Leost. Might! O do not shew me
A beam of comfort, and straight take it from me.
The means by which she was freed?-Speak,
O speak quickly!

Each minute of delay's an age of torment:
O! speak, Timandra!

Timan. Free her from her oath;

Herself can best deliver it. [Takes off the scarf.
Lcost. O blest office!

Never did galley-slave shake off his chains,
Or look on his redemption from the oar,
With such true feeling of delight as now
I find myself possessed of.-Now I behold
True light indeed: For since these fairest stars
(Cover'd with clouds of your determinate will)
Denied their influence to my optic sense,
The splendour of the sun appeared to me
But as some little glimpse of his bright beams
Conveyed into a dungeon, to remember
The dark inhabitants there how much they
wanted.

Open these long-shut lips, and strike mine ears
With music more harmonious than the spheres
Yield in their heavenly motions: And, if ever
A true submission for a crime acknowledged
May find a gracious hearing, teach your tongue,
In the first sweet articulate sounds it utters,
To sign my wished-for pardon.

Cleora. I forgive you.

Leost. How greedily I receive this! Stay, best lady,

And let me by degrees ascend the height
Of human happiness! All at once delivered,
The torrent of my joys will overwhelm me;—
So, now a little more; and pray excuse me,
If, like a wanton epicure, I desire

The pleasant taste these cakes of comfort yield

me,

Should not too soon be swallowed. Have you not (By your unspotted truth I do conjure you To answer truly) suffered in your honour, (By force, I mean, for in your will I free you) Since i left Syracusa ?

Cleora. I restore

With an immodest syllable or look,

In fear it might take from me, whom he made
The object of his better part, discover
I was the saint he sued to.
Leost. A rare temper!

Cleora. I cannot speak it to the worth: All praise

I can bestow upon it, will appear
Envious detraction. Not to rack you further,
Yet make the miracle full, though, of all men,
He hated you, Leosthenes, as his rival;
So high yet he prized my content, that, knowing
You were a man I favoured, he disdained not
Against himself to serve you.

Leost. You conceal still

The owner of these excellencies. Cleora. 'Tis Marullo,

rowed

When I last saw you.

Leost. Miracle of virtue !

One pause more, I beseech you :-I am like

A man, whose vital spirit consumed and wasted
With a long and tedious fever, unto whom
Too much of a strong cordial at once taken,
Brings death, and not restores him. Yet I can-

not

Fix here; but must enquire the man to whom
I stand indebted for a benefit,
Which to requite at full, though in this hand
I grasped all sceptres the world's empire bows to,
Would leave me a poor bankrupt. Name him,
lady;

If of a mean estate, I'll gladly part with
My utmost fortunes to him; but if noble,
In thankful duty study how to serve him;
Or, if of higher rank, erect him altars,

Leost. Ha, ha, ha !

Cleora. Why do you laugh?

Leost. To hear the labouring mountain of your praise

Delivered of a mouse.

Cleora. The man deserves not
This scorn, I can assure you.
Leost. Do you call
What was his duty, merit?

Cleora. Yes, and place it

As high in my esteem, as all the honours
Descended from your ancestors, or the glory,
Which you may call your own, got in this action,
In which, I must confess, you have done nobly,
And, I could add, as I desired;—but that
I fear 'twould make you proud.

Leost. Why, lady, can you

Be won to give allowance that your slave
Should dare to love you?

Cleora. The immortal gods Accept the meanest altars that are raised By pure devotions; and sometimes prefer An ounce of frankincense, honey or milk, Before whole hecatombs, or Sabæan gums, Offered in ostentation.-Are you sick Of your old disease? I'll fit you.

Leost. You seem moved.

[Aside.

virtue.

Why, good Leosthenes, though I endured
A penance for your sake above example,
I have not so far sold myself, I take it,
To be at your devotion, but I may
Cherish desert in others where I find it.
How would you tyrannize, if you stood posses-
sed of

That, which is only yours in expectation,

That now prescribe such hard conditions to me?
Leost. One kiss, and I am silenced.
Cleora. I vouchsafe it;

Yet, I must tell you 'tis a favour that
Marullo, when I was his, not mine own,
Durst not presume to ask: No; when the city
Bowed humbly to licentious rapes and lust,
And when I was, of men and gods forsaken,
Delivered to his power, he did not press me
To grace him with one look or syllable,
Or urged the dispensation of an oath,
Made for your satisfaction. The poor wretch,
Having related only his own sufferings,
And kissed my hand, which I could not deny him,
Defending me from others, never since
Solicited my favours.

Leost. Pray you, end;

The story does not please me.

Cleora. Well, take heed

Of doubts and fears;-for know, Leosthenes,
A greater injury cannot be offered

To innocent chastity than unjust suspicion.
I love Marullo's fair mind, not his person;

Let that secure you. And I here command you,
If I have any power in you, to stand
Between him and all punishment, and oppose
His temperance to his folly; if you fail-
No more; I will not threaten.

Leost. What a bridge

Of glass I walk upon, over a river

[Exit.

Of certain ruin! Mine own weighty fears Cracking what should support me! and those helps,

Which confidence yields to others, are from me Ravished by doubts and wilful jealousy. [Exit.

SCENE IV. Another Room in the same. Enter TIMAGORAs, Cleon, Asotus, Corisca, and OLYMPIA.

Cleon. But are you sure we're safe?
Timag. You need not fear:

They are all under guard, their fangs pared off:
The wounds their insolence gave you, to be cu-

red

With the balm of your revenge.

Asot. And shall I be

Of conjurers or wise women, bound together, Could have so soon transformed me, as my ras

cal

Did with his whip; For not in outside only,
But in my own belief, I thought myself
As perfect a baboon-

Timag. An ass thou wert ever.

Asot. And would have given one leg, with all my heart,

For good security to have been a man
After three lives, or one and twenty years,
Though I had died on crutches.

Cleon. Never varlets

So triumphed o'er an old fat man-I was fa mished.

Timag. Indeed you're fallen away.
Asot. Three years of feeding

On cullises and jelly, though his cooks
Lard all he eats with marrow, or his doctors
Pour in his mouth restoratives as he sleeps,
Will not recover him.

Timag. But your ladyship looks
Sad on the matter, as if you had miss'd
Your ten-crown amber possets, good to smooth
The cutis, as you call it, and prepare you
Active, and high, for an afternoon's encounter
With a rough gamester, on your couch. Fie
on't!

You are grown thrifty, smell like other women;
The college of physicians have not sat,

As they were used, in council, how to fill
The crannies in your cheeks, or raise a rampire
With mummy, ceruses, or infants' fat,
To keep off age and time.

Coris. Pray you, forbear;
I am an alter'd woman.

Timag. So it seems;

A part of your honour's ruff stands out of rank

too.

Coris. No matter, I have other thoughts.

Timag. O strange!

Not ten days since it would have vex'd you more Than the loss of your good name: pity, this

Timan. You are unmannered grooms
To pry into my lady's private lodgings;
There's no Marullos there.

Enter DIPHILUS with PISANDER.
Timag. Now I suspect too;
Where found you him?

Diph. Close hid in your sister's chamber.
Timag. Is that the villain's sanctuary?
Leost. This confirms

All she delivered, false.

Timag. But that I scorn

To rust my good sword in thy slavish blood, Thou now wert dead.

Phi. He's more a slave than fortune Or misery can make me, that insults

You are no more your own, nor mine, but must
Resolve to serve and suffer his commands,
And not dispute them; ere it be too late,
Consider it duly. I must to the senate.

[Exit ARCH.
Cleora. I am much distracted; in Leosthenes
I can find nothing justly to accuse,
But this excess of love, which I have studied
To cure with more than common means; yet still
It grows upon him. And, if I may call
My sufferings merit, I stand bound to think on
Marullo's dangers; though I save his life,
His love is unrewarded. I confess,

Both have deserved me; yet of force must be Unjust to one-such is my destiny.

That I am wronged in it.

Timan. What will you do? [As going forth. Cleora. In person

Visit and comfort him.

Timan. That will bring fuel

To the jealous fires, which burn too hot already In lord Leosthenes.

Cleora. Let them consume him!

I am mistress of myself. Where cruelty reigns, There dwells nor love, nor honour.[Exit ČLEORA. Timan. So! it works.

Though hitherto I have run a desperate course To serve my brother's purposes, now 'tis fit

Enter LEOSTHENES and Timagoras.

I study mine own ends. They come ;-assist me In these my undertakings, Love's great patron, As my intents are honest!

Leost. "Tis my fault:

Distrust of others springs, Timagoras,

From diffidence in ourselves. But I will strive, With the assurance of my worth and merits, To kill this monster, jealousy.

Timag. 'Tis a guest,

In wisdom, never to be entertained
On trivial probabilities; but when

He does appear in pregnant proofs, not fashioned
By idle doubts and fears, to be received.

They make their own horns that are too secure,
As well as such as give them growth and being
From mere imagination. Though I prize
Cleora's honour equal with mine own,
And know what large additions of power
This match brings to our family, I prefer
Our friendship, and your peace of mind, so far
Above my own respects, or hers, that if
She hold not her true value in the test,
'Tis far from my ambition for her cure,
That you should wound yourself.
Timan. This argues for me.

[Aside.

Timag. Why she should be so passionate for a bondman,

Falls not in compass of my understanding,
But for some nearer interest: or he raise
This mutiny, if he loved her (as, you say,
She does confess he did,) but to enjoy,

VOL. I.

My lady

Timug. What of her?

Timan. No sooner heard

Marullo was imprisoned, but she fell
Into a deadly swoon.

Timag. But she recovered?

Say so, or he will sink too:-hold, sir! fie,
This is unmanly.

Timan. Brought again to life,

But with much labour, she awhile stood silent,
Yet in that interim vented sighs, as if
They laboured, from the prison of her flesh,
To give her grieved soul freedom. On the sudden,
Transported on the wings of rage
and sorrow,

She flew out of the house, and, unattended,
Entered the common prison.

Leost. This confirms

What but before I feared.

Timan. There you may find her; And, if you love her as a sisterTimag. Damn her!

Timan. Or you respect her safety, as a lover,
Procure Marullo's liberty.
Timag. Impudence
Beyond expression!

Leost. Shall I be a bawd
To her lust, and my dishonour?
Timan. She'll run mad, else,

Or do some violent act upon herself.
My lord, her father, sensible of her sufferings,
Labours to gain his freedom.

Leost. O, the devil!

Has she bewitched him too?
Timag. I'll hear no more.

Come, sir, we'll follow her; and if no persua

sion

Can make her take again her natural form,
Which by lust's powerful spell she has cast off,
This sword shall disenchant her.
Leost. O my heart-strings!

[Exeunt LEOSTHENES and TIMAGORAS.

P

With which you have made evident proofs that you

Are strongly fortified, cannot fall, though shaken With the shock of fierce temptations; but still triumphs

In spite of opposition. For myself,

I may endeavour to confirm your goodness,
(A sure retreat which never will deceive you)
And with unfeigned tears express my sorrow
For what I cannot help.

Pis. Do you weep for me?

[Weeps.

O! save that precious balm for nobler uses!
I am unworthy of the smallest drop,
Which, in your prodigality of pity,
You throw away on me. Ten of these pearls
Were a large ransom to redeem a kingdom
From a consuming plague, or stop heaven's ven-
geance,

Called down by crying sins, though at that instant
In dreadful flashes falling on the roofs

Of bold blasphemers. I am justly punished
For my intent of violence to such pureness;
And all the torments flesh is sensible of,
A soft and gentle penance.

Cleora. Which is ended
In this your free confession.

Enter LEOSTHENES and TIMAGORAS unseen. Leost. What an object

'Twere not to die, but in a heavenly dream
To be transported, without the help of Charon,
To the Elysian shades. You make me bold;
And, but to wish such happiness, I fear,
May give offence.

Cleora. No; for believe it, Marullo,
You've won so much upon me, that I know not
That happiness in my gift but you may challenge.
Leost. Are you yet satisfied?
Cleora. Nor can you wish

But what my vows will second, though it were Your freedom first, and then in me full power To make a second tender of myself,

And you receive the present. By this kiss (From me a virgin bounty) I will practise All arts for your deliverance; and, that purcha