Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

Sent us a daughter, in whose birth our hope
Continues of succession. As you are
In title next, being grandchild to our aunt,
So we in heart desire you may sit nearest
Calantha's love; since we have ever vow'd
Not to enforce affection by our will,
But, by her own choice, to confirm it gladly.
Neur. You speak the nature of a right just
father.

I come not hither roughly to demand
My cousin's thraldom, but to free mine own:
Report of great Calantha's beauty, virtue,
Sweetness and singular perfections, courted
All ears to credit what I find was published
By constant truth; from which, if any service
Of my desert can purchase fair construction,
This lady must command it.

Cal. Princely sir,

So well you know how to profess observance,
That you instruct your hearers to become
Practitioners in duty; of which number
I'll study to be chief.

Near. Chief, glorious virgin,

In my devotion, as in all men's wonder.

Amy. Excellent cousin, we deny no liberty, Use thine own opportunities.-Armostes, We must consult with the philosophers; The business is of weight.

Arm. Sir, at your pleasure.

Amy. You told me, Crotolon, your son's returned

From Athens; wherefore comes he not to court, As we commanded?

Crot. He shall soon attend

Your royal will, great sir.

Amy. The marriage

Between young Prophilus and Euphrania Tastes of too much delay.

Crot. My lord

Amy. Some pleasures,

At celebration of it, would give life

To th' entertainment of the prince, our kinsman: Our court wears gravity more than we relish.

Arm. Yet the Heavens smile on all your high attempts, Without a cloud.

Crot. So may the gods protect us!
Cal. A prince a subject?

Near. Yes; to beauty's sceptre

As all hearts kneel, so mine.

Cal. You are too courtly.

Enter ITHOCLES, ORGILUS, PROPHILUS. Ith. Your safe return to Sparta is most wel

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

Ith. Life to the king!

To whom I here present this noble gentleman, New come from Athens; royal sir, vouchsafe Your gracious hand in favour of his merit.

Crot. My son preferr'd by Ithocles? [Aside.
Amy. Our bounties

Shall open to thee, Orgilus; for instance,
Hark, in thine ear! if out of those inventions
Which flow in Athens, thou hast there engross'd
Some rarity of wit to grace the nuptials
Of thy fair sister, and renown our court
In th' eyes of this young prince, we shall be debtor
To thy conceit: think on't.

Org. Your highness honours me.

Near. My tongue and heart are twins.
Cal. A noble birth,

Becoming such a father.--Worthy Orgilus,
You are a guest most wished for.
Org. May my duty

Still rise in your opinion, sacred princess.
Ith. Euphrania's brother, sir; a gentleman
Well worthy of your knowledge.

Near. We embrace him,

Proud of so dear acquaintance.

Amy. All prepare

For revels and disport; the joys of Hymen,
Like Phoebus in his lustre, put to flight

All mists of dulness: crown the hours with glad

[blocks in formation]

Enter CROTOLON and ORGILUS.

Crot. The king hath spoke his mind.
Org. His will he hath:

But were it lawful to hold plea against

The power of greatness, not the reason, haply
Such under-shrubs as subjects sometimes might
Borrow of nature justice, to inform

That licence sovereignty holds without check
Over a meek obedience.

Crot. How resolve you,

Touching your sister's marriage? Prophilus
Is a deserving and a hopeful youth.

Org. I envy not his merit, but applaud it ;
Could wish him thrift in all his best desires,
And with a willingness inleague our blood
With his, for purchase of full growth in friendship.
He never touched on any wrong that malic'd
The honour of our house, nor stirred our peace;
Yet, with your favour, let me not forget
Under whose wing he gathers warmth and comfort,
Whose creature he is bound, made, and must
live so.

Crot. Son, son, I find in thee a harsh condition, No courtesy can win it; 'tis too rancorous.

Org. Good sir, be not severe in your construe tion,

I am no stranger to such easy calms

As sit in tender bosoms: Lordly Ithocles
Hath grac'd my entertainment in abundancce;
Too humbly hath descended from that height
Of arrogance and spleen which wrought the rape
On griev'd Penthea's purity; his scorn
Of my untoward fortunes is reclaimed
Unto a courtship, almost to a fawning:
I'll kiss his foot, since you will have it so.

Crot. Since I will have it so? Friend, I will
have it so

Without our ruin by your politic plots,
Or wolf of hatred snarling in your breast.
You have a spirit, sir; have ye? a familiar
That posts i'th' air for your intelligence?

Some such hobgoblin hurried you from Athens,
For yet you come unsent for.

Org. If unwelcome,

I might have found a grave there.
Crot. Sure, your business

Was soon dispatch'd, or your mind altered quickly. Org. 'Twas care, sir, of my health, cut short my journey;

For there, a general infection
Threatens a desolation.

Crot. And I fear

[blocks in formation]

SONG.

Comforts lasting, loves increasing, Like soft hours never ceasing; Plenty's pleasure, peace complying, Without jars, or tongues envying; Hearts by holy union wedded, More than theirs' by custom bedded; Fruitful issues; life so graced, Not by age to be defaced; Budding as the year ensu'th, Every spring another youth: All what thought can add beside,

Crown this bridegroom and this bride.

Proph. You have seal'd joy close to my soul:
Euphrania,

Now I may call thee mine.
Ith. I but exchange
One good friend for another.
Org. If these gallants

Will please to grace a poor invention,
By joining with me in some slight device,
I'll venture on a strain my younger days
Have studied for delight.

Hem. With thankful willingness
I offer my attendance.

Gro. No endeavour

Of mine shall fail to shew itself.
Ith. We will

All join to wait on thy direction, Orgilus.
Org. Oh, my good lord, your favours flow to-

wards

[blocks in formation]

Cal. You feed too much your melancholy.
Pen. Glories

Of human greatness are but pleasing dreams,
And shadows soon decaying; on the stage
Of my mortality, my youth hath acted
Some scenes of vanity, drawn out at length
By varied pleasures, sweetened in the mixture,
But tragical in issue: beauty, pomp,
With every sensuality our giddiness
Doth frame an idol, are inconstant friends,
When any troubled passion makes us halt
On the unguarded castle of the mind.

Cal. Contemn not your condition for the proof
Of bare opinion only: to what end
Reach all these moral texts?

Pen. To place before ye

A perfect mirror, wherein you may see
How weary I am of a lingering life,
Who count the best a misery.

Cal. Indeed

[blocks in formation]

Cal. To whom that?

[blocks in formation]

A faith as humbly perfect, as the prayers
Of a devoted suppliant can endow it:
Look on him, princess, with an eye of pity;
How like the ghost of what he late appear'd
He moves before you!

Cal. Shall I answer here,
Or lend my ear too grossly!

Pen. First his heart

Shall fall in cinders, scorch'd by your disdain,
Ere he will dare, poor man, to ope an eye
On these divine looks, but with low-bent thoughts
Accusing such presumption; as for words,
He dares not utter any but of service.
Yet this lost creature loves ye. Be a princess
In sweetness as in blood; give him his doom,
Or raise him up to comfort.

Cal. What new change
Appears in my behaviour, that thou dar'st
Tempt my displeasure?

Pen. I must leave the world
To revel in Elysium, and 'tis just

To wish my brother some advantage here;
Yet by my best hopes, Ithocles is ignorant
Of this pursuit. But if you please to kill him,
Lend him one angry look, or one harsh word,
And you shall soon conclude how strong a power
Your absolute authority holds over
His life and end.

Cal. You have forgot, Penthea,

Pen. To virgin-wives, such as abuse not wed- How still I have a father.

lock

By freedom of desires, but covet chiefly
The pledges of chaste beds, for ties of love,
Rather than raging of their blood: and next
To married maids, such as prefer the number
Of honourable issue in their virtues
Before the flattery of delights by marriage;
May those be ever young!

Cal. A second jewel

You mean to part with.

Pen. 'Tis my fame; I trust,

By scandal yet untouched: this I bequeath To Memory, and Time's old daughter Truth. If ever my unhappy name find mention, When I am fallen to dust, may it deserve

Pen. But remember

[blocks in formation]

ACT IV.

[blocks in formation]

Cal. A toy.

Near. Love feasts on toys,

For Cupid is a child;-vouchsafe this bounty: It cannot be denied.

Cal. You shall not value,

Sweet cousin, at a price, what I count cheap : So cheap, that let him take it, who dares stoop for't, And give it at next meeting to a mistress; She'll thank him for't perhaps.

[Casts the ring to ITHOCLES.

Ame. The ring, sir, is The princess's; I could have took it up. Ith. Learn manners, pr'ythee.-To the blessed

[blocks in formation]

1th. Look ye, uncle:

Some such there are, whose liberal contents
Swarm without care in every sort of plenty;
Who, after full repasts, can lay them down
To sleep; and they sleep, uncle: in which silence
Their very dreams present 'em choice of pleasures:
Pleasures, (observe me uncle!) of rare object:
Here heaps of gold, there increments of honours;
Now change of garments, then the votes of people;
Anon varieties of beauties, courting,

In flatteries of the night, exchange of dalliance;
Yet these are still but dreams: give me felicity
Of which my senses waking are partakers;
A real, visible, material happiness:
And then too, when I stagger in expectance
Of the least comfort that can cherish life.-
I saw it, sir, I saw it; for it came

From her own hand.

Arm. The princess threw it to you.

Ith. True, and she said--well I remember what!

Her cousin prince would beg it?

Arm. Yes, and parted

In anger at your taking on't.

Ith. Penthea,

Oh! thou hast pleaded with a powerful language:
I want a fee to gratify thy merit.
But I will do-

Arm. What is't you say?
Ith. In anger?

In anger let him part; for could his breath,
Like whirlwinds, toss such servile slaves, as lick
The dust his footsteps print, into a vapour,
It durst not stir a hair of mine; it should not;
I'd rend it up by th' roots first. To be any thing
Calantha smiles on, is to be a blessing
More sacred than a petty prince of Argos
Can wish to equal, or in worth, or title.

Arm. Contain yourself, my lord: Ixion aim

ing

To embrace Juno, bosomed but a cloud,
And begat Centaurs: 'tis an useful moral;
Ambition, hatched in clouds of mere opinior.,
Proves but in birth a prodigy.

Ith. I thank ye;

Yet, with your licence, I should seem uncharitable

To gentler fate, if, relishing the dainties
Of a soul's settled peace, I were so feeble
Not to digest it.

Arm. He deserves small trust,
Who is not privy counsellor to himself.

Enter NEARCHUS, ORGILUS, and AMELUS.
Near. Brave me?

Org. Your excellence mistakes his temper;
For Ithocles, in fashion of his mind,
Is beautiful, soft, gentle, the clear mirror
Of absolute perfection.

Ame. Was't your modesty

Term'd any of the prince's servants spaniel?
Your nurse sure taught you other language.
Ith. Language?

Near. A gallant man at arms is here: a doc

tor

In feats of chivalry; blunt and rough-spoken,
Vouchsafing not the fustian of civility,
Which rash spirits stile good manners.
Ith. Manners?

Org. No more, illustrious sir, 'tis matchless
Ithocles.

Near. You might have understood who I am.
Ith. Yes,

I did,--else--but the presence calmed th' affront;
You're cousin to the princess.

Near. To the king too;

A certain instrument that lent supportance
To your colossic greatness :-to that king too
You might have added.

Ith. There is more divinity

In beauty than in majesty.
Arm. O fye, fye!

[blocks in formation]

Remember what I told thee long before,
These tears shall be my witness.

Arm. Alas, good man!

Tec. Let craft with courtesy awhile confer, Revenge proves its own executioner.

Org. Dark sentences are for Apollo's priests:

Near. This odd youth's pride turns heretick in I am not Oedipus. loyalty.

Sirrah! low mushrooms never rival cedars.

[Exeunt NEARCHUS and AMELUS.
Ith. Come back! what pitiful dull thing am I
So to be tamely scolded at? Come back !-
Let him come back and echo once again
That scornful sound of mushroom: painted colts,
Like heralds coats, gilt o'er with crowns and
sceptres,

May bait a muzzled lion.
Arm. Cousin, cousin,
Thy tongue is not thy friend.

Org. In point of honour

Discretion knows no bounds. Amelus told me 'Twas all about a little ring.

Ith. A ring

The princess threw away, and I took up:
Admit she threw't to me; what arm of brass
Can snatch it hence? No; could he grind the
hoop

To powder, he might sooner reach my heart
Than steal and wear one dust on't.-Orgilus,

I am extremely wronged.

Org. A lady's favour

Is not to be so slighted.

Ith. Slighted?

Arm. Quiet

[ocr errors]

Tec. My hour is come;

Cheer up the king: farewell to all.-O Sparta,
O Lacedemon!
[Erit TECNICUS.

Arm. If prophetic fire

Have warm'd this old man's bosom, we might construe

His words to fatal sense.

Ith. Leave to the powers
Above us, the effects of their decrees;
My burthen lies within me. Servile fears
Prevent no great effects.-Divine Calantha!
Arm. The gods be still propitious.

[Exeunt ITHOCLES and ARMOSTES. Org. Something oddly

The bookman prated; yet he talked it weeping:
Let craft with courtesy awhile confer,
Revenge proves its own executioner.

Con it again;-For what? It shall not puzzle me;
'Tis dotage of a withered brain.-Penthea
Forbade me not her presence; I may see her,
And gaze my fill: Why see her then I may,
When, if I faint to speak, I must be silent. [Erit.

SCENE II.-A Room in the House of BASSANES.
Enter BASSANES, GRAUSIS, and PHULAS.
Bass. Pray, use your recreations, all the service

These vain unruly passions, which will render ye I will expect is quietness amongst ye:

Into a madness.

[blocks in formation]

Take liberty at home, abroad at all times,
And in your charities appease the gods,
Whom I with my distractions have offended.
Gra. Fair blessings on thy heart!
Phu. Here's a rare change!
My lord, to cure the itch, is surely gelded;
The cuckold in conceit hath cast his horns.

[blocks in formation]
« НазадПродовжити »