p> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p>Quoi vous pouvés vous taire en ce peril extreme?</p> +<p>Vous laissés dans l'erreur un pere qui vous uime?</p> +<p>Cruel, si de mes pleurs meprisant le pouvoir,</p> +<p>Vous consentéz sans peine a ne me plus revoir,</p> +<p>Partes, separés vous de la triste Aricie,</p> +<p>Mais du moins en partaut assurés votre vie.</p> +<p>Defendés votre honneur d' un reproche honteux,</p> +<p>Et forcés votre pere a revoquer ses væux;</p> +<p>Il en est tems encore. Pourguoi, par quel caprice,</p> +<p>Laissés vous le champ libre a votre accusatrice?</p> +<p>Ecclaircissés Thesée.<br /><br /></p> +</div> + +<p class="i6"><b>Hippolyte.</b></p> + +<div class="stanza pi"> +<p class="i9">Hé que nai-je point dit?</p> +<p>Ai-je du mettre au jour l'opprobre de son lit?</p> +<p>Devois-je en lui faisant un recit trop sincere,</p> +<p>D'un indigne rougeur couvrir le front d'un pere?</p> +<p>Vous seul avés percé ce mystere odieux,</p> +<p>Mon cœur pour s'epancher, n'a que vous et les dieux:</p> +<p>Je n'ai pu vous cacher, jugés si je vous aime,</p> +<p>Tout ce que je voulois me cacher a moi-meme.</p> +<p>Mais songés sous quel sceau je vous l'ai révélé;</p> +<p>Oubliés, si se peut, que je vous ai parlé,</p> +<p>Madame; et que jamais une bouche si pure</p> +<p>Ne s'ouvre pour conter cette horrible avanture.</p> +<p>Sur l'equité des dieux osons nous confier,</p> +<p>Ils ont trop d'interet a me justifier,</p> +<p>Et Phédre tot ou tard de son crime punie,</p> +<p>N'en saúroit eviter la juste ignominié.</p> +</div> +</div></li> + +<li><a id="All_3-2" name="All_3-2"></a><i>Chedreux</i> was the name of the fashionable periwigs of the +day, and appears to have been derived from their maker. A +French <i>peruqirier</i>, in one of Shadwell's comedies, says, "You +talke of de Chedreux; he is no bodie to me. Dere is no man can +travaille vis mee. Monsieur Wildish has got my peruke on his +head. Let me see, here is de haire, de curie, de brucle, ver +good, ver good. If dat foole Chedreux make de peruke like me, +I vil be hanga." Bury Fair, Act I. Scene II. It appears from +the letter of the literary veteran in the Gentleman's Magazine for +1745, that our author, as he advanced in reputation, assumed +the fashionable <i>Chedreux</i> periwig.</li> + +<li><a id="All_3-3" name="All_3-3"></a>This passage though, doubtless applicable to many of the men +of rank at the court of Charles II., was particularly levelled +at Lord Rochester with whom our author was now on bad +terms. It is hardly fair to enquire how far this description of the +discourse and talents of a person of wit and honour agrees with +that given in the dedication to Marriage a-la-Mode, when, in +compliment to the same nobleman, we are told, that, "Wit seems +to have lodged itself more nobly in this age, than in any of the +former; and that his lordship had but another step to make, +from the patron of wit, to become its tyrant." This last observation +seems to have been made in the spirit of prophecy.</li> + +<li><a id="All_3-4" name="All_3-4"></a>Such is said to have been the answer of a philosopher to a +friend, who upbraided him with giving up a dispute to the Emperor +Adrian.</li> + +<li><a id="All_3-5" name="All_3-5"></a>This passage alludes to an imitation of Horace, quaintly entitled +an "Allusion to the Tenth Satire of his First Book" which was the +production of Rochester. As however it appeared without a name, +it may have been for a time imputed to some of the inferior wits, +whom his Lordship patronized. It contains a warm attack on +Dryden, part of which has been already quoted. Dryden probably +knew the real author of this satire, although he chose to impute +it to one of the "Zanies" of the great. At least it seems +unlikely that he should take Crown for the author, as has been supposed +by Mr Malone; for in the imitation we have these lines:<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>For by that rule I might as well admit</p> +<p>Crown's heavy scenes for poetry and wit.</p> +</div> + +<p>Crown could hardly be charged as author of a poem, in which +this sarcasm occurred.</p></li> + +<li><a id="All_3-6" name="All_3-6"></a>Alluding probably to the concluding lines of the Satire.<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>I loath the rabble; 'tis enough for me</p> +<p>If Sedley, Shadwell, Shepherd, Wycherley,</p> +<p>Godolphin, Butler, Buckhurst, Buckingham,</p> +<p>And some few more whom I omit to name,</p> +<p>Approve my sense; I count their censure fame.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="All_3-7" name="All_3-7"></a>Dryden alludes to the censure past on himself, where it is +said,<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Five hundred verses in a morning writ.</p> +<p>Prove him no more a poet than a wit.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="All_3-8" name="All_3-8"></a>This refers to the characters of Shadwell and Wycherley, which +according to Dryden, the satirist seems to have misunderstood.<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Of all our modern wits, none seems to me</p> +<p>Once to have touched upon true comedy,</p> +<p>But hasty Shadwell and slow Wycherley;</p> +<p>Shadwell's unfinished works do yet impart</p> +<p>Great proofs of force of nature, none of art.</p> +<p>With just bold strokes he dashes here and there,</p> +<p>Shewing great mastery with little care;</p> +<p>But Wycherley earns hard whate'er he gains,</p> +<p>He wants no judgment, and he spares no pains;</p> +<p>He frequently excels, and, at the least,</p> +<p>Makes fewer faults than any of the rest.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="All_3-9" name="All_3-9"></a>"I have chiefly considered the fable, or plot, which all conclude +to be the soul of a tragedy, which, with the ancients, is all +ways to be found a reasonable soul, but with us, for the most +part, a brutish, and often worse than brutish. + +<p>"And certainly there is not required much learning, or that a +man must be some Aristotle and doctor of subtilties, to form a +right judgement in this particular; common sense suffices; and +rarely have I known women-judges mistaken in these points, where +they have patience to think; and left to their own heads, they decide +with their own sense. But if people are prepossessed, if they +will judge of Rollo by Othello, and one crooked line by another, +we can never have a certainty."</p> + +<p>The tragedies of the last age considered, in a letter to Fleetwood +Shepherd, by Thomas Rymer, Edit. 1678, p. 4.</p></li> +</ol> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_321" name="page_321"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">PROLOGUE.</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>What flocks of critics hover here to-day,</p> +<p>As vultures wait on armies for their prey,</p> +<p>All gaping for the carcase of a play!</p> +<p>With croaking notes they bode some dire event,</p> +<p>And follow dying poets by the scent.</p> +<p>Ours gives himself for gone; you've watched your time:</p> +<p>He fights this day unarmed,—without his rhyme;—</p> +<p>And brings a tale which often has been told;</p> +<p>As sad as Dido's; and almost as old.</p> +<p>His hero, whom you wits his bully call,</p> +<p>Bates of his mettle, and scarce rants at all:</p> +<p>He's somewhat lewd; but a well-meaning mind;</p> +<p>Weeps much; fights little; but is wond'rous kind.</p> +<p>In short, a pattern, and companion fit,</p> +<p>For all the keeping tonies of the pit.</p> +<p>I could name more: a wife, and mistress too;</p> +<p>Both (to be plain) too good for most of you:</p> +<p>The wife well-natured, and the mistress true.</p> +<p> Now, poets, if your fame has been his care,</p> +<p>Allow him all the candour you can spare.</p> +<p>A brave man scorns to quarrel once a-day;</p> +<p>Like Hectors, in at every petty fray.</p> +<p>Let those find fault whose wit's so very small,</p> +<p>They've need to show that they can think at all;</p> +<p>Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;</p> +<p>He who would search for pearls, must dive below.</p> +<p>Fops may have leave to level all they can;</p> +<p>As pigmies would be glad to lop a man.</p> +<p>Half-wits are fleas; so little and so light,</p> +<p>We scarce could know they live, but that they bite.</p> +<p>But, as the rich, when tired with daily feasts,</p> +<p>For change, become their next poor tenant's guests;</p> +<p>Drink hearty draughts of ale from plain brown bowls,</p> +<p>And snatch the homely rasher from the coals:</p> +<p>So you, retiring from much better cheer,</p> +<p>For once, may venture to do penance here.</p> +<p>And since that plenteous autumn now is past,</p> +<p>Whose grapes and peaches have indulged your taste,</p> +<p>Take in good part, from our poor poet's board,</p> +<p>Such rivelled fruits as winter can afford.</p> +</div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_322" name="page_322"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.</h3> + + +<p class="noind"><span class="smcap">Mark Antony.</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Ventidius,</span> <i>His General.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Dolabella,</span> <i>his Friend.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Alexas,</span> <i>the Queen's Eunuch.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Serapion,</span> <i>Priest of Isis.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Myris,</span> <i>another Priest.</i><br /> +<i>Servants to</i> <span class="">Antony.</span></p> + +<p class="noind" style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span class="smcap">Cleopatra,</span> <i>Queen of Ægypt.</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Octavia, Antony's</span> <i>Wife.</i></p> +<table class="dpgrp" summary="Charmion and Iras"> +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">Charmion,<br /> +Iras,</span></td> +<td>}<br /> +}</td> +<td><span class="smcap">Cleopatra's</span> <i>Maids.</i></td> +</tr> +</table> +<p class="noind" style="margin-top: 0;"><span class="smcap">Antony's</span> <i>two little Daughters.</i></p> + +<p>SCENE.—<i>Alexandria.</i></p> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_323" name="page_323"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">ALL FOR LOVE;</h3> +<p class="ctr">OR, THE</p> +<h3 class="nomarg">WORLD WELL LOST.</h3> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT I.<br /> +SCENE I.—<i>The Temple of</i> <span class="smcap">Isis.</span></h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Serapion, Myris,</span> Priests of <span class="cnm">Isis.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ser.</span> Portents and prodigies have grown so frequent,<br /> +That they have lost their name. Our fruitful Nile<br /> +Flowed ere the wonted season, with a torrent<br /> +So unexpected, and so wondrous fierce,<br /> +That the wild deluge overtook the haste<br /> +Even of the hinds that watched it: Men and beasts<br /> +Were borne above the tops of trees, that grew<br /> +On the utmost margin of the water-mark.<br /> +Then, with so swift an ebb the flood drove backward,<br /> +It slipt from underneath the scaly herd:<br /> +Here monstrous phocæ; panted on the shore;<br /> +Forsaken dolphins there, with their broad tails<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_324" name="page_324"></a> +Lay lashing the departing waves: hard by them,<br /> +Sea-horses floundring in the slimy mud,<br /> +Tossed up their heads, and dashed the ooze about them.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Alexas</span> behind them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Myr.</span> Avert these omens, Heaven!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ser.</span> Last night, between the hours of twelve and one,<br /> +In a lone aisle of the temple while I walked,<br /> +A whirlwind rose, that, with a violent blast,<br /> +Shook all the dome: the doors around me clapt;<br /> +The iron wicket, that defends the vault,<br /> +Where the long race of Ptolemies is laid,<br /> +Burst open, and disclosed the mighty dead.<br /> +From out each monument, in order placed,<br /> +An armed ghost starts up: the boy-king last<br /> +Reared his inglorious head. A peal of groans<br /> +Then followed, and a lamentable voice<br /> +Cried, Egypt is no more. My blood ran back,<br /> +My shaking knees against each other knocked;<br /> +On the cold pavement down I fell entranced,<br /> +And so unfinished left the horrid scene.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> And dreamed you this? or did invent the story, +<span class="sdr">[Shewing himself.</span><br /> +To frighten our Egyptian boys withal,<br /> +And train them up, betimes, in fear of priesthood?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> My lord, I saw you not,<br /> +Nor meant my words should reach your ears; but what<br /> +I uttered was most true.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> A foolish dream,<br /> +Bred from the fumes of indigested feasts,<br /> +And holy luxury.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> I know my duty:<br /> +This goes no farther.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> 'Tis not fit it should;<br /> +Nor would the times now bear it, were it true.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_325" name="page_325"></a> +All southern, from yon hills, the Roman camp<br /> +Hangs o'er us black and threatning, like a storm<br /> +Just breaking on our heads.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Our faint Egyptians pray for Antony;<br /> +But in their servile hearts they own Octavius.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Myr.</span> Why then does Antony dream out his hours,<br /> +And tempts not fortune for a noble day,<br /> +Which might redeem what Actium lost?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> He thinks 'tis past recovery.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Yet the foe<br /> +Seems not to press the siege.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O, there's the wonder.<br /> +Mecænas and Agrippa, who can most<br /> +With Cæsar, are his foes. His wife Octavia,<br /> +Driven from his house, solicits her revenge;<br /> +And Dolabella, who was once his friend,<br /> +Upon some private grudge, now seeks his ruin:<br /> +Yet still war seems on either side to sleep.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> 'Tis strange that Antony, for some days past,<br /> +Has not beheld the face of Cleopatra;<br /> +But here, in Isis temple, lives retired,<br /> +And makes his heart a prey to black despair.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> 'Tis true; and we much fear he hopes by absence<br /> +To cure his mind of love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> If he be vanquished,<br /> +Or make his peace, Egypt is doomed to be<br /> +A Roman province; and our plenteous harvests<br /> +Must then redeem the scarceness of their soil.<br /> +While Antony stood firm, our Alexandria<br /> +Rivalled proud Rome, (dominion's other seat)<br /> +And Fortune striding, like a vast Colossus,<br /> +Could fix an equal foot of empire here.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Had I my wish, these tyrants of all nature,<br /> +Who lord it o'er mankind, should perish,—perish,<br /> +Each by the other's sword; but, since our will<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_326" name="page_326"></a> +Is lamely followed by our power, we must<br /> +Depend on one; with him to rise or fall.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> How stands the queen affected?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O she dotes,<br /> +She dotes, Serapion, on this vanquished man,<br /> +And winds herself about his mighty ruins;<br /> +Whom would she yet forsake, yet yield him up,<br /> +This hunted prey, to his pursuer's hands,<br /> +She might preserve us all: but 'tis in vain—<br /> +This changes my designs, this blasts my counsels,<br /> +And makes me use all means to keep him here,<br /> +Whom I could wish divided from her arms,<br /> +Far as the earth's deep centre. Well, you know<br /> +The state of things; no more of your ill omens<br /> +And black prognostics; labour to confirm<br /> +The people's hearts.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Ventidius,</span> talking aside with a Gentleman of +<span class="cnm">Antony's.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> These Romans will o'erhear us.<br /> +But, who's that stranger? By his warlike port,<br /> +His fierce demeanour, and erected look,<br /> +He's of no vulgar note.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O 'tis Ventidius,<br /> +Our emperor's great lieutenant in the East,<br /> +Who first showed Rome that Parthia could be conquered.<br /> +When Antony returned from Syria last,<br /> +He left this man to guard the Roman frontiers.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> You seem to know him well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Too well. I saw him in Cilicia first,<br /> +When Cleopatra there met Antony:<br /> +A mortal foe he was to us, and Egypt.<br /> +But,—let me witness to the worth I hate,—<br /> +A braver Roman never drew a sword;<br /> +Firm to his prince, but as a friend, not slave.<br /> +He ne'er was of his pleasures; but presides<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_327" name="page_327"></a> +O'er all his cooler hours, and morning counsels:<br /> +In short, the plainness, fierceness, rugged virtue,<br /> +Of an old true-stampt Roman lives in him.<br /> +His coming bodes I know not what of ill<br /> +To our affairs. Withdraw, to mark him better;<br /> +And I'll acquaint you why I sought you here,<br /> +And what's our present work. +<span class="sdr">[They withdraw to a corner of the stage; and +<span class="cnm">Ventidius,</span> with the other, comes forward to +the front.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Not see him, say you?<br /> +I say, I must, and will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gent.</span> He has commanded,<br /> +On pain of death, none should approach his presence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I bring him news will raise his drooping spirits,<br /> +Give him new life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gent.</span> He sees not Cleopatra.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Would he had never seen her!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Gent.</span> He eats not, drinks not, sleeps not, has no use<br /> +Of any thing, but thought; or, if he talks,<br /> +'Tis to himself, and then 'tis perfect raving:<br /> +Then he defies the world, and bids it pass;<br /> +Sometimes he gnaws his lip, and curses loud<br /> +The boy Octavius; then he draws his mouth<br /> +Into a scornful smile, and cries,—"Take all,<br /> +The world's not worth my care."</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Just, just his nature.<br /> +Virtue's his path; but sometimes 'tis too narrow<br /> +For his vast soul; and then he starts out wide,<br /> +And bounds into a vice, that bears him far<br /> +From his first course, and plunges him in ills:<br /> +But, when his danger makes him find his fault,<br /> +Quick to observe, and full of sharp remorse,<br /> +He censures eagerly his own misdeeds,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_328" name="page_328"></a> +Judging himself with malice to himself,<br /> +And not forgiving what as man he did,<br /> +Because his other parts are more than man.—<br /> +He must not thus be lost.<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Alexas</span> and the Priests come forward.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> You have your full instructions, now advance;<br /> +Proclaim your orders loudly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Romans, Egyptians, hear the queen's command.<br /> +Thus Cleopatra bids: Let labour cease;<br /> +To pomp and triumphs give this happy day,<br /> +That gave the world a lord: 'tis Antony's.<br /> +Live, Antony; and Cleopatra live!<br /> +Be this the general voice sent up to heaven,<br /> +And every public place repeat this echo.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Fine pageantry!<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Set before your doors<br /> +The images of all your sleeping fathers,<br /> +With laurels crowned; with laurels wreath your posts,<br /> +And strew with flowers the pavement; let the priests<br /> +Do present sacrifice; pour out the wine,<br /> +And call the gods to join with you in gladness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Curse on the tongue that bids this general joy!<br /> +Can they be friends of Antony, who revel<br /> +When Antony's in danger? Hide, for shame,<br /> +You Romans, your great grandsires' images,<br /> +For fear their souls should animate their marbles,<br /> +To blush at their degenerate progeny.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> A love, which knows no bounds to Antony,<br /> +Would mark the day with honours, when all heaven<br /> +Laboured for him, when each propitious star<br /> +Stood wakeful in his orb, to watch that hour,<br /> +And shed his better influence. Her own birth-day<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_329" name="page_329"></a> +Our queen neglected, like a vulgar fate,<br /> +That passed obscurely by.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Would it had slept,<br /> +Divided far from his; till some remote<br /> +And future age had called it out, to ruin<br /> +Some other prince, not him!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Your emperor,<br /> +Though grown unkind, would be more gentle, than<br /> +To upbraid my queen for loving him too well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Does the mute sacrifice upbraid the priest?<br /> +He knows him not his executioner.<br /> +O, she has decked his ruin with her love,<br /> +Led him in golden bands to gaudy slaughter,<br /> +And made perdition pleasing: She has left him<br /> +The blank of what he was;<br /> +I tell thee, eunuch, she has quite unmanned him:<br /> +Can any Roman see, and know him now,<br /> +Thus altered from the lord of half mankind,<br /> +Unbent, unsinewed, made a woman's toy,<br /> +Shrunk from the vast extent of all his honours,<br /> +And crampt within a corner of the world?<br /> +O, Antony!<br /> +Thou bravest soldier, and thou best of friends!<br /> +Bounteous as nature; next to nature's God!<br /> +Couldst thou but make new worlds, so wouldst thou give them,<br /> +As bounty were thy being: rough in battle,<br /> +As the first Romans, when they went to war;<br /> +Yet, after victory, more pitiful<br /> +Than all their praying virgins left at home!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Would you could add, to those more shining virtues,<br /> +His truth to her who loves him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Would I could not!<br /> +But wherefore waste I precious hours with thee?<br /> +Thou art her darling mischief, her chief engine,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_330" name="page_330"></a> +Antony's other fate. Go, tell thy queen,<br /> +Ventidius is arrived, to end her charms.<br /> +Let your Egyptian timbrels play alone,<br /> +Nor mix effeminate sounds with Roman trumpets.<br /> +You dare not fight for Antony; go pray,<br /> +And keep your coward's holiday in temples.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Alex. Serap.</span></span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter the Gentleman of <span class="cnm">M. Antony.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">2 Gent.</span> The emperor approaches, and commands,<br /> +On pain of death, that none presume to stay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">1 Gent.</span> I dare not disobey him. +<span class="sdr">[Going out with the other.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Well, I dare.<br /> +But I'll observe him first unseen, and find<br /> +Which way his humour drives: the rest I'll venture.<span class="sdr">[Withdraws.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Antony,</span> walking with a disturbed motion before +he speaks.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> They tell me, 'tis my birth-day, and I'll keep it<br /> +With double pomp of sadness.<br /> +'Tis what the day deserves, which gave me breath.<br /> +Why was I raised the meteor of the world,<br /> +Hung in the skies, and blazing as I travelled,<br /> +Till all my fires were spent; and then cast downward,<br /> +To be trod out by Cæsar?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] On my soul,<br /> +'Tis mournful, wondrous mournful!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Count thy gains.<br /> +Now, Antony, wouldst thou be born for this!<br /> +Glutton of fortune, thy devouring youth<br /> +Has starved thy wanting age.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> How sorrow shakes him!<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span><br /> +So, now the tempest tears him up by the roots,<br /> +And on the ground extends the noble ruin. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> having thrown himself down.</span><br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_331" name="page_331"></a> +Lie there, thou shadow of an emperor;<br /> +The place, thou pressest on thy mother earth,<br /> +Is all thy empire now: now it contains thee;<br /> +Some few days hence, and then 'twill be too large.<br /> +When thou'rt contracted in thy narrow urn,<br /> +Shrunk to a few cold ashes; then Octavia,<br /> +(For Cleopatra will not live to see it)<br /> +Octavia then will have thee all her own,<br /> +And bear thee in her widowed hand to Cæsar;<br /> +Cæsar will weep, the crocodile will weep,<br /> +To see his rival of the universe<br /> +Lie still and peaceful there. I'll think no more on't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Give me some music; look that it be sad:<br /> +I'll sooth my melancholy, till I swell,<br /> +And burst myself with sighing.—<span class="sdr">[Soft music.</span><br /> +'Tis somewhat to my humour: stay, I fancy<br /> +I'm now turned wild, a commoner of nature;<br /> +Of all forsaken, and forsaking all;<br /> +Live in a shady forest's sylvan scene,<br /> +Stretched at my length beneath some blasted oak,<br /> +I lean my head upon the mossy bark,<br /> +And look just of a piece as I grew from it;<br /> +My uncombed locks, matted like misletoe,<br /> +Hang o'er my hoary face; a murm'ring brook<br /> +Runs at my foot.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Methinks, I fancy<br /> +Myself there too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> The herd come jumping by me,<br /> +And, fearless, quench their thirst, while I look on,<br /> +And take me for their fellow-citizen.<br /> +More of this image, more; it lulls my thoughts. +<span class="sdr">[Soft music again.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I must disturb him; I can hold no longer. +<span class="sdr">[Stands before him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Starting up.</span>] Art thou Ventidius?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Are you Antony?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_332" name="page_332"></a> +I'm liker what I was, than you to him<br /> +I left you last.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I'm angry.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> So am I.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I would be private: leave me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Sir, I love you,<br /> +And therefore will not leave you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Will not leave me!<br /> +Where have you learnt that answer? Who am I?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> My emperor; the man I love next heaven:<br /> +If I said more, I think 'twere scarce a sin:<br /> +You're all that's good, and godlike.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> All that's wretched.<br /> +You will not leave me then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> 'Twas too presuming<br /> +To say I would not; but I dare not leave you:<br /> +And, 'tis unkind in you to chide me hence<br /> +So soon, when I so far have come to see you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Now thou hast seen me, art thou satified?<br /> +For, if a friend, thou hast beheld enough;<br /> +And, if a foe, too much.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Look, emperor, this is no common dew,<span class="sdr">[Weeping.</span><br /> +I have not wept this forty years; but now<br /> +My mother comes afresh into my eyes;<br /> +I cannot help her softness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> By heaven, he weeps! poor good old man, he weeps!<br /> +The big round drops course one another down<br /> +The furrows of his cheeks.—Stop them, Ventidius,<br /> +Or I shall blush to death: they set my shame,<br /> +That caused them, full before me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I'll do my best.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Sure there's contagion in the tears of friends:<br /> +See, I have caught it too. Believe me, 'tis not<br /> +For my own griefs, but thine.—Nay, father!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Emperor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_333" name="page_333"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Emperor! Why, that's the style of victory;<br /> +The conqu'ring soldier, red with unfelt wounds,<br /> +Salutes his general so: but never more<br /> +Shall that sound reach my ears.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I warrant you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Actium, Actium! Oh!—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> It sits too near you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Here, here it lies; a lump of lead by day,<br /> +And, in my short, distracted, nightly slumbers,<br /> +The hag that rides my dreams.—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Out with it; give it vent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Urge not my shame.<br /> +I lost a battle,—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> So has Julius done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou favour'st me, and speak'st not half thou think'st;<br /> +For Julius fought it out, and lost it fairly:<br /> +But Antony—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Nay, stop not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Antony,—<br /> +Well, thou wilt have it,—like a coward, fled,<br /> +Fled while his soldiers fought; fled first, Ventidius.<br /> +Thou long'st to curse me, and I give thee leave.<br /> +I know thou cam'st prepared to rail.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I did.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I'll help thee.—I have been a man, Ventidius.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Yes, and a brave one; but—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I know thy meaning.<br /> +But I have lost my reason, have disgraced<br /> +The name of soldier, with inglorious ease.<br /> +In the full vintage of my flowing honours,<br /> +Sat still, and saw it prest by other hands.<br /> +Fortune came smiling to my youth, and wooed it,<br /> +And purple greatness met my ripened years.<br /> +When first I came to empire, I was borne<br /> +On tides of people, crowding to my triumphs;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_334" name="page_334"></a> +The wish of nations, and the willing world<br /> +Received me as its pledge of future peace;<br /> +I was so great, so happy, so beloved,<br /> +Fate could not ruin me; till I took pains,<br /> +And worked against my fortune, chid her from me,<br /> +And turned her loose; yet still she came again.<br /> +My careless days, and my luxurious nights,<br /> +At length have wearied her, and now she's gone,<br /> +Gone, gone, divorced for ever. Help me, soldier,<br /> +To curse this madman, this industrious fool,<br /> +Who laboured to be wretched: Pr'ythee curse me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> No.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> You are too sensible already<br /> +Of what you've done, too conscious of your failings;<br /> +And, like a scorpion, whipt by others first<br /> +To fury, sting yourself in mad revenge.<br /> +I would bring balm, and pour it in your wounds,<br /> +Cure your distempered mind, and heal your fortunes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I know thou would'st.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I will.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Ha, ha, ha, ha!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> You laugh.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I do, to see officious love<br /> +Give cordials to the dead.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> You would be lost then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I am.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I say you are not. Try your fortune.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I have, to the utmost. Dost thou think me desperate,<br /> +Without just cause? No, when I found all lost<br /> +Beyond repair, I hid me from the world,<br /> +And learnt to scorn it here; which now I do<br /> +So heartily, I think it is not worth<br /> +The cost of keeping.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Cæsar thinks not so:<br /> +He'll thank you for the gift he could not take.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_335" name="page_335"></a> +You would be killed like Tully, would you? do,<br /> +Hold out your throat to Cæsar, and die tamely.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No, I can kill myself; and so resolve.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I can die with you too, when time shall serve;<br /> +But fortune calls upon us now to live,<br /> +To fight, to conquer.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Sure thou dream'st, Ventidius.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> No; 'tis you dream; you sleep away your hours<br /> +In desperate sloth, miscalled philosophy.<br /> +Up, up, for honour's sake; twelve legions wait you,<br /> +And long to call you chief: By painful journeys,<br /> +I led them, patient both of heat and hunger,<br /> +Down from the Parthian marches to the Nile.<br /> +'Twill do you good to see their sun-burnt faces,<br /> +Their scarred cheeks, and chopt hands: there's virtue in them.<br /> +They'll sell those mangled limbs at dearer rates<br /> +Than yon trim bands can buy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Where left you them?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I said in Lower Syria.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Bring them hither;<br /> +There may be life in these.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> They will not come.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why didst thou mock my hopes with promised aids,<br /> +To double my despair? They're mutinous.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Most firm and loyal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Yet they will not march<br /> +To succour me. Oh trifler!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> They petition<br /> +You would make haste to head them.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I'm besieged.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> There's but one way shut up: How came I hither?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I will not stir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_336" name="page_336"></a> +<span class="cnm">Vent.</span> They would perhaps desire<br /> +A better reason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I have never used<br /> +My soldiers to demand a reason of<br /> +My actions. Why did they refuse to march?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> They said they would not fight for Cleopatra.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> What was't they said?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> They said they would not fight for Cleopatra.<br /> +Why should they fight indeed, to make her conquer,<br /> +And make you more a slave? to gain you kingdoms,<br /> +Which, for a kiss, at your next midnight feast,<br /> +You'll sell to her? Then she new-names her jewels,<br /> +And calls this diamond such or such a tax;<br /> +Each pendant in her ear shall be a province.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Ventidius, I allow your tongue free licence<br /> +On all my other faults; but, on your life,<br /> +No word of Cleopatra: she deserves<br /> +More worlds than I can lose.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Behold, you Powers,<br /> +To whom you have entrusted human kind!<br /> +See Europe, Afric, Asia, put in balance,<br /> +And all weighed down by one light, worthless woman!<br /> +I think the Gods are Antonies, and give,<br /> +Like prodigals, this nether world away<br /> +To none but wasteful hands.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> You grow presumptuous.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I take the privilege of plain love to speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Plain love! plain arrogance, plain insolence!<br /> +Thy men are cowards; thou, an envious traitor;<br /> +Who, under seeming honesty, hast vented<br /> +The burden of thy rank o'erflowing gall.<br /> +O that thou wert my equal; great in arms<br /> +As the first Cæsar was, that I might kill thee<br /> +Without a stain to honour!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_337" name="page_337"></a> +<span class="cnm">Vent.</span> You may kill me;<br /> +You have done more already,—called me traitor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Art thou not one?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> For showing you yourself,<br /> +Which none else durst have done? but had I been<br /> +That name, which I disdain to speak again,<br /> +I needed not have sought your abject fortunes,<br /> +Come to partake your fate, to die with you.<br /> +What hindered me to have led my conquering eagles<br /> +To fill Octavius' bands? I could have been<br /> +A traitor then, a glorious, happy traitor,<br /> +And not have been so called.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Forgive me, soldier;<br /> +I've been too passionate.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> You thought me false;<br /> +Thought my old age betrayed you: Kill me, sir,<br /> +Pray, kill me; yet you need not, your unkindness<br /> +Has left your sword no work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I did not think so;<br /> +I said it in my rage: Pr'ythee, forgive me:<br /> +Why didst thou tempt my anger, by discovery<br /> +Of what I would not hear?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> No prince but you<br /> +Could merit that sincerity I used,<br /> +Nor durst another man have ventured it;<br /> +But you, ere love misled your wandering eyes,<br /> +Were sure the chief and best of human race,<br /> +Framed in the very pride and boast of nature;<br /> +So perfect, that the gods, who formed you, wondered<br /> +At their own skill, and cried,—A lucky hit<br /> +Has mended our design. Their envy hindered,<br /> +Else you had been immortal, and a pattern,<br /> +When heaven would work for ostentation sake,<br /> +To copy out again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But Cleopatra—<br /> +Go on; for I can bear it now.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> No more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_338" name="page_338"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou dar'st not trust my passion, but thou may'st;<br /> +Thou only lov'st, the rest have flattered me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Heaven's blessing on your heart for that kind word!<br /> +May I believe you love me? Speak again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Indeed I do. Speak this, and this, and this. +<span class="sdr">[Hugging him.</span><br /> +Thy praises were unjust; but, I'll deserve them,<br /> +And yet mend all. Do with me what thou wilt;<br /> +Lead me to victory! thou know'st the way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> And, will you leave this—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Pr'ythee, do not curse her,<br /> +And I will leave her; though, heaven knows, I love<br /> +Beyond life, conquest, empire; all, but honour:<br /> +But I will leave her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> That's my royal master;<br /> +And, shall we fight?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I warrant thee, old soldier.<br /> +Thou shalt behold me once again in iron;<br /> +And at the head of our old troops, that beat<br /> +The Parthians, cry aloud—Come, follow me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> O now I hear my emperor! in that word<br /> +Octavius fell. Gods, let me see that day,<br /> +And, if I have ten years behind, take all:<br /> +I'll thank you for the exchange.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Oh, Cleopatra!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Again?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I've done: In that last sigh, she went.<br /> +Cæsar shall know what 'tis to force a lover<br /> +From all he holds most dear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Methinks, you breathe<br /> +Another soul: Your looks are more divine;<br /> +You speak a hero, and you move a god.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O, thou hast fired me; my soul's up in arms,<br /> +And mans each part about me: Once again,<br /> +That noble eagerness of fight has seized me;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_339" name="page_339"></a> +That eagerness, with which I darted upward<br /> +To Cassius' camp: In vain the steepy hill<br /> +Opposed my way; in vain a war of spears<br /> +Sung round my head, and planted all my shield;<br /> +I won the trenches, while my foremost men<br /> +Lagged on the plain below.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Ye gods, ye gods,<br /> +For such another honour!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Come on, my soldier!<br /> +Our hearts and arms are still the same: I long<br /> +Once more to meet our foes; that thou and I,<br /> +Like time and death, marching before our troops,<br /> +May taste fate to them; mow them out a passage,<br /> +<span class="i1">And, entering where the foremost squadrons yield,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">Begin the noble harvest of the field.</span><span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT II. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Cleopatra, Iras,</span> and <span class="cnm">Alexas.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> What shall I do, or whither shall I turn?<br /> +Ventidius has o'ercome, and he will go.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> He goes to fight for you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Then he would see me, ere he went to fight:<br /> +Flatter me not: If once he goes, he's lost,<br /> +And all my hopes destroyed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Does this weak passion<br /> +Become a mighty queen?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I am no queen:<br /> +Is this to be a queen, to be besieged<br /> +By yon insulting Roman, and to wait<br /> +Each hour the victor's chain? These ills are small;<br /> +For Antony is lost, and I can mourn<br /> +For nothing else but him. Now come, Octavius,<br /> +I have no more to lose; prepare thy bands;<br /> +I'm fit to be a captive: Antony<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_340" name="page_340"></a> +Has taught my mind the fortune of a slave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Call reason to assist you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I have none,<br /> +And none would have: My love's a noble madness,<br /> +Which shows the cause deserved it. Moderate sorrow<br /> +Fits vulgar love, and for a vulgar man:<br /> +But I have loved with such transcendent passion,<br /> +I soared, at first, quite out of reason's view,<br /> +And now am lost above it. No, I'm proud<br /> +'Tis thus: Would Antony could see me now!<br /> +Think you he would not sigh, though he must leave me?<br /> +Sure he would sigh; for he is noble-natured,<br /> +And bears a tender heart: I know him well.<br /> +Ah, no, I know him not; I knew him once,<br /> +But now 'tis past.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Let it be past with you:<br /> +Forget him, madam.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Never, never, Iras.<br /> +He once was mine; and once, though now 'tis gone,<br /> +Leaves a faint image of possession still.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Think him inconstant, cruel, and ungrateful.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I cannot: If I could, those thoughts were vain.<br /> +Faithless, ungrateful, cruel, though he be,<br /> +I still must love him.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Charmion.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Now, what news, my Charmion?<br /> +Will he be kind? and will he not forsake me?<br /> +Am I to live, or die? nay, do I live?<br /> +Or am I dead? for when he gave his answer,<br /> +Fate took the word, and then I lived or died.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> I found him, madam—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> A long speech preparing?<br /> +If thou bring'st comfort, haste, and give it me,<br /> +For never was more need.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_341" name="page_341"></a> +<span class="cnm">Iras.</span> I know he loves you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Had he been kind, her eyes had told me so,<br /> +Before her tongue could speak it: Now she studies,<br /> +To soften what he said; but give me death,<br /> +Just as he sent it, Charmion, undisguised,<br /> +And in the words he spoke.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> I found him, then,<br /> +Encompassed round, I think, with iron statues;<br /> +So mute, so motionless his soldiers stood,<br /> +While awfully he cast his eyes about,<br /> +And every leader's hopes or fears surveyed:<br /> +Methought he looked resolved, and yet not pleased.<br /> +When he beheld me struggling in the crowd,<br /> +He blushed, and bade make way.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> There's comfort yet.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> Ventidius fixed his eyes upon my passage,<br /> +Severely, as he meant to frown me back,<br /> +And sullenly gave place: I told my message,<br /> +Just as you gave it, broken and disordered;<br /> +I numbered in it all your sighs and tears,<br /> +And while I moved your pitiful request,<br /> +That you but only begged a last farewell,<br /> +He fetched an inward groan; and every time<br /> +I named you, sighed, as if his heart were breaking.<br /> +But, shunned my eyes, and guiltily looked down:<br /> +He seemed not now that awful Antony,<br /> +Who shook an armed assembly with his nod;<br /> +But, making show as he would rub his eyes,<br /> +Disguised and blotted out a falling tear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Did he then weep? And was I worth a tear?<br /> +If what thou hast to say be not as pleasing,<br /> +Tell me no more, but let me die contented.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> He bid me say,—He knew himself so well,<br /> +He could deny you nothing, if he saw you;<br /> +And therefore—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Thou wouldst say, he would not see me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_342" name="page_342"></a> +<span class="cnm">Char.</span> And therefore begged you not to use a power,<br /> +Which he could ill resist; yet he should ever<br /> +Respect you, as he ought.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Is that a word<br /> +For Antony to use to Cleopatra?<br /> +Oh that faint word, <i>respect</i>! how I disdain it!<br /> +Disdain myself, for loving after it!<br /> +He should have kept that word for cold Octavia.<br /> +Respect is for a wife: Am I that thing,<br /> +That dull insipid lump, without desires,<br /> +And without power to give them?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> You misjudge;<br /> +You see through love, and that deludes your sight;<br /> +As, what is straight, seems crooked through the water:<br /> +But I, who bear my reason undisturbed,<br /> +Can see this Antony, this dreaded man,<br /> +A fearful slave, who fain would run away,<br /> +And shuns his master's eyes: If you pursue him,<br /> +My life on't, he still drags a chain along,<br /> +That needs must clog his flight.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Could I believe thee!—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> By every circumstance I know he loves.<br /> +True, he's hard prest, by interest and by honour;<br /> +Yet he but doubts, and parleys, and casts out<br /> +Many a long look for succour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> He sends word,<br /> +He fears to see my face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> And would you more?<br /> +He shows his weakness, who declines the combat,<br /> +And you must urge your fortune. Could he speak<br /> +More plainly? To my ears, the message sounds—<br /> +Come to my rescue, Cleopatra, come;<br /> +Come, free me from Ventidius; from my tyrant:<br /> +See me, and give me a pretence to leave him!—<br /> +I hear his trumpets. This way he must pass.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_343" name="page_343"></a> +Please you, retire a while; I'll work him first,<br /> +That he may bend more easy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> You shall rule me;<br /> +But all, I fear, in vain.<span class="sdr">[Exit with <span class="cnm">Char.</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> I fear so too;<br /> +Though I concealed my thoughts, to make her bold;<br /> +But 'tis our utmost means, and fate befriend it!<span class="sdr">[Withdraws.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter Lictors with Fasces; one bearing the Eagle; +then enter <span class="cnm">Antony</span> with <span class="cnm">Ventidius,</span> followed by +other Commanders.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Octavius is the minion of blind chance,<br /> +But holds from virtue nothing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Has he courage?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But just enough to season him from coward.<br /> +O, 'tis the coldest youth upon a charge,<br /> +The most deliberate fighter! if he ventures,<br /> +(As in Illyria once, they say, he did,<br /> +To storm a town) 'tis when he cannot chuse;<br /> +When all the world have fixt their eyes upon him;<br /> +And then he lives on that for seven years after;<br /> +But, at a close revenge he never fails.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I heard you challenged him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I did, Ventidius.<br /> +What think'st thou was his answer? 'Twas so tame!—<br /> +He said, he had more ways than one to die;<br /> +I had not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Poor!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> He has more ways than one;<br /> +But he would chuse them all before that one.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> He first would chuse an ague, or a fever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No; it must be an ague, not a fever;<br /> +He has not warmth enough to die by that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Or old age and a bed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Ay, there's his choice.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_344" name="page_344"></a> +He would live, like a lamp, to the last wink,<br /> +And crawl upon the utmost verge of life.<br /> +O, Hercules! Why should a man like this,<br /> +Who dares not trust his fate for one great action,<br /> +Be all the care of heaven? Why should he lord it<br /> +O'er fourscore thousand men, of whom each one<br /> +Is braver than himself?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> You conquered for him:<br /> +Philippi knows it; there you shared with him<br /> +That empire, which your sword made all your own.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Fool that I was, upon my eagle's wings<br /> +I bore this wren, 'till I was tired with soaring,<br /> +And now he mounts above me<a class="ftnt" href="#All_4-1">[1]</a>.<br /> +Good heavens, is this,—is this the man who braves me?<br /> +Who bids my age make way? Drives me before him,<br /> +To the world's ridge, and sweeps me off like rubbish?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Sir, we lose time; the troops are mounted all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Then give the word to march:<br /> +I long to leave this prison of a town,<br /> +To join thy legions; and, in open field,<br /> +Once more to show my face. Lead, my deliverer.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Alexas.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Great emperor,<br /> +In mighty arms renowned above mankind,<br /> +But, in soft pity to the opprest, a god;<br /> +This message sends the mournful Cleopatra<br /> +To her departing lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_345" name="page_345"></a> +<span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Smooth sycophant!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> A thousand wishes, and ten thousand prayers,<br /> +Millions of blessings wait you to the wars;<br /> +Millions of sighs and tears she sends you too,<br /> +And would have sent<br /> +As many dear embraces to your arms,<br /> +As many parting kisses to your lips;<br /> +But those, she fears, have wearied you already.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] False crocodile!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> And yet she begs not now, you would not leave her;<br /> +That were a wish too mighty for her hopes,<br /> +Too presuming for her low fortune, and your ebbing love;<br /> +That were a wish for her more prosperous days,<br /> +Her blooming beauty, and your growing kindness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] Well, I must man it out:—What would the queen?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> First, to these noble warriors, who attend<br /> +Your daring courage in the chase of fame,—<br /> +Too daring, and too dangerous for her quiet,—<br /> +She humbly recommends all she holds dear,<br /> +All her own cares and fears,—the care of you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Yes, witness Actium.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Let him speak, Ventidius.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> You, when his matchless valour bears him forward,<br /> +With ardour too heroic, on his foes,<br /> +Fall down, as she would do, before his feet;<br /> +Lie in his way, and stop the paths of death;<br /> +Tell him, this god is not invulnerable;<br /> +That absent Cleopatra bleeds in him;<br /> +And, that you may remember her petition,<br /> +She begs you wear these trifles, as a pawn,<br /> +Which, at your wisht return, she will redeem +<span class="sdr">[Gives jewels to the Commanders.</span><br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_346" name="page_346"></a> +With all the wealth of Egypt:<br /> +This to the great Ventidius she presents,<br /> +Whom she can never count her enemy,<br /> +Because he loves her lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Tell her, I'll none on't;<br /> +I'm not ashamed of honest poverty;<br /> +Not all the diamonds of the east can bribe<br /> +Ventidius from his faith. I hope to see<br /> +These, and the rest of all her sparkling store,<br /> +Where they shall more deservingly be placed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And who must wear them then?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> The wronged Octavia.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> You might have spared that word.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> And he that bribe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But have I no remembrance?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Yes, a dear one;<br /> +Your slave, the queen—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> My mistress.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Then your mistress;<br /> +Your mistress would, she says, have sent her soul,<br /> +But that you had long since; she humbly begs<br /> +This ruby bracelet, set with bleeding hearts,<br /> +The emblems of her own, may bind your arm. +<span class="sdr">[Presenting a bracelet.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Now, my best lord,—in honour's name, I ask you,<br /> +For manhood's sake, and for your own dear safety,—<br /> +Touch not these poisoned gifts,<br /> +Infected by the sender; touch them not;<br /> +Myriads of bluest plagues lie underneath them,<br /> +And more than aconite has dipt the silk.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Nay, now you grow too cynical, Ventidius:<br /> +A lady's favours may be worn with honour.<br /> +What, to refuse her bracelet! on my soul,<br /> +When I lie pensive in my tent alone,<br /> +'Twill pass the wakeful hours of winter nights,<br /> +To tell these pretty beads upon my arm,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_347" name="page_347"></a> +To count for every one a soft embrace,<br /> +A melting kiss at such and such a time;<br /> +And now and then the fury of her love,<br /> +When—And what harm's in this?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> None, none, my lord,<br /> +But what's to her, that now 'tis past for ever.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">Going to tie it.</span>]<br /> +We soldiers are so awkward—help me tie it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> In faith, my lord, we courtiers too are awkward<br /> +In these affairs: so are all men indeed:<br /> +Even I, who am not one. But shall I speak?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Yes, freely.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Then, my lord, fair hands alone<br /> +Are fit to tie it; she, who sent it, can.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Hell, death! this eunuch pandar ruins you.<br /> +You will not see her? +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Alexas</span> whispers an Attendant, who goes out.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But to take my leave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Then I have washed an Æthiop. You're undone;<br /> +You're in the toils; you're taken; you're destroyed:<br /> +Her eyes do Cæsar's work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> You fear too soon.<br /> +I'm constant to myself: I know my strength;<br /> +And yet she shall not think me barbarous neither,<br /> +Born in the depths of Afric: I'm a Roman,<br /> +Bred to the rules of soft humanity.<br /> +A guest, and kindly used, should bid farewell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> You do not know<br /> +How weak you are to her, how much an infant;<br /> +You are not proof against a smile, or glance;<br /> +A sigh will quite disarm you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> See, she comes!<br /> +Now you shall find your error.—Gods, I thank you:<br /> +I formed the danger greater than it was,<br /> +And now 'tis near, 'tis lessened.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_348" name="page_348"></a> +<span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Mark the end yet.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Cleopatra, Charmion,</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Well, madam, we are met.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Is this a meeting?<br /> +Then, we must part?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> We must.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Who says we must?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Our own hard fates.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> We make those fates ourselves.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Yes, we have made them; we have loved each other<br /> +In our mutual ruin.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> The gods have seen my joys with envious eyes;<br /> +I have no friends in heaven; and all the world,<br /> +As 'twere the business of mankind to part us,<br /> +Is armed against my love: even you yourself<br /> +Join with the rest; you, you are armed against me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I will be justified in all I do<br /> +To late posterity, and therefore hear me.<br /> +If I mix a lie<br /> +With any truth, reproach me freely with it;<br /> +Else, favour me with silence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> You command me,<br /> +And I am dumb.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I like this well: he shews authority.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> That I derive my ruin<br /> +From you alone—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> O heavens! I ruin you!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> You promised me your silence, and you break it<br /> +Ere I have scarce begun.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Well, I obey you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> When I beheld you first, it was in Egypt.<br /> +Ere Cæsar saw your eyes, you gave me love,<br /> +And were too young to know it; that I settled<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_349" name="page_349"></a> +Your father in his throne, was for your sake;<br /> +I left the acknowledgment for time to ripen.<br /> +Cæsar stept in, and, with a greedy hand,<br /> +Plucked the green fruit, ere the first blush of red,<br /> +Yet cleaving to the bough. He was my lord,<br /> +And was, beside, too great for me to rival;<br /> +But, I deserved you first, though he enjoyed you.<br /> +When, after, I beheld you in Cilicia,<br /> +An enemy to Rome, I pardoned you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I cleared myself—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Again you break your promise.<br /> +I loved you still, and took your weak excuses,<br /> +Took you into my bosom, stained by Cæsar,<br /> +And not half mine: I went to Egypt with you,<br /> +And hid me from the business of the world,<br /> +Shut out enquiring nations from my sight,<br /> +To give whole years to you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Yes, to your shame be't spoken.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> How I loved,<br /> +Witness, ye days and nights, and all ye hours,<br /> +That danced away with down upon your feet,<br /> +As all your business were to count my passion!<br /> +One day past by, and nothing saw but love;<br /> +Another came, and still 'twas only love:<br /> +The suns were wearied out with looking on,<br /> +And I untired with loving.<br /> +I saw you every day, and all the day;<br /> +And every day was still but as the first,<br /> +So eager was I still to see you more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> 'Tis all too true.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Fulvia, my wife, grew jealous,<br /> +As she indeed had reason; raised a war<br /> +In Italy, to call me back.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> But yet<br /> +You went not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> While within your arms I lay,<br /> +The world fell mouldering from my hands each hour,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_350" name="page_350"></a> +And left me scarce a grasp—I thank your love for't.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Well pushed: that last was home.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Yet may I speak?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> If I have urged a falsehood, yes; else, not.<br /> +Your silence says, I have not. Fulvia died;<br /> +(Pardon, you gods, with my unkindness died.)<br /> +To set the world at peace, I took Octavia,<br /> +This Cæsar's sister; in her pride of youth,<br /> +And flower of beauty, did I wed that lady,<br /> +Whom blushing I must praise, because I left her.<br /> +You called; my love obeyed the fatal summons:<br /> +This raised the Roman arms; the cause was yours.<br /> +I would have fought by land, where I was stronger;<br /> +You hindered it: yet, when I fought at sea,<br /> +Forsook me fighting; and (Oh stain to honour!<br /> +Oh lasting shame!) I knew not that I fled;<br /> +But fled to follow you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> What haste she made to hoist her purple sails!<br /> +And, to appear magnificent in flight,<br /> +Drew half our strength away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> All this you caused.<br /> +And, would you multiply more ruins on me?<br /> +This honest man, my best, my only friend,<br /> +Has gathered up the shipwreck of my fortunes;<br /> +Twelve legions I have left, my last recruits,<br /> +And you have watched the news, and bring your eyes<br /> +To seize them too. If you have aught to answer,<br /> +Now speak, you have free leave.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] She stands confounded:<br /> +Despair is in her eyes.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Now lay a sigh in the way to stop his passage:<br /> +Prepare a tear, and bid it for his legions;<br /> +'Tis like they shall be sold.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> How shall I plead my cause, when you, my judge,<br /> +Already have condemned me? shall I bring<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_351" name="page_351"></a> +The love you bore me for my advocate?<br /> +That now is turned against me, that destroys me;<br /> +For love, once past, is, at the best, forgotten;<br /> +But oftener sours to hate: 'twill please my lord<br /> +To ruin me, and therefore I'll be guilty.<br /> +But, could I once have thought it would have pleased you,<br /> +That you would pry, with narrow searching eyes<br /> +Into my faults, severe to my destruction,<br /> +And watching all advantages with care,<br /> +That serve to make me wretched? Speak, my lord,<br /> +For I end here. Though I deserve this usage,<br /> +Was it like you to give it?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O you wrong me,<br /> +To think I sought this parting, or desired<br /> +To accuse you more than what will clear myself,<br /> +And justify this breach.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Thus low I thank you;<br /> +And, since my innocence will not offend,<br /> +I shall not blush to own it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> After this,<br /> +I think she'll blush at nothing.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> You seem grieved,<br /> +(And therein you are kind) that Cæsar first<br /> +Enjoyed my love, though you deserved it better:<br /> +I grieve for that, my lord, much more than you;<br /> +For, had I first been yours, it would have saved<br /> +My second choice: I never had been his,<br /> +And ne'er had been but yours. But Cæsar first,<br /> +You say, possessed my love. Not so, my lord:<br /> +He first possessed my person; you, my love:<br /> +Cæsar loved me; but I loved Antony.<br /> +If I endured him after, 'twas because<br /> +I judged it due to the first name of men;<br /> +And, half constrained, I gave, as to a tyrant,<br /> +What he would take by force.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> O Syren! Syren!<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_352" name="page_352"></a> +Yet grant that all the love she boasts were true,<br /> +Has she not ruined you? I still urge that,<br /> +The fatal consequence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> The consequence indeed;<br /> +For I dare challenge him, my greatest foe,<br /> +To say it was designed: 'tis true, I loved you,<br /> +And kept you far from an uneasy wife,—<br /> +Such Fulvia was.<br /> +Yes, but he'll say, you left Octavia for me;—<br /> +And, can you blame me to receive that love,<br /> +Which quitted such desert, for worthless me?<br /> +How often have I wished some other Cæsar,<br /> +Great as the first, and as the second young,<br /> +Would court my love, to be refused for you!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Words, words; but Actium, sir; remember Actium.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Even there, I dare his malice. True, I counselled<br /> +To fight at sea; but I betrayed you not.<br /> +I fled, but not to the enemy. 'Twas fear;<br /> +Would I had been a man, not to have feared!<br /> +For none would then have envied me your friendship,<br /> +Who envy me your love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> We are both unhappy:<br /> +If nothing else, yet our ill fortune parts us.<br /> +Speak; would you have me perish by my stay?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> If, as a friend, you ask my judgment, go;<br /> +If, as a lover, stay. If you must perish—<br /> +'Tis a hard word—but stay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> See now the effects of her so boasted love!<br /> +She strives to drag you down to ruin with her;<br /> +But, could she 'scape without you, oh how soon<br /> +Would she let go her hold, and haste to shore,<br /> +And never look behind!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Then judge my love by this. +<span class="sdr">[Giving <span class="cnm">Antony</span> a writing.</span><br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_353" name="page_353"></a> +Could I have borne<br /> +A life or death, a happiness or woe,<br /> +From yours divided, this had given me means.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> By Hercules, the writing of Octavius!<br /> +I know it well: 'tis that proscribing hand,<br /> +Young as it was, that led the way to mine,<br /> +And left me but the second place in murder.—<br /> +See, see, Ventidius! here he offers Egypt,<br /> +And joins all Syria to it, as a present;<br /> +So, in requital, she forsake my fortunes,<br /> +And join her arms with his.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> And yet you leave me!<br /> +You leave me, Antony; and yet I love you,<br /> +Indeed I do: I have refused a kingdom;<br /> +That is a trifle;<br /> +For I could part with life, with any thing,<br /> +But only you. O let me die but with you!<br /> +Is that a hard request?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Next living with you,<br /> +'Tis all that heaven can give.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> He melts; we conquer.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> No; you shall go: your interest calls you hence;<br /> +Yes; your dear interest pulls too strong, for these<br /> +Weak arms to hold you here.<span class="sdr">[Takes his hand.</span><br /> +Go; leave me, soldier;<br /> +(For you're no more a lover:) leave me dying:<br /> +Push me, all pale and panting, from your bosom,<br /> +And, when your march begins, let one run after,<br /> +Breathless almost for joy, and cry—she's dead:<br /> +The soldiers shout; you then, perhaps, may sigh,<br /> +And muster all your Roman gravity:<br /> +Ventidius chides; and strait your brow clears up,<br /> +As I had never been.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Gods, 'tis too much; too much for man to bear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> What is't for me then,<br /> +A weak forsaken woman, and a lover?—<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_354" name="page_354"></a> +Here let me breathe my last: envy me not<br /> +This minute in your arms: I'll die apace,<br /> +As fast as e'er I can; and end your trouble.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Die! rather let me perish; loosened nature<br /> +Leap from its hinges, sink the props of heaven,<br /> +And fall the skies, to crush the nether world!<br /> +My eyes, my soul, my all!—<span class="sdr">[Embraces her.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> And what's this toy,<br /> +In balance with your fortune, honour, fame?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> What is't, Ventidius? it out-weighs them all;<br /> +Why, we have more than conquered Cæsar now:<br /> +My queen's not only innocent, but loves me.<br /> +This, this is she, who drags me down to ruin!<br /> +But, could she 'scape without me, with what haste<br /> +Would she let slip her hold, and make to shore,<br /> +And never look behind!<br /> +Down on thy knees, blasphemer as thou art,<br /> +And ask forgiveness of wronged innocence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I'll rather die, than take it. Will you go?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Go! Whither? Go from all that's excellent!<br /> +Faith, honour, virtue, all good things forbid,<br /> +That I should go from her, who sets my love<br /> +Above the price of kingdoms. Give, you gods,<br /> +Give to your boy, your Cæsar,<br /> +This rattle of a globe to play withal,<br /> +This gewgaw world, and put him cheaply off:<br /> +I'll not be pleased with less than Cleopatra.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> She's wholly yours. My heart's so full of joy,<br /> +That I shall do some wild extravagance<br /> +Of love, in public; and the foolish world,<br /> +Which knows not tenderness, will think me mad.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> O women! women! women! all the gods<br /> +Have not such power of doing good to man,<br /> +As you of doing harm.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Our men are armed:—<br /> +Unbar the gate that looks to Cæsar's camp:<br /> +I would revenge the treachery he meant me;<br /> +And long security makes conquest easy.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_355" name="page_355"></a> +I'm eager to return before I go;<br /> +For, all the pleasures I have known beat thick<br /> +On my remembrance.—How I long for night!<br /> +That both the sweets of mutual love may try,<br /> +And triumph once o'er Cæsar ere we die.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT III. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">At one door, enter <span class="cnm">Cleopatra, Charmion, Iras,</span> +and <span class="cnm">Alexas,</span> a Train of Egyptians: at the other, +<span class="cnm">Antony</span> and Romans. The entrance on both sides +is prepared by music; the trumpets first sounding +on <span class="cnm">Antony's</span> part: then answered by timbrels, &c. +on <span class="cnm">Cleopatra's. Charmion</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras</span> hold a +laurel wreath betwixt them. A Dance of Egyptians. +After the ceremony, <span class="cnm">Cleopatra</span> crowns <span class="cnm">Antony.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I thought how those white arms would fold me in,<br /> +And strain me close, and melt me into love;<br /> +So pleased with that sweet image, I sprung forwards,<br /> +And added all my strength to every blow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Come to me, come, my soldier, to my arms!<br /> +You've been too long away from my embraces;<br /> +But, when I have you fast, and all my own,<br /> +With broken murmurs, and with amorous sighs,<br /> +I'll say, you were unkind, and punish you,<br /> +And mark you red with many an eager kiss.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> My brighter Venus!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> O my greater Mars!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou join'st us well, my love!<br /> +Suppose me come from the Phlegræan plains,<br /> +Where gasping giants lay, cleft by my sword,<br /> +And mountain tops pared off each other blow,<br /> +To bury those I slew. Receive me, goddess!<br /> +Let Cæsar spread his subtile nets; like Vulcan,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_356" name="page_356"></a> +In thy embraces I would be beheld<br /> +By heaven and earth at once;<br /> +And make their envy what they meant their sport.<br /> +Let those, who took us, blush; I would love on,<br /> +With awful state, regardless of their frowns,<br /> +As their superior god.<br /> +There's no satiety of love in thee:<br /> +Enjoyed, thou still art new; perpetual spring<br /> +Is in thy arms; the ripened fruit but falls,<br /> +And blossoms rise to fill its empty place;<br /> +And I grow rich by giving.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Ventidius,</span> and stands apart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O, now the danger's past, your general comes!<br /> +He joins not in your joys, nor minds your triumphs;<br /> +But, with contracted brows, looks frowning on,<br /> +As envying your success.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Now, on my soul, he loves me; truly loves me:<br /> +He never flattered me in any vice,<br /> +But awes me with his virtue: even this minute,<br /> +Methinks, he has a right of chiding me.<br /> +Lead to the temple: I'll avoid his presence;<br /> +It checks too strong upon me.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt the rest.</span><br /> +<span class="sdr">[As <span class="cnm">Antony</span> is going, <span class="cnm">Ventidius</span> pulls him by +the robe.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Emperor!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis the old argument; I pr'ythee, spare me. +<span class="sdr">[Looking back.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> But this one hearing, emperor.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Let go<br /> +My robe; or, by my father Hercules—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> By Hercules' father, that's yet greater,<br /> +I bring you somewhat you would wish to know.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou see'st we are observed; attend me here,<br /> +And I'll return.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I am waning in his favour, yet I love him;<br /> +I love this man, who runs to meet his ruin;<br /> +And sure the gods, like me, are fond of him;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_357" name="page_357"></a> +His virtues lie so mingled with his crimes,<br /> +As would confound their choice to punish one,<br /> +And not reward the other.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Antony.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> We can conquer,<br /> +You see, without your aid.<br /> +We have dislodged their troops;<br /> +They look on us at distance, and, like curs<br /> +'Scaped from the lion's paws, they bay far off,<br /> +And lick their wounds, and faintly threaten war.<br /> +Five thousand Romans, with their faces upward,<br /> +Lie breathless on the plain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> 'Tis well; and he,<br /> +Who lost them, could have spared ten thousand more.<br /> +Yet if, by this advantage, you could gain<br /> +An easier peace, while Cæsar doubts the chance<br /> +Of arms—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O think not on't, Ventidius!<br /> +The boy pursues my ruin, he'll no peace;<br /> +His malice is considerate in advantage.<br /> +O, he's the coolest murderer! so staunch,<br /> +He kills, and keeps his temper.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Have you no friend<br /> +In all his army, who has power to move him?<br /> +Mecænas, or Agrippa, might do much.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> They're both too deep in Cæsar's interests.<br /> +We'll work it out by dint of sword, or perish.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Fain I would find some other.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thank thy love.<br /> +Some four or five such victories as this<br /> +Will save thy farther pains.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Expect no more; Cæsar is on his guard:<br /> +I know, sir, you have conquered against odds;<br /> +But still you draw supplies from one poor town,<br /> +And of Egyptians: he has all the world,<br /> +And, at his beck, nations come pouring in,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_358" name="page_358"></a> +To fill the gaps you make. Pray, think again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why dost thou drive me from myself, to search<br /> +For foreign aids? to hunt my memory,<br /> +And range all o'er a waste and barren place,<br /> +To find a friend? the wretched have no friends.<br /> +Yet I had one, the bravest youth of Rome,<br /> +Whom Cæsar loves beyond the love of women:<br /> +He could resolve his mind, as fire does wax,<br /> +From that hard rugged image melt him down,<br /> +And mould him in what softer form he pleased.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Him would I see; that man, of all the world;<br /> +Just such a one we want.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> He loved me too;<br /> +I was his soul; he lived not but in me:<br /> +We were so closed within each others breasts,<br /> +The rivets were not found, that joined us first.<br /> +That does not reach us yet: we were so mixt,<br /> +As meeting streams, both to ourselves were lost;<br /> +We were one mass; we could not give or take,<br /> +But from the same; for he was I, I he.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> He moves as I would wish him.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> After this,<br /> +I need not tell his name;—'twas Dolabella.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> He's now in Cæsar's camp.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No matter where,<br /> +Since he's no longer mine. He took unkindly,<br /> +That I forbade him Cleopatra's sight,<br /> +Because I feared he loved her: he confest,<br /> +He had a warmth, which, for my sake, he stifled;<br /> +For 'twere impossible that two, so one,<br /> +Should not have loved the same. When he departed,<br /> +He took no leave; and that confirmed my thoughts.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> It argues, that he loved you more than her,<br /> +Else he had staid; but he perceived you jealous,<br /> +And would not grieve his friend: I know he loves you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I should have seen him, then, ere now.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Perhaps<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_359" name="page_359"></a> +He has thus long been labouring for your peace.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Would he were here!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Would you believe he loved you?<br /> +I read your answer in your eyes, you would.<br /> +Not to conceal it longer, he has sent<br /> +A messenger from Cæsar's camp, with letters.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Let him appear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I'll bring him instantly. +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Ventidius,</span> and re-enters immediately with +<span class="cnm">Dolabella.</span></span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis he himself! himself, by holy friendship! +<span class="sdr">[Runs to embrace him.</span><br /> +Art thou returned at last, my better half?<br /> +Come, give me all myself!<br /> +Let me not live,<br /> +If the young bridegroom, longing for his night,<br /> +Was ever half so fond.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I must be silent, for my soul is busy<br /> +About a noble work: she's new come home,<br /> +Like a long-absent man, and wanders o'er<br /> +Each room, a stranger to her own, to look<br /> +If all be safe.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou hast what's left of me;<br /> +For I am now so sunk from what I was,<br /> +Thou find'st me at my lowest water-mark.<br /> +The rivers that ran in, and raised my fortunes,<br /> +Are all dried up, or take another course:<br /> +What I have left is from my native spring;<br /> +I've still a heart that swells, in scorn of fate,<br /> +And lifts me to my banks.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Still you are lord of all the world to me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why, then I yet am so; for thou art all.<br /> +If I had any joy when thou wert absent,<br /> +I grudged it to myself; methought I robbed<br /> +Thee of thy part. But, oh, my Dolabella!<br /> +Thou hast beheld me other than I am.<br /> +Hast thou not seen my morning chambers filled<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_360" name="page_360"></a> +With sceptered slaves, who waited to salute me?<br /> +With eastern monarchs, who forgot the sun,<br /> +To worship my uprising? menial kings<br /> +Ran coursing up and down my palace-yard,<br /> +Stood silent in my presence, watched my eyes,<br /> +And, at my least command, all started out,<br /> +Like racers to the goal<a class="ftnt" href="#All_4-2">[2]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Slaves to your fortune.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Fortune is Cæsar's now; and what am I?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> What you have made yourself; I will not flatter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Is this friendly done?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Yes; when his end is so, I must join with him;<br /> +Indeed I must, and yet you must not chide:<br /> +Why am I else your friend?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Take heed, young man,<br /> +How thou upbraid'st my love: The queen has eyes,<br /> +And thou too hast a soul. Canst thou remember,<br /> +When, swelled with hatred, thou beheld'st her first<br /> +As accessary to thy brother's death?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Spare my remembrance; 'twas a guilty day,<br /> +And still the blush hangs here.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> To clear herself,<br /> +For sending him no aid, she came from Egypt.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_361" name="page_361"></a> +Her galley down the silver Cydnos rowed,<br /> +The tackling silk, the streamers waved with gold;<br /> +The gentle winds were lodged in purple sails:<br /> +Her nymphs, like Nereids, round her couch were placed;<br /> +Where she, another sea-born Venus, lay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> No more: I would not hear it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O, you must!<br /> +She lay, and leant her cheek upon her hand,<br /> +And cast a look so languishingly sweet,<br /> +As if, secure of all beholders' hearts,<br /> +Neglecting, she could take them: boys, like Cupids,<br /> +Stood fanning, with their painted wings, the winds,<br /> +That played about her face: but if she smiled,<br /> +A darting glory seemed to blaze abroad,<br /> +That men's desiring eyes were never wearied,<br /> +But hung upon the object: To soft flutes<br /> +The silver oars kept time; and while they played,<br /> +The hearing gave new pleasure to the sight;<br /> +And both to thought. 'Twas heaven, or somewhat more:<br /> +For she so charmed all hearts, that gazing crowds<br /> +Stood panting on the shore, and wanted breath<br /> +To give their welcome voice.<br /> +Then, Dolabella, where was then thy soul?<br /> +Was not thy fury quite disarmed with wonder?<br /> +Didst thou not shrink behind me from those eyes<br /> +And whisper in my ear,—Oh, tell her not<br /> +That I accused her of my brother's death?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> And should my weakness be a plea for yours?<br /> +Mine was an age when love might be excused,<br /> +When kindly warmth, and when my springing youth<br /> +Made it a debt to nature. Yours—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Speak boldly.<br /> +Yours, he would say, in your declining age,<br /> +When no more heat was left but what you forced,<br /> +When all the sap was needful for the trunk,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_362" name="page_362"></a> +When it went down, then you constrained the course,<br /> +And robbed from nature, to supply desire;<br /> +In you (I would not use so harsh a word)<br /> +'Tis but plain dotage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Ha!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> 'Twas urged too home.—<br /> +But yet the loss was private, that I made;<br /> +'Twas but myself I lost: I lost no legions;<br /> +I had no world to lose, no people's love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> This from a friend?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Yes, Antony, a true one;<br /> +A friend so tender, that each word I speak<br /> +Stabs my own heart, before it reach your ear.<br /> +O, judge me not less kind, because I chide!<br /> +To Cæsar I excuse you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O ye gods!<br /> +Have I then lived to be excused to Cæsar?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> As to your equal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Well, he's but my equal:<br /> +While I wear this, he never shall be more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I bring conditions from him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Are they noble?<br /> +Methinks thou shouldst not bring them else; yet he<br /> +Is full of deep dissembling; knows no honour<br /> +Divided from his interest. Fate mistook him;<br /> +For nature meant him for an usurer:<br /> +He's fit indeed to buy, not conquer kingdoms.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Then, granting this,<br /> +What power was theirs, who wrought so hard a temper<br /> +To honourable terms?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> It was my Dolabella, or some god.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Not I; nor yet Mecænas, nor Agrippa:<br /> +They were your enemies; and I, a friend,<br /> +Too weak alone; yet 'twas a Roman's deed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Twas like a Roman done: show me that man,<br /> +Who has preserved my life, my love, my honour;<br /> +Let me but see his face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_363" name="page_363"></a> +<span class="cnm">Vent.</span> That task is mine,<br /> +And, heaven, thou know'st how pleasing.<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Vent.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> You'll remember<br /> +To whom you stand obliged?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> When I forget it,<br /> +Be thou unkind, and that's my greatest curse.<br /> +My queen shall thank him too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I fear she will not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But she shall do it: The queen, my Dolabella!<br /> +Hast thou not still some grudgings of thy fever?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I would not see her lost.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> When I forsake her,<br /> +Leave me, my better stars! for she has truth<br /> +Beyond her beauty. Cæsar tempted her,<br /> +At no less price than kingdoms, to betray me;<br /> +But she resisted all: and yet thou chidest me<br /> +For loving her too well. Could I do so?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Yes; there's my reason.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Re-enter <span class="cnm">Ventidius,</span> with <span class="cnm">Octavia,</span> leading <span class="cnm">Antony's</span> +two little Daughters.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Where?—Octavia there!<span class="sdr">[Starting back.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> What, is she poison to you? a disease?<br /> +Look on her, view her well, and those she brings:<br /> +Are they all strangers to your eyes? has nature<br /> +No secret call, no whisper they are yours?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> For shame, my lord, if not for love, receive them<br /> +With kinder eyes. If you confess a man,<br /> +Meet them, embrace them, bid them welcome to you.<br /> +Your arms should open, even without your knowledge,<br /> +To clasp them in; your feet should turn to wings,<br /> +To bear you to them; and your eyes dart out,<br /> +And aim a kiss, ere you could reach the lips.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I stood amazed, to think how they came hither.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I sent for them; I brought them in, unknown.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_364" name="page_364"></a> +To Cleopatra's guards.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Yet, are you cold?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Thus long I have attended for my welcome;<br /> +Which, as a stranger, sure I might expect.<br /> +Who am I?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Cæsar's sister.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> That's unkind.<br /> +Had I been nothing more than Cæsar's sister,<br /> +Know, I had still remained in Cæsar's camp:<br /> +But your Octavia, your much injured wife,<br /> +Though banished from your bed, driven from your house,<br /> +In spite of Cæsar's sister, still is yours.<br /> +'Tis true, I have a heart disdains your coldness,<br /> +And prompts me not to seek what you should offer;<br /> +But a wife's virtue still surmounts that pride.<br /> +I come to claim you as my own; to show<br /> +My duty first; to ask, nay beg, your kindness:<br /> +Your hand, my lord; 'tis mine, and I will have it. +<span class="sdr">[Taking his hand.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Do, take it; thou deserv'st it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> On my soul,<br /> +And so she does: she's neither too submissive,<br /> +Nor yet too haughty; but so just a mean<br /> +Shows, as it ought, a wife and Roman too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I fear, Octavia, you have begged my life.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Begged it, my lord?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Yes, begged it, my ambassadress;<br /> +Poorly and basely begged it of your brother.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Poorly and basely I could never beg:<br /> +Nor could my brother grant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Shall I, who, to my kneeling slave, could say,<br /> +Rise up, and be a king; shall I fall down<br /> +And cry,—forgive me, Cæsar! shall I set<br /> +A man, my equal, in the place of Jove,<br /> +As he could give me being? No; that word,<br /> +Forgive, would choke me up,<br /> +And die upon my tongue.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_365" name="page_365"></a> +<span class="cnm">Dola.</span> You shall not need it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I will not need it. Come, you've all betrayed me,—<br /> +My friend too!—to receive some vile conditions.<br /> +My wife has bought me, with her prayers and tears;<br /> +And now I must become her branded slave.<br /> +In every peevish mood, she will upbraid<br /> +The life she gave: if I but look awry,<br /> +She cries,—I'll tell my brother.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> My hard fortune<br /> +Subjects me still to your unkind mistakes.<br /> +But the conditions I have brought are such,<br /> +You need not blush to take: I love your honour,<br /> +Because 'tis mine; it never shall be said,<br /> +Octavia's husband was her brother's slave.<br /> +Sir, you are free; free, even from her you loath;<br /> +For, though my brother bargains for your love,<br /> +Makes me the price and cement of your peace,<br /> +I have a soul like yours; I cannot take<br /> +Your love as alms, nor beg what I deserve.<br /> +I'll tell my brother we are reconciled;<br /> +He shall draw back his troops, and you shall march<br /> +To rule the East: I may be dropt at Athens;<br /> +No matter where. I never will complain,<br /> +But only keep the barren name of wife,<br /> +And rid you of the trouble.</p> + +<table summary="Speeches apart" style="border-collapse: collapse;"> +<tr> +<td><p class="dlg" style="margin-top: 0;"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Was ever such a strife of sullen honour!<br /> +Both scorn to be obliged.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> O, she has touched him in the tenderest part;<br /> +See how he reddens with despite and shame,<br /> +To be out-done in generosity!</p> + +<p class="dlg" style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> See, how he winks! how he dries up a tear,<br /> +That fain would fall!</p></td> + +<td>}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}<br /> +}</td> + +<td><i>Apart.</i></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Octavia, I have heard you, and must praise<br /> +The greatness of your soul;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_366" name="page_366"></a> +But cannot yield to what you have proposed:<br /> +For I can ne'er be conquered but by love;<br /> +And you do all for duty. You would free me,<br /> +And would be dropt at Athens; was't not so?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> It was, my lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Then I must be obliged<br /> +To one who loves me not; who, to herself,<br /> +May call me thankless and ungrateful man:—<br /> +I'll not endure it; no.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I am glad it pinches there.<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Would you triumph o'er poor Octavia's virtue?<br /> +That pride was all I had to bear me up;<br /> +That you might think you owed me for your life,<br /> +And owed it to my duty, not my love.<br /> +I have been injured, and my haughty soul<br /> +Could brook but ill the man, who slights my bed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Therefore you love me not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Therefore, my lord,<br /> +I should not love you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Therefore you would leave me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> And therefore I should leave you—if I could.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Her soul's too great, after such injuries,<br /> +To say she loves; and yet she lets you see it.<br /> +Her modesty and silence plead her cause.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O, Dolabella, which way shall I turn?<br /> +I find a secret yielding in my soul;<br /> +But Cleopatra, who would die with me,<br /> +Must she be left? pity pleads for Octavia;<br /> +But does it not plead more for Cleopatra?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Justice and pity both plead for Octavia;<br /> +For Cleopatra, neither.<br /> +One would be ruined with you; but she first<br /> +Had ruined you: The other, you have ruined,<br /> +And yet she would preserve you.<br /> +In every thing their merits are unequal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O, my distracted soul!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Sweet heaven compose it!—<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_367" name="page_367"></a> +Come, come, my lord, if I can pardon you,<br /> +Methinks you should accept it. Look on these;<br /> +Are they not yours? or stand they thus neglected,<br /> +As they are mine? go to him, children, go;<br /> +Kneel to him, take him by the hand, speak to him;<br /> +For you may speak, and he may own you too,<br /> +Without a blush; and so he cannot all<br /> +His children: go, I say, and pull him to me,<br /> +And pull him to yourselves, from that bad woman.<br /> +You, Agrippina, hang upon his arms;<br /> +And you, Antonia, clasp about his waist:<br /> +If he will shake you off, if he will dash you<br /> +Against the pavement, you must bear it, children;<br /> +For you are mine, and I was born to suffer. +<span class="sdr">[Here the Children go to him, &c.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Was ever sight so moving?—Emperor!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Friend!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Husband!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Both Child.</span> Father!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I am vanquished: take me,<br /> +Octavia; take me, children; share me all.<span class="sdr">[Embracing them.</span><br /> +I've been a thriftless debtor to your loves,<br /> +And run out much, in riot, from your stock;<br /> +But all shall be amended.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> O blest hour!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> O happy change!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> My joy stops at my tongue;<br /> +But it has found two channels here for one,<br /> +And bubbles out above.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Octav.</span></span>]<br /> +This is thy triumph; lead me where thou wilt;<br /> +Even to thy brother's camp.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> All there are yours.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Alexas</span> hastily.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> The queen, my mistress, sir, and yours—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_368" name="page_368"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis past.—Octavia, you shall stay this night;<br /> +To-morrow, Cæsar and we are one. +<span class="sdr">[Ex. leading <span class="cnm">Octav. Dol.</span> and the Children follow.</span><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> There's news for you; run, my officious eunuch,<br /> +Be sure to be the first; haste forward:<br /> +Haste, my dear eunuch, haste.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> This downright fighting fool, this thick-skulled hero,<br /> +This blunt unthinking instrument of death,<br /> +With plain dull virtue has out-gone my wit.<br /> +Pleasure forsook my earliest infancy;<br /> +The luxury of others robbed my cradle,<br /> +And ravished thence the promise of a man<br /> +Cast out from nature, disinherited<br /> +Of what her meanest children claim by kind,<br /> +Yet greatness kept me from contempt: that's gone:<br /> +Had Cleopatra followed my advice,<br /> +Then he had been betrayed, who now forsakes.<br /> +She dies for love; but she has known its joys:<br /> +Gods, is this just, that I, who know no joys,<br /> +Must die, because she loves?</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Cleopatra, Charmion, Iras,</span> and Train.</p> + +<p class="dlg">Oh, madam, I have seen what blasts my eyes!<br /> +Octavia's here.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Peace with that raven's note.<br /> +I know it too; and now am in<br /> +The pangs of death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> You are no more a queen;<br /> +Egypt is lost.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> What tell'st thou me of Egypt?<br /> +My life, my soul is lost! Octavia has him!—<br /> +O fatal name to Cleopatra's love!<br /> +My kisses, my embraces now are hers;<br /> +While I—But thou hast seen my rival; speak.<br /> +Does she deserve this blessing? Is she fair?<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_369" name="page_369"></a> +Bright as a goddess? and is all perfection<br /> +Confined to her? It is. Poor I was made<br /> +Of that coarse matter, which, when she was finished,<br /> +The gods threw by for rubbish.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> She's indeed a very miracle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Death to my hopes, a miracle!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> A miracle;<span class="sdr">[Bowing.</span><br /> +I mean of goodness; for in beauty, madam,<br /> +You make all wonders cease.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I was too rash:<br /> +Take this in part of recompense. But, oh,<span class="sdr">[Giving a ring.</span><br /> +I fear thou flatterest me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> She comes! she's here!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Fly, madam, Cæsar's sister!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Were she the sister of the thunderer Jove,<br /> +And bore her brother's lightning in her eyes,<br /> +Thus would I face my rival.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Meets <span class="cnm">Octavia</span> with <span class="cnm">Ventidius. Octavia</span> bears +up to her. Their Trains come up on either side.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> I need not ask if you are Cleopatra;<br /> +Your haughty carriage—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Shows I am a queen:<br /> +Nor need I ask you, who you are.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> A Roman:<br /> +A name, that makes and can unmake a queen.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Your lord, the man who serves me, is a Roman.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> He was a Roman, till he lost that name,<br /> +To be a slave in Egypt; but I come<br /> +To free him thence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Peace, peace, my lover's Juno.<br /> +When he grew weary of that household-clog,<br /> +He chose my easier bonds.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> I wonder not<br /> +Your bonds are easy; you have long been practised<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_370" name="page_370"></a> +In that lascivious art: He's not the first,<br /> +For whom you spread your snares: Let Cæsar witness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I loved not Cæsar; 'twas but gratitude<br /> +I paid his love: The worst your malice can,<br /> +Is but to say, the greatest of mankind<br /> +Has been my slave. The next, but far above him<br /> +In my esteem, is he whom law calls yours,<br /> +But whom his love made mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> I would view nearer<span class="sdr">[Coming up close to her.</span><br /> +That face, which has so long usurped my right,<br /> +To find the inevitable charms, that catch<br /> +Mankind so sure, that ruined my dear lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> O, you do well to search; for had you known<br /> +But half these charms, you had not lost his heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Far be their knowledge from a Roman lady,<br /> +Far from a modest wife! Shame of your sex,<br /> +Dost thou not blush, to own those black endearments,<br /> +That make sin pleasing?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> You may blush, who want them.<br /> +If bounteous nature, if indulgent heaven<br /> +Have given me charms to please the bravest man,<br /> +Should I not thank them? should I be ashamed,<br /> +And not be proud? I am, that he has loved me;<br /> +And, when I love not him, heaven change this face<br /> +For one like that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Thou lov'st him not so well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I love him better, and deserve him more.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> You do not; cannot: You have been his ruin.<br /> +Who made him cheap at Rome, but Cleopatra?<br /> +Who made him scorned abroad, but Cleopatra?<br /> +At Actium, who betrayed him? Cleopatra.<br /> +Who made his children orphans, and poor me<br /> +A wretched widow? only Cleopatra.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Yet she, who loves him best, is Cleopatra.<br /> +If you have suffered, I have suffered more.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_371" name="page_371"></a> +You bear the specious title of a wife,<br /> +To gild your cause, and draw the pitying world<br /> +To favour it: the world condemns poor me;<br /> +For I have lost my honour, lost my fame,<br /> +And stained the glory of my royal house,<br /> +And all to bear the branded name of mistress.<br /> +There wants but life, and that too I would lose<br /> +For him I love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Be't so then; take thy wish. +<span class="sdr">[Exit with her Train.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> And 'tis my wish,<br /> +Now he is lost for whom alone I lived.<br /> +My sight grows dim, and every object dances,<br /> +And swims before me, in the maze of death.<br /> +My spirits, while they were opposed, kept up;<br /> +They could not sink beneath a rival's scorn:<br /> +But now she's gone, they faint.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Mine have had leisure<br /> +To recollect their strength, and furnish counsel,<br /> +To ruin her, who else must ruin you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Vain promiser!<br /> +Lead me, my Charmion; nay, your hand too, Iras.<br /> +My grief has weight enough to sink you both.<br /> +Conduct me to some solitary chamber,<br /> +And draw the curtains round;<br /> +Then leave me to myself, to take alone<br /> +My fill of grief:<br /> +<span class="i1">There I till death will his unkindness weep;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">As harmless infants moan themselves asleep.</span><span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_372" name="page_372"></a></div> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT IV. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Antony</span> and <span class="cnm">Dolabella.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Why would you shift it from yourself, on me?<br /> +Can you not tell her, you must part?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I cannot.<br /> +I could pull out an eye, and bid it go,<br /> +And t'other should not weep. Oh, Dolabella,<br /> +How many deaths are in this word, <i>depart</i>!<br /> +I dare not trust my tongue to tell her so:<br /> +One look of hers would thaw me into tears,<br /> +And I should melt, till I were lost again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Then let Ventidius;<br /> +He's rough by nature.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Oh, he'll speak too harshly;<br /> +He'll kill her with the news: Thou, only thou.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Nature has cast me in so soft a mould,<br /> +That but to hear a story, feigned for pleasure,<br /> +Of some sad lover's death, moistens my eyes,<br /> +And robs me of my manhood. I should speak<br /> +So faintly, with such fear to grieve her heart,<br /> +She'd not believe it earnest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Therefore,—therefore<br /> +Thou only, thou art fit: Think thyself me;<br /> +And when thou speak'st, (but let it first be long)<br /> +Take off the edge from every sharper sound,<br /> +And let our parting he as gently made,<br /> +As other loves begin: Wilt thou do this?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> What you have said, so sinks into my soul,<br /> +That, if I must speak, I shall speak just so.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I leave you then to your sad task: Farewell.<br /> +I sent her word to meet you.<span class="sdr">[Goes to the door, and comes back.</span><br /> +I forgot;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_373" name="page_373"></a> +Let her be told, I'll make her peace with mine:<br /> +Her crown and dignity shall be preserved,<br /> +If I have power with Cæsar.—O, be sure<br /> +To think on that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Fear not, I will remember. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Antony</span> goes again to the door, and comes back.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And tell her, too, how much I was constrained;<br /> +I did not this, but with extremest force:<br /> +Desire her not to hate my memory,<br /> +For I still cherish hers;—insist on that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Trust me, I'll not forget it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Then that's all.<span class="sdr">[Goes out, and returns again.</span><br /> +Wilt thou forgive my fondness this once more?<br /> +Tell her, though we shall never meet again,<br /> +If I should hear she took another love,<br /> +The news would break my heart.—Now I must go;<br /> +For every time I have returned, I feel<br /> +My soul more tender; and my next command<br /> +Would be, to bid her stay, and ruin both.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Men are but children of a larger growth;<br /> +Our appetites as apt to change as theirs,<br /> +And full as craving too, and full as vain;<br /> +And yet the soul, shut up in her dark room,<br /> +Viewing so clear abroad, at home sees nothing;<br /> +But, like a mole in earth, busy and blind,<br /> +Works all her folly up, and casts it outward<br /> +To the world's open view: Thus I discovered,<br /> +And blamed the love of ruined Antony;<br /> +Yet wish that I were he, to be so ruined.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Ventidius</span> above.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Alone, and talking to himself? concerned too?<br /> +Perhaps my guess is right; he loved her once,<br /> +And may pursue it still.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_374" name="page_374"></a> +<span class="cnm">Dola.</span> O friendship! friendship!<br /> +Ill canst thou answer this; and reason, worse:<br /> +Unfaithful in the attempt; hopeless to win;<br /> +And, if I win, undone: mere madness all.<br /> +And yet the occasion's fair. What injury<br /> +To him, to wear the robe which he throws by?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> None, none at all. This happens as I wish,<br /> +To ruin her yet more with Antony.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Cleopatra,</span> talking with <span class="cnm">Alexas; Charmion, +Iras</span> on the other side.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> She comes! What charms have sorrow on that face!<br /> +Sorrow seems pleased to dwell with so much sweetness;<br /> +Yet, now and then, a melancholy smile<br /> +Breaks loose, like lightning in a winter's night,<br /> +And shows a moment's day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> If she should love him too! her eunuch there!<br /> +That porc'pisce bodes ill weather. Draw, draw nearer,<br /> +Sweet devil, that I may hear.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Believe me; try. +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Dolabella</span> goes over to <span class="cnm">Charmion</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras;</span> +seems to talk with them.</span><br /> +To make him jealous; jealousy is like<br /> +A polished glass held to the lips when life's in doubt;<br /> +If there be breath, 'twill catch the damp, and show it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I grant you, jealousy's a proof of love,<br /> +But 'tis a weak and unavailing medicine;<br /> +It puts out the disease, and makes it show,<br /> +But has no power to cure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> 'Tis your last remedy, and strongest too:<br /> +And then this Dolabella, who so fit<br /> +To practise on? He's handsome, valiant, young,<br /> +And looks as he were laid for nature's bait,<br /> +To catch weak woman's eyes.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_375" name="page_375"></a> +He stands already more than half suspected<br /> +Of loving you: the least kind word or glance,<br /> +You give this youth, will kindle him with love:<br /> +Then, like a burning vessel set adrift,<br /> +You'll send him down amain before the wind,<br /> +To fire the heart of jealous Antony.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Can I do this? Ah, no; my love's so true,<br /> +That I can neither hide it where it is,<br /> +Nor show it where it is not. Nature meant me<br /> +A wife; a silly, harmless, household dove,<br /> +Fond without art, and kind without deceit;<br /> +But Fortune, that has made a mistress of me,<br /> +Has thrust me out to the wide world, unfurnished<br /> +Of falsehood to be happy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Force yourself.<br /> +The event will be, your lover will return,<br /> +Doubly desirous to possess the good,<br /> +Which once he feared to lose.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I must attempt it;<br /> +But oh with what regret! +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Alex.</span> She comes up to <span class="cnm">Dolabella.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> So, now the scene draws near; they're in my reach.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Dol.</span></span>]<br /> +Discoursing with my women! might not I<br /> +Share in your entertainment?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> You have been<br /> +The subject of it, madam.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> How! and how?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Such praises of your beauty!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Mere poetry.<br /> +Your Roman wits, your Gallus and Tibullus,<br /> +Have taught you this from Cytheris and Delia.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Those Roman wits have never been in Egypt;<br /> +Cytheris and Delia else had been unsung:<br /> +I, who have seen—had I been born a poet,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_376" name="page_376"></a> +Should choose a nobler name.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> You flatter me.<br /> +But, 'tis your nation's vice: All of your country<br /> +Are flatterers, and all false. Your friend's like you.<br /> +I'm sure, he sent you not to speak these words.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> No, madam; yet he sent me—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Well, he sent you—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Of a less pleasing errand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> How less pleasing?<br /> +Less to yourself, or me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Madam, to both;<br /> +For you must mourn, and I must grieve to cause it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> You, Charmion, and your fellow, stand at distance.—<br /> +Hold up my spirits. [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>]—Well, now your mournful matter;<br /> +For I'm prepared, perhaps can guess it too.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I wish you would; for 'tis a thankless office,<br /> +To tell ill news: And I, of all your sex,<br /> +Most fear displeasing you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Of all your sex,<br /> +I soonest could forgive you, if you should.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Most delicate advances! woman! woman!<br /> +Dear, damned, inconstant sex!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> In the first place,<br /> +I am to be forsaken; is't not so?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I wish I could not answer to that question.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Then pass it o'er, because it troubles you:<br /> +I should have been more grieved another time.<br /> +Next, I'm to lose my kingdom—farewell, Egypt.<br /> +Yet, is there any more?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Madam, I fear<br /> +Your too deep sense of grief has turned your reason.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> No, no, I'm not run mad; I can bear fortune:<br /> +And love may be expelled by other love,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_377" name="page_377"></a> +As poisons are by poisons.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> You o'erjoy me, madam,<br /> +To find your griefs so moderately borne.<br /> +You've heard the worst; all are not false like him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> No; heaven forbid they should.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Some men are constant.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> And constancy deserves reward, that's certain.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Deserves it not; but give it leave to hope.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I'll swear thou hast my leave. I have enough:<br /> +But how to manage this! Well, I'll consider.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I came prepared<br /> +To tell you heavy news; news, which I thought<br /> +Would fright the blood from your pale cheeks to hear:<br /> +But you have met it with a cheerfulness,<br /> +That makes my task more easy; and my tongue,<br /> +Which on another's message was employed,<br /> +Would gladly speak its own.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Hold, Dolabella.<br /> +First tell me, were you chosen by my lord?<br /> +Or sought you this employment?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> He picked me out; and, as his bosom-friend,<br /> +He charged me with his words.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> The message then<br /> +I know was tender, and each accent smooth,<br /> +To mollify that rugged word, <i>depart</i>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Oh, you mistake: He chose the harshest words;<br /> +With fiery eyes, and with contracted brows,<br /> +He coined his face in the severest stamp;<br /> +And fury shook his fabric, like an earthquake;<br /> +He heaved for vent, and burst like bellowing Ætna,<br /> +In sounds scarce human,—Hence away for ever!<br /> +Let her begone, the blot of my renown,<br /> +And bane of all my hopes! +<a class="pgnm" id="page_378" name="page_378"></a> +<span class="sdr">[All the time of this speech, <span class="cnm">Cleopatra</span> seems +more and more concerned, till she sinks quite +down.</span><br /> +Let her be driven, as far as men can think,<br /> +From man's commerce! she'll poison to the center.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Oh, I can bear no more!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Help, help:—Oh wretch! O cursed, cursed wretch!<br /> +What have I done!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> Help, chafe her temples, Iras.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Bend, bend her forward quickly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> Heaven be praised,<br /> +She comes again.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> O let him not approach me.<br /> +Why have you brought me back to this loathed being,<br /> +The abode of falsehood, violated vows,<br /> +And injured love? For pity, let me go;<br /> +For, if there be a place of long repose,<br /> +I'm sure I want it. My disdainful lord<br /> +Can never break that quiet; nor awake<br /> +The sleeping soul, with hollowing in my tomb<br /> +Such words as fright her hence.—Unkind, unkind!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Believe me, 'tis against myself I speak; +<span class="sdr">[Kneeling.</span><br /> +That sure desires belief; I injured him:<br /> +My friend ne'er spoke those words. Oh, had you seen<br /> +How often he came back, and every time<br /> +With something more obliging and more kind,<br /> +To add to what he said; what dear farewells;<br /> +How almost vanquished by his love he parted,<br /> +And leaned to what unwillingly he left!<br /> +I, traitor as I was, for love of you,<br /> +(But what can you not do, who made me false!)<br /> +I forged that lie; for whose forgiveness kneels<br /> +This self-accused, self-punished criminal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_379" name="page_379"></a> +<span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> With how much ease believe we what we wish!<br /> +Rise, Dolabella; if you have been guilty,<br /> +I have contributed, and too much love<br /> +Has made me guilty too.<br /> +The advance of kindness, which I made, was feigned,<br /> +To call back fleeting love by jealousy;<br /> +But 'twould not last. Oh, rather let me lose,<br /> +Than so ignobly trifle with his heart.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I find your breast fenced round from human reach,<br /> +Transparent as a rock of solid crystal;<br /> +Seen through, but never pierced. My friend, my friend!<br /> +What endless treasure hast thou thrown away;<br /> +And scattered, like an infant, in the ocean,<br /> +Vain sums of wealth, which none can gather thence!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Could you not beg<br /> +An hour's admittance to his private ear?<br /> +Like one, who wanders through long barren wilds;<br /> +And yet foreknows no hospitable inn<br /> +Is near to succour hunger,<br /> +Eats his fill, before his painful march:<br /> +So would I feed a while my famished eyes<br /> +Before we part; for I have far to go,<br /> +If death be far, and never must return.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><span class="cnm">Ventidius,</span> with <span class="cnm">Octavia,</span> behind.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> From hence you may discover—Oh, sweet, sweet!<br /> +Would you indeed? the pretty hand in earnest?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I will, for this reward.<span class="sdr">[Takes her hand.</span><br /> +Draw it not back,<br /> +'Tis all I e'er will beg.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> They turn upon us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> What quick eyes has guilt!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Seem not to have observed them, and go on.</p> + +<p class="sdn"><a class="pgnm" id="page_380" name="page_380"></a> +They enter.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Saw you the emperor, Ventidius?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> No.<br /> +I sought him; but I heard that he was private,<br /> +None with him but Hipparchus, his freedman.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Know you his business?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Giving him instructions,<br /> +And letters to his brother Cæsar.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Well,<br /> +He must be found.<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Dola.</span> and <span class="cnm">Cleo.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Most glorious impudence!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> She looked, methought,<br /> +As she would say,—take your old man, Octavia;<br /> +Thank you, I'm better here.—<br /> +Well, but what use<br /> +Make we of this discovery?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Let it die.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I pity Dolabella; but she's dangerous:<br /> +Her eyes have power beyond Thessalian charms,<br /> +To draw the moon from heaven; for eloquence,<br /> +The sea-green Syrens taught her voice their flattery;<br /> +And, while she speaks, night steals upon the day,<br /> +Unmarked of those that hear: Then she's so charming<br /> +Age buds at sight of her, and swells to youth:<br /> +The holy priests gaze on her when she smiles;<br /> +And with heaved hands, forgetting gravity,<br /> +They bless her wanton eyes: even I, who hate her,<br /> +With a malignant joy behold such beauty;<br /> +And, while I curse, desire it. Antony<br /> +Must needs have some remains of passion still,<br /> +Which may ferment into a worse relapse,<br /> +If now not fully cured. I know, this minute,<br /> +With Cæsar he's endeavouring her peace.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> You have prevailed:—But for a farther purpose +<span class="sdr">[Walks off.</span><br /> +I'll prove how he will relish this discovery.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_381" name="page_381"></a> +What, make a strumpet's peace! it swells my heart:<br /> +It must not, shall not be.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> His guards appear.<br /> +Let me begin, and you shall second me.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Antony.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Octavia, I was looking you, my love:<br /> +What, are your letters ready? I have given<br /> +My last instructions.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Mine, my lord, are written.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Ventidius.<span class="sdr">[Drawing him aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> My lord?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> A word in private.—<br /> +When saw you Dolabella?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Now, my lord,<br /> +He parted hence; and Cleopatra with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Speak softly.—'Twas by my command he went,<br /> +To bear my last farewell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> It looked indeed<span class="sdr">[Aloud.</span><br /> +Like your farewell.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> More softly.—My farewell?<br /> +What secret meaning have you in those words<br /> +Of—my farewell? He did it by my order.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Then he obeyed your order. I suppose<span class="sdr">[Aloud.</span><br /> +You bid him do it with all gentleness,<br /> +All kindness, and all—love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> How she mourned,<br /> +The poor forsaken creature!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> She took it as she ought; she bore your parting<br /> +As she did Cæsar's, as she would another's,<br /> +Were a new love to come.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou dost belie her;<span class="sdr">[Aloud.</span><br /> +Most basely, and maliciously belie her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I thought not to displease you; I have done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_382" name="page_382"></a> +<span class="cnm">Octav.</span> You seem disturbed, my lord.<span class="sdr">[Coming up.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> A very trifle.<br /> +Retire, my love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> It was indeed a trifle.<br /> +He sent—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No more. Look how thou disobeyest me;<span class="sdr">[Angrily.</span><br /> +Thy life shall answer it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Then 'tis no trifle.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Octav.</span></span>]<br /> +'Tis less; a very nothing: You too saw it,<br /> +As well as I, and therefore 'tis no secret.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> She saw it!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Yes: She saw young Dolabella—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Young Dolabella!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Young, I think him young,<br /> +And handsome too; and so do others think him.<br /> +But what of that? He went by your command,<br /> +Indeed 'tis probable, with some kind message;<br /> +For she received it graciously; she smiled;<br /> +And then he grew familiar with her hand,<br /> +Squeezed it, and worried it with ravenous kisses;<br /> +She blushed, and sighed, and smiled, and blushed again;<br /> +At last she took occasion to talk softly,<br /> +And brought her cheek up close, and leaned on his;<br /> +At which, he whispered kisses back on hers;<br /> +And then she cried aloud,—That constancy<br /> +Should be rewarded.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> This I saw and heard.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> What woman was it, whom you heard and saw<br /> +So playful with my friend!<br /> +Not Cleopatra?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Even she, my lord.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> My Cleopatra?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Your Cleopatra;<br /> +Dolabella's Cleopatra;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_383" name="page_383"></a> +Every man's Cleopatra<a class="ftnt" href="#All_4-3">[3]</a>.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou liest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I do not lie, my lord.<br /> +Is this so strange? Should mistresses be left,<br /> +And not provide against a time of change?<br /> +You know she's not much used to lonely nights.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I'll think no more on't.<br /> +I know 'tis false, and see the plot betwixt you.—<br /> +You needed not have gone this way, Octavia.<br /> +What harms it you that Cleopatra's just?<br /> +She's mine no more. I see, and I forgive:<br /> +Urge it no farther, love.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Are you concerned,<br /> +That she's found false?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I should be, were it so;<br /> +For, though 'tis past, I would not that the world<br /> +Should tax my former choice, that I loved one<br /> +Of so light note; but I forgive you both.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> What has my age deserved, that you should think<br /> +I would abuse your ears with perjury?<br /> +If heaven be true, she's false.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Though heaven and earth<br /> +Should witness it, I'll not believe her tainted.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I'll bring you, then, a witness<br /> +From hell, to prove her so.—Nay, go not back; +<span class="sdr">[Seeing <span class="cnm">Alexas</span> just entering, and starting back.</span><br /> +For stay you must and shall.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> What means my lord?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_384" name="page_384"></a> +<span class="cnm">Vent.</span> To make you do what most you hate,—speak truth.<br /> +You are of Cleopatra's private counsel,<br /> +Of her bed-counsel, her lascivious hours;<br /> +Are conscious of each nightly change she makes,<br /> +And watch her, as Chaldæans do the moon,<br /> +Can tell what signs she passes through, what day.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> My noble lord!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> My most illustrious pandar,<br /> +No fine set speech, no cadence, no turned periods,<br /> +But a plain home-spun truth, is what I ask:<br /> +I did, myself, o'erhear your queen make love<br /> +To Dolabella. Speak; for I will know,<br /> +By your confession, what more past betwixt them;<br /> +How near the business draws to your employment;<br /> +And when the happy hour.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Speak truth, Alexas; whether it offend<br /> +Or please Ventidius, care not: Justify<br /> +Thy injured queen from malice: Dare his worst.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>]<br /> +See, how he gives him courage! how he fears<br /> +To find her false! and shuts his eyes to truth,<br /> +Willing to be misled!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> As far as love may plead for woman's frailty,<br /> +Urged by desert and greatness of the lover,<br /> +So far, divine Octavia, may my queen<br /> +Stand even excused to you, for loving him,<br /> +Who is your lord: so far, from brave Ventidius,<br /> +May her past actions hope a fair report.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis well, and truly spoken: mark, Ventidius.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> To you, most noble emperor, her strong passion<br /> +Stands not excused, but wholly justified.<br /> +Her beauty's charms alone, without her crown,<br /> +From Ind and Meroe drew the distant vows<br /> +Of sighing kings; and at her feet were laid<br /> +The sceptres of the earth, exposed on heaps,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_385" name="page_385"></a> +To chuse where she would reign:<br /> +She thought a Roman only could deserve her,<br /> +And, of all Romans, only Antony;<br /> +And, to be less than wife to you, disdained<br /> +Their lawful passion.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis but truth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> And yet, though love, and your unmatched desert,<br /> +Have drawn her from the due regard of honour,<br /> +At last heaven opened her unwilling eyes<br /> +To see the wrongs she offered fair Octavia,<br /> +Whose holy bed she lawlessly usurped.<br /> +The sad effects of this improsperous war<br /> +Confirmed those pious thoughts.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> [<span class="sdm">Aside.</span>] O, wheel you there?<br /> +Observe him now; the man begins to mend,<br /> +And talk substantial reason.—Fear not, eunuch;<br /> +The emperor has given thee leave to speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Else had I never dared to offend his ears<br /> +With what the last necessity has urged<br /> +On my forsaken mistress; yet I must not<br /> +Presume to say, her heart is wholly altered.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No, dare not for thy life, I charge thee dare not<br /> +Pronounce that fatal word!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Must I bear this? Good heaven, afford me patience. +<span class="sdr">[Aside.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> On, sweet eunuch; my dear half man, proceed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Yet Dolabella<br /> +Has loved her long; he, next my godlike lord,<br /> +Deserves her best; and should she meet his passion,<br /> +Rejected, as she is, by him she loved—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Hence from my sight! for I can bear no more:<br /> +Let furies drag thee quick to hell; let all<br /> +The longer damned have rest; each torturing hand<br /> +Do thou employ, till Cleopatra comes;<br /> +Then join thou too, and help to torture her! +<span class="sdr">[Exit <span class="cnm">Alexas,</span> thrust out by <span class="cnm">Antony.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_386" name="page_386"></a> +<span class="cnm">Octav.</span> 'Tis not well,<br /> +Indeed, my lord, 'tis much unkind to me,<br /> +To show this passion, this extreme concernment,<br /> +For an abandoned, faithless prostitute.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Octavia, leave me; I am much disordered:<br /> +Leave me, I say.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> My lord!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I bid you leave me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Obey him, madam: best withdraw a while.<br /> +And see how this will work.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Wherein have I offended you, my lord,<br /> +That I am bid to leave you? Am I false,<br /> +Or infamous? Am I a Cleopatra?<br /> +Were I she,<br /> +Base as she is, you would not bid me leave you:<br /> +But hang upon my neck, take slight excuses,<br /> +And fawn upon my falsehood.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis too much,<br /> +Too much, Octavia; I am prest with sorrows<br /> +Too heavy to be borne; and you add more:<br /> +I would retire, and recollect what's left<br /> +Of man within, to aid me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> You would mourn,<br /> +In private, for your love, who has betrayed you.<br /> +You did but half return to me: your kindness<br /> +Lingered behind with her. I hear, my lord,<br /> +You make conditions for her,<br /> +And would include her treaty. Wonderous proofs<br /> +Of love to me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Are you my friend, Ventidius?<br /> +Or are you turned a Dolabella too,<br /> +And let this Fury loose?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Oh, be advised,<br /> +Sweet madam, and retire.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Octav.</span> Yes, I will go; but never to return.<br /> +You shall no more be haunted with this Fury.<br /> +My lord, my lord, love will not always last,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_387" name="page_387"></a> +When urged with long unkindness and disdain:<br /> +Take her again, whom you prefer to me;<br /> +She stays but to be called. Poor cozened man!<br /> +Let a feigned parting give her back your heart,<br /> +Which a feigned love first got; for injured me,<br /> +Though my just sense of wrongs forbid my stay,<br /> +My duty shall be yours.<br /> +To the dear pledges of our former love,<br /> +My tenderness and care shall be transferred,<br /> +And they shall cheer, by turns, my widowed nights:<br /> +So, take my last farewell; for I despair<br /> +To have you whole, and scorn to take you half.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I combat heaven, which blasts my best designs:<br /> +My last attempt must be to win her back;<br /> +But Oh, I fear in vain.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why was I framed with this plain honest heart,<br /> +Which knows not to disguise its griefs and weakness.<br /> +But bears its workings outward to the world?<br /> +I should have kept the mighty anguish in,<br /> +And forced a smile at Cleopatra's falsehood:<br /> +Octavia had believed it, and had staid.<br /> +But I am made a shallow-forded stream,<br /> +Seen to the bottom: all my clearness scorned,<br /> +And all my faults exposed.—See where he comes.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Dolabella.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg">Who has profaned the sacred name of friend,<br /> +And worn it into vileness!<br /> +With how secure a brow, and specious form,<br /> +He gilds the secret villain! Sure that face<br /> +Was meant for honesty; but heaven mis-matched it,<br /> +And furnished treason out with Nature's pomp,<br /> +To make its work more easy.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> O, my friend!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Well, Dolabella, you performed my message?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I did, unwillingly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_388" name="page_388"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Unwillingly?<br /> +Was it so hard for you to bear our parting?<br /> +You should have wished it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Why?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Because you love me.<br /> +And she received my message, with as true,<br /> +With as unfeigned a sorrow, as you brought it?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> She loves you, even to madness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Oh, I know it.<br /> +You, Dolabella, do not better know<br /> +How much she loves me. And should I<br /> +Forsake this beauty? This all-perfect creature?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I could not, were she mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And yet you first<br /> +Persuaded me: How come you altered since?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> I said at first I was not fit to go:<br /> +I could not bear her sighs, and see her tears,<br /> +But pity must prevail: And so, perhaps,<br /> +It may again with you; for I have promised,<br /> +That she should take her last farewell: And, see,<br /> +She comes to claim my word.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Cleopatra.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> False Dolabella!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> What's false, my lord?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why, Dolabella's false,<br /> +And Cleopatra's false; both false and faithless.<br /> +Draw near, you well-joined wickedness, you serpents<br /> +Whom I have in my kindly bosom warmed,<br /> +Till I am stung to death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> My lord, have I<br /> +Deserved to be thus used?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Can heaven prepare<br /> +A newer torment? Can it find a curse<br /> +Beyond our separation?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Yes, if fate<br /> +Be just, much greater: Heaven should be ingenious<br /> +In punishing such crimes. The rolling-stone,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_389" name="page_389"></a> +And gnawing vulture, were slight pains, invented<br /> +When Jove was young, and no examples known<br /> +Of mighty ills; but you have ripened sin,<br /> +To such a monstrous growth, 'twill pose the gods,<br /> +To find an equal torture. Two, two such!—<br /> +Oh there's no farther name,—two such! to me,<br /> +To me, who locked my soul within your breasts,<br /> +Had no desires, no joys, no life, but you;<br /> +When half the globe was mine, I gave it you<br /> +In dowry with my heart; I had no use,<br /> +No fruit of all, but you: A friend and mistress,<br /> +Was what the world could give. Oh, Cleopatra!<br /> +Oh Dolabella! how could you betray<br /> +This tender heart, which with an infant fondness<br /> +Lay lulled betwixt your bosoms, and there slept,<br /> +Secure of injured faith?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> If she has wronged you,<br /> +Heaven, hell, and you, revenge it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> If she has wronged me!<br /> +Thou would'st evade thy part of guilt; but swear<br /> +Thou lov'st not her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Not so as I love you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Not so! Swear, swear, I say, thou dost not love her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> No more than friendship will allow.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No more?<br /> +Friendship allows thee nothing: Thou art perjured—<br /> +And yet thou didst not swear thou lov'dst her not;<br /> +But not so much, no more. Oh, trifling hypocrite,<br /> +Who darest not own to her, thou dost not love,<br /> +Nor own to me, thou dost! Ventidius heard it;<br /> +Octavia saw it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> They are enemies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Alexas is not so: He, he confest it;<br /> +He, who, next hell, best knew it, he avowed it<br /> +Why do I seek a proof beyond yourself?<span class="sdr">[To <span class="cnm">Dola.</span></span><br /> +You, whom I sent to bear my last farewell,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_390" name="page_390"></a> +Returned, to plead her stay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> What shall I answer?<br /> +If to have loved be guilt, then I have sinned;<br /> +But if to have repented of that love,<br /> +Can wash away my crime, I have repented.<br /> +Yet, if I have offended past forgiveness,<br /> +Let her not suffer: She is innocent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Ah, what will not a woman do, who loves!<br /> +What means will she refuse, to keep that heart,<br /> +Where all her joys are placed! 'Twas I encouraged,<br /> +'Twas I blew up the fire that scorched his soul,<br /> +To make you jealous, and by that regain you.<br /> +But all in vain; I could not counterfeit:<br /> +In spite of all the dams, my love broke o'er,<br /> +And drowned my heart again; fate took the occasion;<br /> +And thus one minute's feigning has destroyed<br /> +My whole life's truth.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thin cobweb arts of falsehood;<br /> +Seen, and broke through at first.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Forgive your mistress.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Forgive your friend.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> You have convinced yourselves.<br /> +You plead each other's cause: What witness have you,<br /> +That you but meant to raise my jealousy?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Ourselves, and heaven.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Guilt witnesses for guilt. Hence, love and friendship!<br /> +You have no longer place in human breasts,<br /> +These two have driven you out: Avoid my sight!<br /> +I would not kill the man whom I have loved,<br /> +And cannot hurt the woman; but avoid me:<br /> +I do not know how long I can be tame;<br /> +For, if I stay one minute more, to think<br /> +How I am wronged, my justice and revenge<br /> +Will cry so loud within me, that my pity<br /> +Will not be heard for either.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> Heaven has but<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_391" name="page_391"></a> +Our sorrow for our sins; and then delights<br /> +To pardon erring man: Sweet mercy seems<br /> +Its darling attribute, which limits justice;<br /> +As if there were degrees in infinite,<br /> +And infinite would rather want perfection,<br /> +Than punish to extent.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I can forgive<br /> +A foe; but not a mistress, and a friend.<br /> +Treason is there in its most horrid shape,<br /> +Where trust is greatest; and the soul, resigned,<br /> +Is stabbed by its own guards: I'll hear no more;<br /> +Hence from my sight, for ever!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> How? for ever!<br /> +I cannot go one moment from your sight,<br /> +And must I go for ever?<br /> +My joys, my only joys, are centered here:<br /> +What place have I to go to? My own kingdom?<br /> +That I have lost for you: Or to the Romans?<br /> +They hate me for your sake: Or must I wander<br /> +The wide world o'er, a helpless, banished woman,<br /> +Banished for love of you; banished from you?<br /> +Ay, there's the banishment! Oh hear me; hear me.<br /> +With strictest justice: For I beg no favour;<br /> +And if I have offended you, then kill me,<br /> +But do not banish me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I must not hear you.<br /> +I have a fool within me, takes your part;<br /> +But honour stops my ears.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> For pity hear me!<br /> +Would you cast off a slave who followed you?<br /> +Who crouched beneath your spurn?—He has no pity!<br /> +See, if he gives one tear to my departure;<br /> +One look, one kind farewell: Oh iron heart!<br /> +Let all the gods look down, and judge betwixt us.<br /> +If he did ever love!</p> +<p class="dlg"> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No more: Alexas!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Dola.</span> A perjured villain!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_392" name="page_392"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Cleo.</span></span>] Your Alexas; yours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> O 'twas his plot; his ruinous design,<br /> +To engage you in my love by jealousy.<br /> +Hear him; confront him with me; let him speak.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I have; I have.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> And if he clear me not—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Your creature! one, who hangs upon your smiles!<br /> +Watches your eye, to say or to unsay,<br /> +Whate'er you please! I am not to be moved.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Then must we part? Farewell, my cruel lord!<br /> +The appearance is against me; and I go,<br /> +Unjustified, for ever from your sight.<br /> +How I have loved, you know; how yet I love,<br /> +My only comfort is, I know myself:<br /> +I love you more, even now you are unkind,<br /> +Than when you loved me most; so well, so truly,<br /> +I'll never strive against it; but die pleased,<br /> +To think you once were mine.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Good heaven, they weep at parting.<br /> +Must I weep too? that calls them innocent.<br /> +I must not weep; and yet I must, to think<br /> +That I must not forgive.—<br /> +Live, but live wretched; 'tis but just you should,<br /> +Who made me so: Live from each other's sight:<br /> +Let me not hear you meet. Set all the earth,<br /> +And all the seas, betwixt your sundered loves:<br /> +View nothing common but the sun and skies.<br /> +Now, all take several ways;<br /> +<span class="i1">And each your own sad fate, with mine, deplore;</span><br /> +<span class="i1">That you were false, and I could trust no more.</span> +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt severally.</span></p> + +<h4 class="scn">ACT V. SCENE I.</h4> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Cleopatra, Charmion,</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> Be juster, heaven; such virtue punished thus,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_393" name="page_393"></a> +Will make us think that chance rules all above,<br /> +And shuffles, with a random hand, the lots,<br /> +Which man is forced to draw.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I could tear out these eyes, that gained his heart,<br /> +And had not power to keep it. O the curse<br /> +Of doting on, even when I find it dotage!<br /> +Bear witness, gods, you heard him bid me go;<br /> +You, whom he mocked with imprecating vows<br /> +Of promised faith!—I'll die; I will not bear it.<br /> +You may hold me—<span class="sdr">[She pulls out her Dagger, and they hold her.</span><br /> +But I can keep my breath; I can die inward,<br /> +And choke this love.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Alexas.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Help, O Alexas, help!<br /> +The queen grows desperate; her soul struggles in her,<br /> +With all the agonies of love and rage,<br /> +And strives to force its passage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Let me go.<br /> +Art thou there, traitor!—O,<br /> +O for a little breath, to vent my rage!<br /> +Give, give me way, and let me loose upon him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Yes, I deserve it, for my ill-timed truth.<br /> +Was it for me to prop<br /> +The ruins of a falling majesty?<br /> +To place myself beneath the mighty flaw,<br /> +Thus to be crushed, and pounded into atoms,<br /> +By its o'erwhelming weight? 'Tis too presuming<br /> +For subjects to preserve that wilful power,<br /> +Which courts its own destruction.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I would reason<br /> +More calmly with you. Did not you o'er-rule,<br /> +And force my plain, direct, and open love,<br /> +Into these crooked paths of jealousy?<br /> +Now, what's the event? Octavia is removed;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_394" name="page_394"></a> +But Cleopatra's banished. Thou, thou villain,<br /> +Hast pushed my boat to open sea; to prove,<br /> +At my sad cost, if thou canst steer it back.<br /> +It cannot be; I'm lost too far; I'm ruined:<br /> +Hence, thou impostor, traitor, monster, devil!—<br /> +I can no more: Thou, and my griefs, have sunk<br /> +Me down so low, that I want voice to curse thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Suppose some shipwrecked seaman near the shore,<br /> +Dropping and faint, with climbing up the cliff,<br /> +If, from above, some charitable hand<br /> +Pull him to safety, hazarding himself,<br /> +To draw the other's weight; would he look back,<br /> +And curse him for his pains? The case is yours;<br /> +But one step more, and you have gained the height.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Sunk, never more to rise.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Octavia's gone, and Dolabella banished.<br /> +Believe me, madam, Antony is yours.<br /> +His heart was never lost; but started off<br /> +To jealousy, love's last retreat and covert;<br /> +Where it lies hid in shades, watchful in silence,<br /> +And listening for the sound that calls it back.<br /> +Some other, any man, ('tis so advanced)<br /> +May perfect this unfinished work, which I<br /> +(Unhappy only to myself) have left<br /> +So easy to his hand.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Look well thou do't; else—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Else, what your silence threatens.—Antony<br /> +Is mounted up the Pharos; from whose turret,<br /> +He stands surveying our Egyptian gallies,<br /> +Engaged with Cæsar's fleet. Now death or conquest!<br /> +If the first happen, fate acquits my promise;<br /> +If we o'ercome, the conqueror is yours. +<span class="sdr">[A distant shout within.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> Have comfort, madam: Did you mark that shout? +<span class="sdr">[Second shout nearer.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Hark! they redouble it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_395" name="page_395"></a> +<span class="cnm">Alex.</span> 'Tis from the port.<br /> +The loudness shows it near: Good news, kind heavens!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Osiris make it so!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Serapion.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Where, where's the queen?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> How frightfully the holy coward stares!<br /> +As if not yet recovered of the assault,<br /> +When all his gods, and, what's more dear to him,<br /> +His offerings, were at stake.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> O horror, horror!<br /> +Egypt has been; our latest hour is come:<br /> +The queen of nations, from her ancient seat,<br /> +Is sunk for ever in the dark abyss:<br /> +Time has unrolled her glories to the last,<br /> +And now closed up the volume.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Be more plain:<br /> +Say, whence thou comest; though fate is in thy face,<br /> +Which from thy hagard eyes looks wildly out,<br /> +And threatens ere thou speakest.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> I came from Pharos;<br /> +From viewing (spare me, and imagine it)<br /> +Our land's last hope, your navy—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Vanquished?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> No;<br /> +They fought not.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Then they fled.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Nor that. I saw,<br /> +With Antony, your well-appointed fleet<br /> +Row out; and thrice he waved his hand on high,<br /> +And thrice with cheerful cries they shouted back:<br /> +'Twas then false Fortune, like a fawning strumpet,<br /> +About to leave the bankrupt prodigal,<br /> +With a dissembled smile would kiss at parting,<br /> +And flatter to the last; the well-timed oars<br /> +Now dipt from every bank, now smoothly run<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_396" name="page_396"></a> +To meet the foe; and soon indeed they met,<br /> +But not as foes. In few, we saw their caps<br /> +On either side thrown up; the Egyptian gallies,<br /> +Received like friends, past through, and fell behind<br /> +The Roman rear: And now, they all come forward,<br /> +And ride within the port,</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Enough, Serapion:<br /> +I've heard my doom.—This needed not, you gods:<br /> +When I lost Antony, your work was done;<br /> +'Tis but superfluous malice.—Where's my lord?<br /> +How bears he this last blow?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> His fury cannot be expressed by words:<br /> +Thrice he attempted headlong to have fallen<br /> +Full on his foes, and aimed at Cæsar's galley:<br /> +With-held, he raves on you; cries,—He's betrayed.<br /> +Should he now find you—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Shun him; seek your safety,<br /> +Till you can clear your innocence.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I'll stay.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> You must not; haste you to your monument,<br /> +While I make speed to Cæsar.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Cæsar! No,<br /> +I have no business with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> I can work him<br /> +To spare your life, and let this madman perish.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Base fawning wretch! would'st thou betray him too?<br /> +Hence from my sight! I will not hear a traitor;<br /> +'Twas thy design brought all this ruin on us.—<br /> +Serapion, thou art honest; counsel me:<br /> +But haste, each moment's precious.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Retire; you must not yet see Antony.<br /> +He who began this mischief,<br /> +'Tis just he tempt the danger; let him clear you:<br /> +And, since he offered you his servile tongue,<br /> +To gain a poor precarious life from Cæsar,<br /> +Let him expose that fawning eloquence,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_397" name="page_397"></a> +And speak to Antony.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O heavens! I dare not;<br /> +I meet my certain death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Slave, thou deservest it,—<br /> +Not that I fear my lord, will I avoid him;<br /> +I know him noble: when he banished me,<br /> +And thought me false, he scorned to take my life;<br /> +But I'll be justified, and then die with him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O pity me, and let me follow you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> To death, if thou stir hence. Speak, if thou canst,<br /> +Now for thy life, which basely thou wouldst save;<br /> +While mine I prize at this. Come, good Serapion. +<span class="sdr">[Exeunt <span class="cnm">Cleo. Serap. Char.</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras.</span></span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O that I less could fear to lose this being,<br /> +Which, like a snow-ball in my coward hand,<br /> +The more 'tis grasped, the faster melts away.<br /> +Poor reason! what a wretched aid art thou!<br /> +For still, in spite of thee,<br /> +These two long lovers, soul and body, dread<br /> +Their final separation. Let me think:<br /> +What can I say, to save myself from death?<br /> +No matter what becomes of Cleopatra.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Which way? where?<span class="sdr">[Within.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> This leads to the monument.<span class="sdr">[Within.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Ah me! I hear him; yet I'm unprepared:<br /> +My gift of lying's gone;<br /> +And this court-devil, which I so oft have raised,<br /> +Forsakes me at my need. I dare not stay;<br /> +Yet cannot far go hence.<span class="sdr">[Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Antony</span> and <span class="cnm">Ventidius.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O happy Cæsar! thou hast men to lead:<br /> +Think not 'tis thou hast conquered Antony;<br /> +But Rome has conquered Egypt. I'm betrayed.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Curse on this treacherous train!<br /> +Their soil and heaven infect them all with baseness:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_398" name="page_398"></a> +And their young souls come tainted to the world<br /> +With the first breath they draw.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> The original villain sure no God created;<br /> +He was a bastard of the sun, by Nile,<br /> +Aped into man; with all his mother's mud<br /> +Crusted about his soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> The nation is<br /> +One universal traitor; and their queen<br /> +The very spirit and extract of them all.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Is there yet left<br /> +A possibility of aid from valour?<br /> +Is there one god unsworn to my destruction?<br /> +The least unmortgaged hope? for, if there be,<br /> +Methinks I cannot fall beneath the fate<br /> +Of such a boy as Cæsar.<br /> +The world's one half is yet in Antony;<br /> +And from each limb of it, that's hewed away,<br /> +The soul comes back to me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> There yet remain<br /> +Three legions in the town. The last assault<br /> +Lopt off the rest: if death be your design,—<br /> +As I must wish it now,—these are sufficient<br /> +To make a heap about us of dead foes,<br /> +An honest pile for burial.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> They are enough.<br /> +We'll not divide our stars; but, side by side,<br /> +Fight emulous, and with malicious eyes<br /> +Survey each other's acts: So every death<br /> +Thou giv'st, I'll take on me, as a just debt,<br /> +And pay thee back a soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Now you shall see I love you. Not a word<br /> +Of chiding more. By my few hours of life,<br /> +I am so pleased with this brave Roman fate,<br /> +That I would not be Cæsar, to outlive you.<br /> +When we put off this flesh, and mount together,<br /> +I shall be shown to all the etherial crowd,—<br /> +Lo, this is he who died with Antony!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_399" name="page_399"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Who knows, but we may pierce through all their troops,<br /> +And reach my veterans yet? 'tis worth the tempting,<br /> +To o'erleap this gulph of fate,<br /> +And leave our wandering destinies behind.</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Alexas,</span> trembling.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> See, see, that villain!<br /> +See Cleopatra stampt upon that face,<br /> +With all her cunning, all her arts of falsehood!<br /> +How she looks out through those dissembling eyes!<br /> +How he sets his countenance for deceit,<br /> +And promises a lie, before he speaks!<br /> +Let me dispatch him first.<span class="sdr">[Drawing.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O spare me, spare me!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Hold; he's not worth your killing.—On thy life,<br /> +Which thou may'st keep, because I scorn to take it,<br /> +No syllable to justify thy queen;<br /> +Save thy base tongue its office.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Sir, she is gone,<br /> +Where she shall never be molested more<br /> +By love, or you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Fled to her Dolabella!<br /> +Die, traitor! I revoke my promise; die!<span class="sdr">[Going to kill him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> O hold! she is not fled.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> She is: my eyes<br /> +Are open to her falsehood; my whole life<br /> +Has been a golden dream of love and friendship;<br /> +But, now I wake, I'm like a merchant, roused<br /> +From soft repose, to see his vessel sinking,<br /> +And all his wealth cast over. Ungrateful woman!<br /> +Who followed me, but as the swallow summer,<br /> +Hatching her young ones in my kindly beams,<br /> +Singing her flatteries to my morning wake:<br /> +But, now my winter comes, she spreads her wings<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_400" name="page_400"></a> +And seeks the spring of Cæsar.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Think not so:<br /> +Her fortunes have, in all things, mixt with yours.<br /> +Had she betrayed her naval force to Rome,<br /> +How easily might she have gone to Cæsar,<br /> +Secure by such a bribe!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> She sent it first,<br /> +To be more welcome after.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis too plain;<br /> +Else would she have appeared, to clear herself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> Too fatally she has: she could not bear<br /> +To be accused by you; but shut herself<br /> +Within her monument; looked down and sighed;<br /> +While, from her unchanged face, the silent tears<br /> +Dropt, as they had not leave, but stole their parting.<br /> +Some undistinguished words she inly murmured;<br /> +At last, she rais'd her eyes; and, with such looks<br /> +As dying Lucrece cast—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> My heart forebodes—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> All for the best:—Go on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> She snatched her poniard,<br /> +And, ere we could prevent the fatal blow,<br /> +Plunged it within her breast; then turned to me:<br /> +Go, bear my lord, said she, my last farewell;<br /> +And ask him, if he yet suspect my faith.<br /> +More she was saying, but death rushed betwixt.<br /> +She half pronounced your name with her last breath,<br /> +And buried half within her.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Heaven be praised!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Then art thou innocent, my poor dear love?<br /> +And art thou dead?<br /> +O those two words! their sound should be divided:<br /> +Hadst thou been false, and died; or hadst thou lived,<br /> +And hadst been true—But innocence and death!<br /> +This shows not well above. Then what am I,<br /> +The murderer of this truth, this innocence!<br /> +Thoughts cannot form themselves in words so horrid<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_401" name="page_401"></a> +As can express my guilt!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Is't come to this? the gods have been too gracious;<br /> +And thus you thank them for it!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> [<span class="sdm">To <span class="cnm">Alex.</span></span>] Why stayest thou here?<br /> +Is it for thee to spy upon my soul,<br /> +And see its inward mourning? Get thee hence;<br /> +Thou art not worthy to behold, what now<br /> +Becomes a Roman emperor to perform.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> He loves her still:<br /> +His grief betrays it. Good! the joy to find<br /> +She's yet alive, completes the reconcilement.<br /> +I've saved myself, and her. But, oh! the Romans!<br /> +Fate comes too fast upon my wit,<br /> +Hunts me too hard, and meets me at each double.<span class="sdr">[Aside. Exit.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Would she had died a little sooner though!<br /> +Before Octavia went, you might have treated:<br /> +Now 'twill look tame, and would not be received.<br /> +Come, rouse yourself, and let's die warm together.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I will not fight: there's no more work for war.<br /> +The business of my angry hours is done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Cæsar is at your gates.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Why, let him enter;<br /> +He's welcome now.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> What lethargy has crept into your soul?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis but a scorn of life, and just desire<br /> +To free myself from bondage.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Do it bravely.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I will; but not by fighting. O, Ventidius!<br /> +What should I fight for now? my queen is dead.<br /> +I was but great for her; my power, my empire,<br /> +Were but my merchandise to buy her love;<br /> +And conquered kings, my factors. Now she's dead,<br /> +Let Cæsar, take the world,—<br /> +An empty circle, since the jewel's gone<br /> +Which made it worth my strife: my being's nauseous;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_402" name="page_402"></a> +For all the bribes of life are gone away.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Would you be taken?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Yes, I would be taken;<br /> +But, as a Roman ought,—dead, my Ventidius:<br /> +For I'll convey my soul from Cæsar's reach,<br /> +And lay down life myself. 'Tis time the world<br /> +Should have a lord, and know whom to obey.<br /> +We two have kept its homage in suspence,<br /> +And bent the globe, on whose each side we trod,<br /> +Till it was dented inwards. Let him walk<br /> +Alone upon't: I'm weary of my part.<br /> +My torch is out; and the world stands before me,<br /> +Like a black desert at the approach of night:<br /> +I'll lay me down, and stray no farther on.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I could be grieved,<br /> +But that I'll not out-live you: chuse your death;<br /> +For, I have seen him in such various shapes,<br /> +I care not which I take: I'm only troubled,<br /> +The life I bear is worn to such a rag,<br /> +'Tis scarce worth giving. I could wish, indeed,<br /> +We threw it from us with a better grace;<br /> +That, like two lions taken in the toils,<br /> +We might at last thrust out our paws, and wound<br /> +The hunters that inclose us.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I have thought on it.<br /> +Ventidius, you must live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I must not, sir.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Wilt thou not live, to speak some good of me?<br /> +To stand by my fair fame, and guard the approaches<br /> +From the ill tongues of men?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Who shall guard mine,<br /> +For living after you?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Say, I command it.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> If we die well, our deaths will speak themselves,<br /> +And need no living witness.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Thou hast loved me,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_403" name="page_403"></a> +And fain I would reward thee. I must die;<br /> +Kill me, and take the merit of my death,<br /> +To make thee friends with Cæsar.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Thank your kindness.<br /> +You said I loved you; and, in recompence,<br /> +You bid me turn a traitor:—Did I think<br /> +You would have used me thus? that I should die<br /> +With a hard thought of you?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Forgive me, Roman.<br /> +Since I have heard of Cleopatra's death,<br /> +My reason bears no rule upon my tongue,<br /> +But lets my thoughts break all at random out.<br /> +I've thought better; do not deny me twice.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> By heaven I will not.<br /> +Let it not be to out-live you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Kill me first,<br /> +And then die thou; for 'tis but just thou serve<br /> +Thy friend, before thyself.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Give me your hand.<br /> +We soon shall meet again. Now, farewell, emperor!—<span class="sdr">[Embrace.</span><br /> +Methinks that word's too cold to be my last:<br /> +Since death sweeps all distinctions, farewell, friend!<br /> +That's all—<br /> +I will not make a business of a trifle:<br /> +And yet I cannot look on you, and kill you;<br /> +Pray turn your face.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I do: strike home, be sure.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> Home, as my sword will reach.<span class="sdr">[Kills himself.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> O thou mistak'st;<br /> +That wound was none of thine: give it me back:<br /> +Thou robb'st me of my death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Vent.</span> I do indeed;<br /> +But think 'tis the first time I e'er deceived you,<br /> +If that may plead my pardon.—And you, gods,<br /> +Forgive me, if you will; for I die perjured,<br /> +Rather than kill my friend.<span class="sdr">[Dies.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><a class="pgnm" id="page_404" name="page_404"></a> +<span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Farewell! Ever my leader, even in death!<br /> +My queen and thou have got the start of me,<br /> +And I'm the lag of honour.—Gone so soon?<br /> +Is death no more? he used him carelessly,<br /> +With a familiar kindness: ere he knocked,<br /> +Ran to the door, and took him in his arms,<br /> +As who should say—You're welcome at all hours,<br /> +A friend need give no warning. Books had spoiled him;<br /> +For all the learned are cowards by profession.<br /> +'Tis not worth<br /> +My farther thought; for death, for aught I know,<br /> +Is but to think no more. Here's to be satisfied. +<span class="sdr">[Falls on his sword.</span><br /> +I've mist my heart. O unperforming hand!<br /> +Thou never could'st have erred in a worse time.<br /> +My fortune jades me to the last; and death,<br /> +Like a great man, takes state, and makes me wait<br /> +For my admittance.—<span class="sdr">[Trampling within.</span><br /> +Some, perhaps, from Cæsar:<br /> +If he should find me living, and suspect<br /> +That I played booty with my life! I'll mend<br /> +My work, ere they can reach me.<span class="sdr">[Rises upon his knees.</span></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Cleopatra, Charmion,</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Where is my lord? where is he?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> There he lies,<br /> +And dead Ventidius by him.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> My fears were prophets; I am come too late.<br /> +O that accursed Alexas!<span class="sdr">[Runs to him.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Art thou living?<br /> +Or am I dead before I knew, and thou<br /> +The first kind ghost that meets me?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Help me seat him.<br /> +Send quickly, send for help!<span class="sdr">[They place him in a chair.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> I am answered.<br /> +We live both. Sit thee down, my Cleopatra:<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_405" name="page_405"></a> +I'll make the most I can of life, to stay<br /> +A moment more with thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> How is it with you?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> 'Tis as with a man<br /> +Removing in a hurry; all packed up,<br /> +But one dear jewel that his haste forgot;<br /> +And he, for that, returns upon the spur:<br /> +So I come back for thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Too long, ye heavens, you have been cruel to me:<br /> +Now show your mended faith, and give me back<br /> +His fleeting life!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> It will not be, my love;<br /> +I keep my soul by force.<br /> +Say but, thou art not false.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> 'Tis now too late<br /> +To say I'm true: I'll prove it, and die with you.<br /> +Unknown to me, Alexas feigned my death:<br /> +Which, when I knew, I hasted to prevent<br /> +This fatal consequence. My fleet betrayed<br /> +Both you and me.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> And Dolabella—</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Scarce esteemed before he loved; but hated now.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> Enough: my life's not long enough for more.<br /> +Thou say'st, thou wilt come after: I believe thee;<br /> +For I can now believe whate'er thou sayest,<br /> +That we may part more kindly.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> I will come:<br /> +Doubt not, my life, I'll come, and quickly too:<br /> +Cæsar shall triumph o'er no part of thee.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> But grieve not, while thou stayest,<br /> +My last disastrous times:<br /> +Think we have had a clear and glorious day;<br /> +And heaven did kindly to delay the storm,<br /> +Just till our close of evening. Ten years love,<br /> +And not a moment lost, but all improved<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_406" name="page_406"></a> +To the utmost joys,—what ages have we liv'd?<br /> +And now to die each others; and, so dying,<br /> +While hand in hand we walk in groves below,<br /> +Whole troops of lovers' ghosts shall flock about us,<br /> +And all the train be ours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Your words are like the notes of dying swans,<br /> +Too sweet to last. Were there so many hours<br /> +For your unkindness, and not one for love?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Ant.</span> No, not a minute.—This one kiss—more worth<br /> +Than all I leave to Cæsar.<span class="sdr">[Dies.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> O, tell me so again,<br /> +And take ten thousand kisses for that word.<br /> +My lord, my lord! speak, if you yet have being;<br /> +Sign to me, if you cannot speak; or cast<br /> +One look! Do any thing, that shows you live.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> He's gone too far to hear you;<br /> +And this you see, a lump of senseless clay,<br /> +The leavings of a soul.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> Remember, madam,<br /> +He charged you not to grieve.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> And I'll obey him.<br /> +I have not loved a Roman, not to know<br /> +What should become his wife; his wife, my Charmion!<br /> +For 'tis to that high title I aspire;<br /> +And now I'll not die less. Let dull Octavia<br /> +Survive, to mourn him dead: My nobler fate<br /> +Shall knit our spousals with a tie, too strong<br /> +For Roman laws to break.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Will you then die?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Why should'st thou make that question?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Cæsar is most merciful.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Let him be so<br /> +To those that want his mercy: My poor lord<br /> +Made no such covenant with him, to spare me<br /> +When he was dead. Yield me to Cæsar's pride?<br /> +What! to be led in triumph through the streets,<br /> +A spectacle to base plebeian eyes;<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_407" name="page_407"></a> +While some dejected friend of Antony's,<br /> +Close in a corner, shakes his head, and mutters<br /> +A secret curse on her, who ruined him!<br /> +I'll none of that.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> Whatever you resolve,<br /> +I'll follow, even to death.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> I only feared<br /> +For you; but more should fear to live without you.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Why, now, 'tis as it should be. Quick, my friends,<br /> +Despatch; ere this, the town's in Cæsar's hands:<br /> +My lord looks down concerned, and fears my stay,<br /> +Lest I should be surprised;<br /> +Keep him not waiting for his love too long.<br /> +You, Charmion, bring my crown and richest jewels;<br /> +With them, the wreath of victory I made<br /> +(Vain augury!) for him, who now lies dead:<br /> +You, Iras, bring the cure of all our ills.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> The aspicks, madam?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Must I bid you twice?<span class="sdr">[Ex. <span class="cnm">Char.</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras.</span></span><br /> +'Tis sweet to die, when they would force life on me,<br /> +To rush into the dark abode of death,<br /> +And seize him first; if he be like my love,<br /> +He is not frightful, sure.<br /> +We're now alone, in secresy and silence;<br /> +And is not this like lovers? I may kiss<br /> +These pale, cold lips; Octavia does not see me:<br /> +And, oh! 'tis better far to have him thus,<br /> +Than see him in her arms.—O welcome, welcome!</p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Charmion</span> and <span class="cnm">Iras.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> What must be done?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Short ceremony, friends;<br /> +But yet it must be decent. First, this laurel<br /> +Shall crown my hero's head: he fell not basely,<br /> +Nor left his shield behind him.—Only thou<br /> +Could'st triumph o'er thyself; and thou alone<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_408" name="page_408"></a> +Wert worthy so to triumph.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> To what end<br /> +These ensigns of your pomp and royalty?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Dull, that thou art! why,'tis to meet my love;<br /> +As when I saw him first, on Cydnos' bank,<br /> +All sparkling, like a goddess: so adorned,<br /> +I'll find him once again; my second spousals<br /> +Shall match my first in glory. Haste, haste, both,<br /> +And dress the bride of Antony.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> 'Tis done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Now seat me by my lord. I claim this place;<br /> +For I must conquer Cæsar too, like him,<br /> +And win my share of the world.—Hail, you dear relicks<br /> +Of my immortal love!<br /> +O let no impious hand remove you hence;<br /> +But rest for ever here! Let Egypt give<br /> +His death that peace, which it denied his life.—<br /> +Reach me the casket.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Underneath the fruit the aspick lies.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Welcome, thou kind deceiver! +<span class="sdr">[Putting aside the leaves.</span><br /> +Thou best of thieves; who, with an easy key,<br /> +Dost open life, and, unperceived by us,<br /> +Even steal us from ourselves; discharging so<br /> +Death's dreadful office, better than himself;<br /> +Touching our limbs so gently into slumber,<br /> +That death stands by, deceived by his own image,<br /> +And thinks himself but sleep.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> The queen, where is she?<span class="sdr">[Within.</span><br /> +The town is yielded, Cæsar's at the gates.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> He comes too late to invade the rights of death.<br /> +Haste, bare my arm, and rouse the serpent's fury. +<span class="sdr">[Holds out her arm, and draws it back.</span><br /> +Coward flesh,<br /> +Would'st thou conspire with Cæsar to betray me,<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_409" name="page_409"></a> +As thou wert none of mine? I'll force thee to it,<br /> +And not be sent by him,<br /> +But bring myself, my soul, to Antony. +<span class="sdr">[Turns aside, and then shows her arm bloody.</span><br /> +Take hence; the work is done.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> Break ope the door,<span class="sdr">[Within.</span><br /> +And guard the traitor well.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> The next is ours.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Iras.</span> Now, Charmion, to be worthy<br /> +Of our great queen and mistress.<span class="sdr">[They apply the aspicks.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Cleo.</span> Already, death, I feel thee in my veins:<br /> +I go with such a will to find my lord,<br /> +That we shall quickly meet.<br /> +A heavy numbness creeps through every limb,<br /> +And now 'tis at my head: My eye-lids fall,<br /> +And my dear love is vanished in a mist.<br /> +Where shall I find him, where? O turn me to him,<br /> +And lay me on his breast!—Cæsar, thy worst;<br /> +Now part us, if thou canst.<span class="sdr">[Dies.</span><br /> +<span class="sdr">[<span class="cnm">Iras</span> sinks down at her feet, and dies; <span class="cnm">Charmion</span> +stands behind her chair, as dressing her head.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="sdn">Enter <span class="cnm">Serapion,</span> two Priests, <span class="cnm">Alexas</span> bound, Egyptians.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Priest.</span> Behold, Serapion, what havock death has made!</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> 'Twas what I feared.—<br /> +Charmion, is this well done?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Char.</span> Yes, 'tis well done, and like a queen, the last<br /> +Of her great race: I follow her.<span class="sdr">[Sinks down; dies.</span></p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Alex.</span> 'Tis true,<br /> +She has done well: Much better thus to die,<br /> +Than live to make a holiday in Rome.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Serap.</span> See, how the lovers sit in state together,<br /> +As they were giving laws to half mankind!<br /> +The impression of a smile, left in her face,<br /> +Shows she died pleased with him for whom she lived.<br /> +<a class="pgnm" id="page_410" name="page_410"></a> +And went to charm him in another<br /> +Cæsar's just entering: grief has now no leisure.<br /> +Secure that villain, as our pledge of safety,<br /> +To grace the imperial triumph.—Sleep, blest pair,<br /> +Secure from human chance, long ages out,<br /> +While all the storms of fate fly o'er your tomb;<br /> +<span class="i1">And fame to late posterity shall tell,</span><br /> +<span class="i1">No lovers lived so great, or died so well.</span><span class="sdr">[Exeunt.</span></p> + +<div class="ftnt"> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<ol> +<li><a id="All_4-1" name="All_4-1"></a>There was anciently some foolish idea about a wren soaring +on an eagle's back. Colley Cibber, as Dr Johnson observed, converted +the wren into a linnet:<br /><br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Perched on the eagle's towering wing,</p> +<p>The lowly linnet loves to sing.</p> +</div> +</li> + +<li><a id="All_4-2" name="All_4-2"></a> +<div class="poem"> +<p>Approach there—Ay, you kite!—</p> +<p>—Now, gods and devils!</p> +<p>Authority melts from me: of late, when I cried ho!</p> +<p>Like boys unto a muss, kings would start forth</p> +<p>And cry, your will.—Have you no ears?</p> +<p>I am Antony yet.—</p> +</div> + +<p>The same idea, which bursts from Shakespeare's Antony in a +transport of passion, is used by Dryden's hero. The one is goaded +by the painful feeling of lost power; to the other, absorbed in +his sentimental distresses, it only occurs as a subject of melancholy, +but not of agitating reflection.</p></li> + +<li><a id="All_4-3" name="All_4-3"></a>Imitated, or rather copied, from Shakespeare. + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Don John.</span> I came hither to tell you, and circumstances shortened +(for she hath been too long a talking of) the lady is disloyal.</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Claudia.</span> Who? Hero?</p> + +<p class="dlg"><span class="cnm">Don John.</span> Even she; Leonato's Hero, your Hero, every man's Hero.</p></li> +</ol></div> + +<div><a class="pgnm" id="page_411" name="page_411"></a></div> + +<h3 class="chap">EPILOGUE.</h3> + +<div class="poem"> +<p>Poets, like disputants, when reasons fail,</p> +<p>Have one sure refuge left—and that's to rail.</p> +<p>Fop, coxcomb, fool, are thundered through the pit;</p> +<p>And this is all their equipage of wit.</p> +<p>We wonder how the devil this difference grows,</p> +<p>Betwixt our fools in verse, and yours in prose:</p> +<p>For, 'faith, the quarrel rightly understood,</p> +<p>'Tis civil war with their own flesh and blood.</p> +<p>The thread-bare author hates the gaudy coat;</p> +<p>And swears at the gilt coach, but swears a-foot;</p> +<p>For 'tis observed of every scribbling man,</p> +<p>He grows a fop as fast as e'er he can;</p> +<p>Prunes up, and asks his oracle, the glass,</p> +<p>If pink and purple best become his face.</p> +<p>For our poor wretch, he neither rails nor prays;</p> +<p>Nor likes your wit just as you like his plays;</p> +<p>He has not yet so much of Mr Bayes.</p> +<p>He does his best; and if he cannot please,</p> +<p>Would quietly sue out his <i>writ of ease</i>.</p> +<p>Yet, if he might his own grand jury call,</p> +<p>By the fair sex he begs to stand or fall.</p> +<p>Let Cæsar's power the men's ambition move,</p> +<p>But grace you him, who lost the world for love!</p> +<p>Yet if some antiquated lady say,</p> +<p>The last age is not copied in his play;</p> +<p>Heaven help the man who for that face must drudge,</p> +<p>Which only has the wrinkles of a judge.</p> +<p>Let not the young and beauteous join with those;</p> +<p>For should you raise such numerous hosts of foes,</p> +<p>Young wits and sparks he to his aid must call;</p> +<p>'Tis more than one man's work to please you all.</p> +</div> + +<h3>END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.</h3> + +<p>Edinburgh:<br /> +Printed by James Ballantyne & Co.</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of John Dryden, Volume 5 (of +18), by John Dryden + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF JOHN DRYDEN *** + +***** This file should be named 16208-h.htm or 16208-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/2/0/16208/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Fred Robinson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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