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Tec. Ah, Orgilus,

Neglects in young men of delights and life
Run often to extremities; they care not
For harms to others, who contemn their own.
Org. But I, most learned artist, am not so
much

At odds with nature, that I grudge the thrift
Of any true deserver, nor doth malice
Of present hopes so check them with despair,
As that I yield to thought of more affliction
Than what is incident to frailty: wherefore
Impute not this retired course of living
Some little time, to any other cause
Than what I justly render, the information
Of an unsettled mind; as the effect
Must clearly witness.

Tec. Spirit of truth inspire thee!

On these conditions I conceal thy change,
And willingly admit thee for an auditor.-
I'll to my study.

Org. I to contemplations,

[Erit.

In these delightful walks.-Thus metamorphos'd,
I may without suspicion hearken after
Penthea's usage, and Euphrania's faith.
Love! thou art full of mystery: the deities
Themselves are not secure, in searching out
The secrets of those flames, which, hidden, waste
A breast, made tributary to the laws
Of beauty; physic yet hath never found
A remedy to cure a lover's wound.

Ha! who are those that cross yon private walk
Into the shadowing grove, in amorous foldings?
[PROPHILUS passeth over, supporting
EUPHRANIA, and whispering.
My sister, O my sister! 'tis Euphrania
With Prophilus, supported too; I would
It were an apparition! Prophilus

Is Ithocles his friend: it strangely puzzles me-
Again help me, my book; this scholar's habit
Must stand my privilege; my mind is busy,
Mine eyes and ears are open. [Walks by, reading.

Re-enter PROPHILUS and EUPHRANIA.
Proph. Do not waste

The span of this stolen time, lent by the gods
For precious use, in niceness. Bright Euphrania,
Should I repeat old vows, or study new,
For purchase of belief to my desires-
Org. Desires?

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To my Penthea: chastely honourable.

Proph. Nor wants there more addition to my wish

Of happiness, than having thee a wife,
Already sure of Ithocles, a friend
Firm and unalterable.

Org. But a brother

More cruel than the grave.

Euph. What can you look for,

In answer to your noble protestations,
From an unskilful maid, but language suited
To a divided mind?

Org. Hold out, Euphrania!

[Aside

Euph. Know, Prophilus, I never undervalued,
From the first time you mention'd worthy love,
Your merit, means, or person: it had been
A fault of judgment in me, and a dulness
In my affections, not to weigh and thank
My better stars, that offer'd me the grace
Of so much blissfulness. For, to speak the truth,
The law of my desires kept equal pace
With your's, nor have I left that resolution;
But only, in a word, whatever choice
Lives nearest in my heart, must first procure
Consent, both from my father and my brother,
Ere he can own me his.

Org. She is forsworn else-
Proph. Leave me that task.
Euph. My brother, ere he parted

To Athens, had my oath.

Org. Yes, yes, he had sure.

Proph. I doubt not, with the means the court supplies,

But to prevail at pleasure.

Org. Very likely.

Proph. Mean time, best, dearest, I may build my hopes

On the foundation of thy constant sufferance
In any opposition.

Euph. Death shall sooner

Divorce life, and the joys I have in living,
Than my chaste vows from truth.
Proph. On thy fair hand

I seal the like.

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Org. I am discover'd-Say it, is it possible-
[To himself, as if studying.
With a smooth tongue, a leering countenance,
Flattery, or force of reason-I come t'you, sir,
To turn or to appease the raging sea?
Answer to that Your art? what art to catch
And hold fast in a net the sun's small atoms?-

No, no; they'll out, they'll out; ye may as easily
Out-run a cloud, driven by a northern blast,
As fiddle-faddle so. Peace, or speak sense!
Euph. Call you this thing a scholar? 'las, he's
lunatic!

Proph. Observe him, sweet, 'tis but his re-
creation.

Org. But will you hear a little? you're so tetchy, You keep no rule in argument; philosophy Works not upon impossibilities,

But natural conclusions.-Mew!-absurd!
The metaphysics are but speculations
Of the celestial bodies, or such accidents
As, not mixt perfectly, in the air engender'd,
Appear to us unnatural; that's all.

Prove it; yet with a reverence to your gravity,
I'll baulk illiterate sauciness, submitting
My sole opinion to the touch of writers.
Proph. Now let us fall in with him.
Org. Ha, ha, ha!

These apish boys, when they but task the grammars,
The principles of theory, imagine

They can oppose their teachers. Confidence
Leads many into errors.

Proph. By your leave, sir.

Euph. Are you a scholar, friend?
Org. I am, gay creature,

With pardon of your deities, a mushroom,

On whom the dew of heaven drops now and then:
The sun shines on me too, I thank his beams;
Sometimes I feel their warmth, and eat and sleep.
Proph. Does Tecnicus read to thee?
Org. Yes, forsooth;

He is my master surely: yonder door
Opens upon his study.

Proph. Happy creatures!

Such people toil not, sweet, in heats of state,
Nor sink in thaws of greatness: Their affections
Keep order with the limits of their modesty :
Their love is love of virtues.-What's thy name?
Org. Aplotes, sumptuous master, a poor wretch.
Euph. Dost thou want any thing?
Org. Books, Venus, books.

Proph. Lady, a new conceit comes in my
thought,

And most available for both our comforts.
Euph. My lord?

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Euph. Occasion is most favourable; use it. Proph. Aplotes, wilt thou wait us twice-a-day At nine i'th morning, and at four at night, Here in this bower, to convey such letters As each shall send to other? Do it willingly, Safely and secretly, and I will furnish Thy study, or what else thou canst desire. Org. Jove make me thankful! thankful, I beseech thee,

Propitious Jove !-I will prove sure and trusty. You will not fail me books?

Proph. Nor aught besides,

Thy heart can wish. This lady's name's Euphrania,

Mine Prophilus.

Org. I have a pretty memory,

It must prove my best friend. I will not miss One minute of the hours appointed.

Proph. Write

The books thou would'st have brought thee in a note,

Or take thyself some money.

Org. No, no money;

Money to scholars is a spirit invisible,

We dare not finger it: or books, or nothing. Proph. Books of what sort thou wilt: do not forget

Our names.

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We'll feed thy torches with eternal fires.

[Exeunt PROPH. and EUPH.
Org. Put out thy torches, Hymen, or their light
Shall meet a darkness of eternal night.
Inspire me, Mercury, with swift deceits!
Ingenious Fate has leapt into mine arms,
Beyond the compass of my brains-Mortality
Creeps on the dung of earth, and cannot reach
The riddles which are purpos'd by the gods.
Great arts best write themselves in their own
stories:

They die too basely, who out-live their glories.
[Erit

ACT II.

SCENE I.-A Room at Bassanes' House.

Enter BASSANES and PHULAS. Bass. I'll have that window next the street damm'd up;

It gives too full a prospect to temptation,
And courts a gazer's glances: there's a lust
Committed by the eye, that sweats and travails,
Plots, wakes, contrives, till the deformed bear-
whelp,
Adultery, be lick'd into the act,

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That gaudy earwig, or my lord, your patron,
Whose pensioner you are. I'll tear thy throat out,
Son of a cat, ill-looking hounds-head, rip up
Thy ulcerous maw, if I but scent a paper,
A scroll but half as big as what can cover
A wart upon thy nose, a spot, a pimple,
Directed to my lady: it may prove
A mystical preparative to lewdness.

Phul. Care shall be had; I will turn every thread

About me to an eye. Here's a sweet life! Bass. The city house-wives, cunning in the traffic

Of chamber merchandise, set all at price By wholesale; yet they wipe their mouths and simper,

Cull, kiss, and cry sweetheart, and stroke the head Which they have branch'd, and all is well again. Dull clods of dirt, who dare not feel the rubs Struck on their foreheads!

Phul. 'Tis a villainous world,

One cannot hold his own in't.

Buss. Dames at court,

Who flaunt in riots, run another bias:
Their pleasure heaves the patient ass that suffers
Upon the stilts of office, titles, incomes;
Promotion justifies the shame, and sues for't:
Poor Honour! thou art stabb'd, and bleed'st to
death

By such unlawful hire. The country mistress
Is yet more wary, and in blushes hides
Whatever trespass draws her troth to guilt;
But all are false. On this truth I am bold,
No woman but can fall, and doth or would.-
Now for the newest news about the city;
What blab the voices, sirrah?

Phul. O my lord,

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Phul. Moreover, please your lordship, 'tis re-
ported

For certain, that whoever is found jealous,
Without apparent proof that's wife is wanton,
Shall be divorced: but this is but she-news;
I had it from a midwife. I have more yet.

Bass. Antick, no more! ideots and stupid fools
Grate my calamities. Why, to be fair,
Should yield presumption of a faulty soul?
Look to the doors!

Phul. The horn of plenty crest him!

[Exit PHULAS. Bass. Swarms of confusion huddle in my thoughts In rare distemper. Beauty! O it is An unmatch'd blessing, or a horrid curse.

Enter PENTHEA, and GRAUSIS, an old Lady. She comes, she comes; so shoots the morning forth, Spangled with pearls of transparent dew! The way to poverty is to be rich; As I in her am wealthy, but for her, In all contents a bankrupt.-Lov'd Penthea, How fares my heart's best joy?

Gra. In sooth not well,

She is so over sad.

Bass. Leave chattering, magpye.Thy brother is return'd, sweet; safe, and honour'd With a triumphant victory: thou shall visit him; We will to court, where, if it be thy pleasure, Thou shalt appear in such a ravishing lustre Of jewels above value, that the dames Who brave it there, in rage to be outshin'd, Shall hide them in their closets, and, unseen, Fret in their tears; while every wond'ring eye Shall crave none other brightness but thy presence. Choose thine own recreations, be a queen

Of what delights thou fancies best, what company, What place, what times; do any thing, do all things Youth can command, so thou wilt chase these clouds

From the pure firmament of thy fair looks. Gra. Now, 'tis well said, my lord. What, lady? laugh,

Be

merry, time is precious. Bass. Furies whip thee!

Penth. Alas, my lord! this language to your

handmaid

Sounds as would music to the deaf: I need
No braveries, nor cost of art, to draw
The whiteness of my name into offence.
Let such, if any such there are, who covet
A curiosity of admiration,

By laying out their plenty to full view,
Appear in gawdy outsides; my attires
Shall suit the inward fashion of my mind;
From which, if your opinion, nobly plac'd,
Change not the livery your words bestow,
My fortunes with my hopes are at the highest.
Bass. This house, methinks, stands somewhat
too much inward;

It is too melancholy, we'll remove
Nearer the court; or, what thinks my Penthea
Of the delightful island we command ?
Rule me as thou canst wish.

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Bass. Grausis,

You are a juggling bawd!—This sadness, sweetest,

Becomes not youthful blood.-I'll have you pounded ;[Aside to GRAUSIS. For my sake put on a more chearful mirth; Thou'lt mar thy cheeks, and make me old in griefs. Damnable bitch-fox! [To GRAUSIS.

Gra. I am thick of hearing, Still when the wind blows southerly. What think ye

If your fresh lady breed young bones, my lord? Would not a chopping boy d'ye good at heart?But, as you said—

Bass. I'll spit thee on a stake,

Or chop thee into collops!

Gra. Pray, speak louder.

Sure, sure the wind blows south still.

Penth. Thou prat'st madly.

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Ith. Ambition! 'tis of viper's breed; it gnaws A passage through the womb, that gave it motion. Ambition, like a seeled dove, mounts upward,

Bass. 'Tis very hot; I sweat extremely. Higher and higher, still to perch on clouds,

Now?

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But tumbles headlong down with heavier ruin.
So squibs and crackers fly into the air,
Then, only breaking with a noise, they vanish
In stench and smoke. Morality, applied
To timely practice, keeps the soul in tune,
At whose sweet music all our actions dance.
But this is form of books and school-tradition,
It physics not the sickness of a mind
Broken with griefs: strong fevers are not eased
With counsel, but with best receipts and means;
Means, speedy means, and certain; that's the cure.

Enter ARMOSTES and CROTOLON.
Arm. You stick, lord Crotolon, upon a point
Too nice and too unnecessary. Prophilus
Is every way desertful. I am confident
Your wisdom is too ripe to need instruction
From your son's tutelage.

Crot. Yet not so ripe,

My lord Armostes, that it dares to dote
Upon the painted meat of smooth persuasion,
Which tempts me to a breach of faith.

Ith. Not yet

Resolved, my lord? Why, if your son's consent
Be so available, we'll write to Athens
For his repair to Sparta. The king's hand
Will join with our desires; he has been mov'd to't.
Arm. Yes, and the king himself importuned
Crotolon

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As if mine own blood had an interest in it;
For Prophilus is mine, and I am his.

Crot. My lord, my lord !—

Ith. What, good sir? speak your thought. Crot. Had this sincerity been real once, My Orgilus had not been now unwived, Nor your lost sister buried in a bride bed. Your uncle here, Armostes, knows this truth; For had your father Thrasus liv'd-but peace Dwell in his grave! I have done.

Arm. You're bold and bitter.

Ith. He presses home the injury, it smarts: No reprehensions, uncle; I deserve them.Yet, gentle sir, consider what the heat Of an unsteady youth, a giddy brain, Green indiscretion, flattery of greatness, Rawness of judgment, wilfulness in folly, Thoughts vagrant as the wind and as uncertain, Might lead a boy in years to; 'twas a fault, A capital fault, for then I could not dive Into the secrets of commanding love: Since when experience, by th' extremities in others, Hath forc'd ine to collect. And trust me, Crotolon, I will redeem those wrongs with any service Your satisfaction can require for current.

Arm. Thy acknowledgment is satisfaction. What would you more?

Crot. I'm conquer'd: if Euphrania Herself admit the motion, let it be so. I doubt not my son's liking.

Ith. Use my fortunes;

Life, power, sword and heart, all are your own.

Enter BASSANES, PROPHILUS, CALANTHA, PENTHEA, EUPHRANIA, CHRYSTALLA, PHILEMA, and GRAUSIS.

Arm. The princess, with your sister.
Cal. I present ye

A stranger here in court, my lord: for did not
Desire of seeing you draw her abroad,
We had not been made happy in her company.
Ith. You are a gracious princess.-Sister, wed-
lock

Holds too severe a passion in your nature,
Which can engross all duty to your husband,
Without attendance on so dear a mistress.
'Tis not my brother's pleasure, I presume,
T'immure her in a chamber.

Bass. 'Tis her will,

She governs her own hours. Noble Ithocles,
We thank the gods for your success and welfare.
Our lady has of late been indisposed,

Else we had waited on you with the first.
Ith. How does Penthea now?

Pen. You best know, brother,

From whom my health and comforts are derived. Bass. [Aside.] I like the answer well; 'tis sad and modest.

There may be tricks yet, tricks- -Have an eye, Grausis !

Arm. With condition, that his son; Favour the contract.

Cal. Such delay is easy.

The joys of marriage make thee, Prophilus,
A proud deserver of Euphranea's love,
And her of thy desert.

Proph. Most sweetly gracious.

Bass. The joys of marriage are the heaven on earth,

Life's paradise, great princess, the soul's quiet, Sinews of concord, earthly immortality, Eternity of pleasures; no restoratives

Like to a constant woman;-[Aside] but where is she?

'Twould puzzle all the gods, but to create Such a new monster :-I can speak by proof, For I rest in Elysium; 'tis my happiness.

Crot. Euphranea, how are you resolv'd, (speak freely,)

In your affections to this gentleman?

Euph. No more nor less than as his love as

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Cal. Now, Crotolon, the suit we join'd in must And this same whoreson court-ease is temptation

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To a rebellion in the veins :-Besides
His fine friend Prophilus must be her guardian.
Why may not he dispatch a business nimbly
Before the other come? Or pand'ring, pand'ring

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