MYRON.

Since then you prefs it, I must be your guest.
Methinks I labour, as I onward move,
As under check of fome controuling pow'r.
What can this mean? Wine may relieve
And mirth and converfe lift my foul again.

[Afide.

[Exeunt.

my thoughts,

The back scene draws, and fhews a banquet.

Enter MANDANE, richly dressed.
MANDANE.

It was this day that gave me life; this day

Should give much more, should give me Memnon too :
But I am rival'd by his chains; they clasp

The hero round (a cold, unkind, embrace!);

And but an earnest of far worse to come :
While he, my foul, in dungeon darkness clos'd,
Breathes damp unwholesome fteams, and lives on poifon,
I am compell'd to suffer ornaments,

To wear the rainbow, and to blaze in gems;
To put on all the fhining guilt of dress,
When 'tis almoft a crime that I ftill live:
These eyes, which can't diffemble, pouring forth
The dreadful truth, are honeft to my heart;
These robes, O Memnon! are Mandane's chains,
And load, and gall, and wring, her bleeding heart.
[Exit Mandane.

Enter MYRON, NICANOR, AULETES, &c. They take
their places.
NICANOR.

Sound louder, found, and waft my wish to heav'n.
Hear me, ye righteous gods, and grant my pray'r;
For ever fhine propitious on my daughter:

3

Protect

Protect her, profper her; and when I'm dead,
Still blefs me in Mandane's happiness !

[The bowl goes round. Mufic. Hafte, call my daughter; none can tafte of joy

Till fhe, the miftrefs of the feaft, is with us.

A fervant brings NICANOR a letter: He reads it.

The king's commands at any hour are welcome.

Not leave us, general?

MYRON.

NICANOR.

Ha! the king here writes me,

The difcontented populace, that held,
O'er midnight bowls, their defperate cabals,
Are now in bold defiance to his power:
Amid the terrors of this ftormy night,
Ev'n now they deluge all yon western vale,
And form a war, impatient for the day:
The spreading poifon too has caught his troops,
And the revolting soldiers stand in arms

Mix'd with feditious citizens.

MYRON,

Your call is great.

Enter MANDANE. MYRON ftarts from his feat in diforder.

MANDANE. [Afide.]

O Memnon! how fhall I become a banquet,
Suppress my forrows, and comply with joy?
Severeft fate! Am I deny'd to grieve?

NICANOR.

Be comforted, my child: I'll foon return.

Why doft thou make me blush? I feel my tears

Run trickling down my cheek.

MYRON. [Afide to Auletes.]

I must away:

Her fmiles were dreadful, but her tears are death,
I can no more: I fink beneath her charms,
And feel a deadly fickness at my heart.

NICANOR.

Your cheek is pale: I dare not let you part:

You are not well

MYRON.

A small indifpofition :

I foon fhall throw it from me-Farewel, general;

Conqueft attend your arms.

NICANOR.

You fhall not leave

Your fervant's roof; 'tis an unwholesome air,

And my apartment wants a guest.

MYRON.

Nicanor,

If health returns, I fhall not press my couch,
And hear of diftant conquefts; but o'ertake thee,
And add new terror to the front of war.

NICANOR.

Mean time, you are a guardian to my child:
Let her not miss a father in my absence:

She's all my foul holds dear.

BOTH. [Embracing.]

Farewel. Farewel.

NICANOR waits on MYRON off the ftage, and returns»

NICANOR.

My child, I feel a tenderness at heart

I never felt before: Come near, Mandane ;
Let me gaze on thee, and indulge the father-
Thy dying mother with her clay-cold hand

Prefs'd

Prefs'd mine; then, turning on thee her faint eye,
Let fall a tear of fondnefs, and expir'd-

I cannot love thee well enough; her grace

eye.

Softens thy cheek, and lives within thine
Let me embrace you bothMy heart o'erflows-
If I fhould fall-Thy mother's monument-
But I fhall kill thy tendernefs-No more:
Nay, do not weep; I shall return again,
And with my dearest child fit down in peace,
And long enjoy her goodness.

MANDANE.

If the gods

Regard your daughter's fervent vows, you will.

NICANOR.

Farewel, my only care; my foul is with thee;
Regard yourself, and you remember me.

Enter MYRON and AULETES.

MYRON.

No place can give me ease; my restless thought,
Like working billows in a troubled sea,

Toffes me to and fro; nor know I whither.

What am I, who, or where ?-Ha! where indeed!

But let me pause, and afk myself again,

If I am well awake-Impetuous blifs!

My heart leaps up; my mounting spirits blaze;
My foul is in a tempeft of delight!

AULETES.

My lord, you tremble, and your eyes betray

Strange tumults in your breaft.

MYRON.

[Exit.

And all the houshold is compos'd to reft.

AULETES.

All: And the great Nicanor's own apartment,
Proud to receive a royal guest, expects you.
MYRON.

Perdition on thy foul for naming him!
Nicanor! O I never shall sleep more!

Defend me! Whither wander'd my bold thoughts!
Broke loose from reafon, how did they run mad!
And now they are come home all arm'd with stings,
And pierce my bleeding heart-s

I beg the gods to disappoint my crime;
Yet almost wish them deaf to my defire:
I long, repent; repent, and long again;
And ev'ry moment differs from the last.
I must no longer parley with destruction :
Auletes, feize me; force me to my chamber;

There chain me down, and guard me from myfelf:
Hell rifes in each thought; 'tis time to fly.

Enter MANDANE and RAMESES.

RAMESES.

I hope your fears have giv'n a false alarm.

MANDANE.

You've heard my frequent vifions of the night;
You know my father's abfence, Myron's paffion:
Just now I met him; at my fight he started;
Then with fuch ardent eyes he wander'd o'er me,
And gaz'd with such malignity of love,

Sending his foul out to me, in a look

So fiercely kind, I trembled, and retir'd.

RAMESES.

[Exeunt.

No more; my friends (which, as I have inform'd you, The queen to gall the tyrant has fet free)

Are