LOVE In its ecstasy: OR, The large Prerogative.  
A kind of royal pastoral written long since, by a Gentleman, Student at Aeton, and now published.  
Multitudine Amicarum est salus.  
LONDON, Printed by W. Wilson for Mercy Meighen, Gabriel Bedell, and Thomas Collins, and are to be sold at their shop at Middle Temple gate. 1649.   

To the Reader.  
READER,  
THe torrent of the press that now sweeps All, amongst other Pamphlets has laid this before you. Did the Stage enjoy ' its former lustre, this would have lain still neglected and forgotten: but since those pastimes are denied us wherein we saw the soul and genius of all the world lie contracted in the little compass of an English Theatre, I have thought fit amidst a number of more serious pieces to venture this in public. You may be confident there lies no Treason in it nor State invective, (The common issues of this pregnant age) It is inoffensive all, soft as the milky days in was written in, for although it appears now so late before you like a winter blossom in the middle of a boisterous and illboding season, yet this Interlude was long since the early recreation of a Gentleman not fully seventeen, and those times admitted but of small distempers, or those years but little judgement to discern them. Were all men's Religion come up to the height once of a dramatic Poem, We should not fear that Stage where Virtue ever finds Reward, and Vice, Repentance or a punishment.  
Farewell   

The Scene Lelybaeus.  

The Persons.  
Charastus, King of Lelybaeus  
Brabantas, King of Pachynus  
Sperazus, King of Pelorus  
Virtusus, Son to Brabantas enamoured of Thesbia  
Fidelio, Son to Sperazus betrothed to Constantina  
Bermudo, A noble man of Lelybaeus  
Halisdus, An old commander  
Arontas, The captain of the citadel  
Spadatus, A Courtier.  
jailer  
Messenger  
Attendants  
Guard.   

Constantina, Sister to Virtusus  
Thesbia, Sister to Fidelio  
Desdonella, Sister to Charastus  
Flavanda, Sister to Bermudo.  
Echo.    

Love in its ecstasy.  


Actus Primus. Scena Prima.  Enter Arontas and Spadatus. Spa. 
YOur fears are vain Arontas.  Aron. 
I wish to heavens they would not prove  
True Omens to the kingdom.  Spa. 
Can you suppose the King, whose powerful nod  
Can force a thousand Virgins, to become their own bawds,  
And prostitue themselves unto his lose embraces,  
Will for one coy girl resign that gift  
Only in which the Gods can truly boast their liberty?  
Fie Arontas, think not so poorly of your sovereign;  
He is a Man, and therefore has Ambition.  Aron. 
So has he Love.  Sapd. 
But can that Love,  
That weaker fancy of an idle brain,  
Make Charastus yield, unto a composition, so absurd?  
As for to grant a kingdom for a conquest.  Aron 
'Tis to be feared; The obdurate girl  
Persists still in her enterprise: nor will she yield  
The fortress of her Love without the resignation  
Of his Diadem unto her Brother, a man  
Ambitious as the devil.  Spa. 
Hear reason.  Aron. 
'Tis not her will alone,  
The woman's chiefest argument, that denies him,  
But her weighty reasons, with which she still convinces  
All that dare venture opposition.  Spa. 
Is not the King's prerogative an argument  
Beyond weak woman's will? The wise men say,  
Kings ought to force when subjects won't obey.  Aron. 
Love cannot sir be for●'d;  
It is a spirit thinner than air, which when  
With boisterous hands we strive to captivate  
Doth vanish into nothing.  Spa. 
But should the King, in this his height of dotage,  
Offer up his crown, the trophy of her cruelty,  
Think you his Subjects will e'er give consent  
That one should wear it, so generally hated as Bermudo?  
One filled with such variety of wickedness,  
●s if the end of his creation was  
Only to shame his Maker.  Aron. 
Did he deserve a worse character,  
Yet when the crown, when that imperial Gem  
Once triumphs on his brow, his vice's Sir  
Will turn to virtues: such is the fate of Princes.  
Nor may we sir oppose his reign  
Since 'tis our King that wills it.  
King's are the Gods immediate Substitutes,  
And their wills are most divine, and holy statutes,  
Which our Religion in so strict a manner  
Binds us to observe, that should Bermudo,  
In that very instant, on which the crown  
Is placed upon his head, command our lives,  
'Twere more impiety to contradict,  
Than cruelty to obey.  Spa. 
Strange superstition!  Aron. 
It may seem so to you, a stranger: for  
Foreign Nations laugh at us, and call our zeal  
A blind obedience, their prouder hearts  
Can brook no Kings, but like unruly steeds  
Contemn their Riders, and blow Rebellion, Witchcrafts Ape,  
Even in the faces of their sovereigns; good Gods!  
Is this piety? is this Religion? shall He  
The principal of all subordinate's, one by that royal wreath  
Distinguished from the common Chaos, and created Head?  
Shall He be subject to the wills of an  
Irregular Multitude that knows nothing of a state's necessity?  
The Sun-●and slave that labours at the oar  
Knows not a life so servile then. But let 'em on,  
And glory in their disobedience: we whose souls  
Has still been subject to those higher powers,  
Must always think that man is chiefly blest,  
That suffers.  Spa. 
Be Happy then, I dare pronounce you Happy  
If Bermudo reigns; Felicity with a vengeance  
Will flow unto you, till ' its hideous torrent  
Has consumed the kingdom.  Aron. 
If 'tis our fate 'tis welcome, 'twill only prove  
The greater Argument of our Allegiance.  
The citadel, of which I am the unworthy Master  
Must be kept strongly for him, till his Will,  
Not Tyranny disclaims it.  Spa. 
No more: The Kings on entrance.   

Act. 1. Sce. 2.  Loud music. Enter Charastus, Flavanda, Bermudo, Halisdus, Spadatus, Arontas, and Attendants. Cham 
Was't not a direful Tempest that last night  
Affrighted our Horizon? was ever yet your age  
Acquainted with the like Halisdus?  Hal. 
Never my gracious Lord: yet I have seen  
Many, that would have terrified the boldest:  
When our Aetnean Hill, spitted his fiery venom  
Against the Heavens; when the affrighted Sun  
For three days has withdrawn himself; yet these  
Compared with this for horror,  
Deserve not to be mentioned.  Cham 
It was a dreadful night indeed; yet see  
How gloriously the sun appears: the Heavens  
In labour were all night, & from their pregnant womb  
This morn a Sun springs forth, whose glorious beams  
Frights back their pristine terror.  Hal. 
Were't not a sin too great and irreligious  
To mistrust the heavens diviner Mercy,  
I should conceive this ill-aboding night  
Portendeth some ensuing misery.  Cham 
Do not Halisdus with thy misconstruing fear  
Strive to disturb our joys: Thy sight Flavanda,  
Like to Aurora's beams, darted from out the Eastern Hills,  
Expels those drossy exhalations, which this too sad night  
Infused to my sadder soul.  Fla. 
Your highness has a privilege for flattery.  Char. 
Still harping on that string Flavanda?  
If for to speak what my inclining soul  
Prompts me to utter, and to conceive what I have said  
Is but a derogation from thy worth, be Flattery,  
I must confess I am guilty of that fault,  
Which never King did act, unless upon himself.  Fla. 
Pardon my incredulity great Sir.  
When I consider that the lofty Pines  
Stoop not to brambles, that your S●aring hawks  
bend not to lesser Birds, except for prey: I must confess  
My virgin fear holds back those wand'ring thoughts  
Which your Al-potent Majesty extracted  
Lest I should perish like a hasty blossom  
Cropped by the setting winter.  Cham 
Is yet my Loyalty in question?  
How oft have I with sacrilegious lips  
Dissected all the Gods for oaths, and must I still  
Remain suspected of disloyalty? surely I have a conscience.  Fla. 
Yes, pure and more spotless than the wandering snow  
Which the least breath of any calmer wind  
Blows up and down: such a conscience,  
That had it not a burden of Felicity  
I should court its Master.  Cham 
Was ever yet Felicity a burden?  Fla. 
Yes, that which you vainly style one:  
You do suppose a Crown a brave and glorious  
Trophy of felicity, which had you been without,  
One poor commanding word had done that deed,  
Which now your vain entreaties sue for.  
You are my King Sir.  Cham 
But tell me Dearest, how has my former life  
Deserved that title of your King: has my taxations  
Ever yet filled my oreflowing coffers?  
Have I replenished once my appetite  
With the direful noise of any subject's curses?  
Our gentler reign abhorred those vices  
Which most Kings do Boast in: And canst thou think  
When I do subjugate myself to thee,  
I shall become more ravenous than when I was  
Sole Monarch?  Fla. 
I dare not question Sir that virtue which in you  
All Princes can't admire enough, much more not imitate.  
'tis not the tyrannic usage of a sceptre  
That confirms a King; He that is truly royal,  
Rules not his kingdom with the severe  
And cruel Rigour of an austerer judgement,  
But with a mild severity, a virtue which you  
Have practised long; I must confess, you are adorned  
With all the Ornaments that make a King  
A second Deity; But can those glorious trappings,  
Your Crown, your sceptre, armed with that virtue too,  
Can they all resist those blasts, which envious fame  
Will hurl upon my honour?  Cham 
What can the giddy multitude report  
Against thy virtues? Thou art beyond their malice.  Fla. 
I were beyond then all that's good,  
Beyond the heavens themselves, and the celestial powers.  
That Love that tends to a superior,  
Be it ne'er so pure, is amongst them  
But an ambitious Lust, sold for preferment.  
Should Hymen join our hands in a lawful union  
With our hearts, yet they would say,  
Flavanda does not give, but prostitutes her love  
To satisfy her vain Ambition: Thus I should ever  
Rather be thought your Strumpet, than your Wife.  Cham 
Canst thou suspect me yet Flavanda?  Fla. 
I should suspect myself rather, for I know  
Our sex are all like watery clouds  
Made various still by the reflecting Sun.  
Whilst that the crown, Great Sir,  
Impales your royal Brow, I cannot be your Wife  
And to be your Whore, I dare not.  Cham 
Infortunate condition of a King! when that  
Hi● chiefest Ornament becomes his greatest punishment.  
A crown, and sceptre are but transitory toys,  
That wait on big and pompous Misery.  
Oh thou ambitious Man, whose soaring thoughts  
Aim only at a crown! knewst thou  
The inconver●ence now of mine, thou then  
Wouldst wish, thou hadst rested in security,  
And ne'er had sought so vain a happiness,  Fla. 
If that your boasted constancy be firm  
As 'twere a sin to suspect the contrary,  
That our loves may not diminish from each others lustre,  
Invest my Brother in your dignity: So I a Princess  
May equal you a sometimes King.  Cham 
Must I resign, or perish in felicity?  
Is this thy doom then still irrevocable?  Fla. 
As Fate.  Cham 
A sad and dismal sentence! yet stay,  
And ere I part with this same glorious gem,  
Let me recall the long lost man within me,  
And with him, man's better part, my Reason,  
Reason! alas I have none  
This trifle woman has unmanned my soul,  
And made me like herself irrational.  
Reason would tell me that I am a King,  
And in that name, something there is  
That whispers to my thoughts I may command.  
'Tis true, I may, o'er things  
Gross as myself; This arm of mine can level  
Cedars with the humblest shrubbs, and this my voice  
Can with one accent, breath more certain Fate  
Than plague, or Fire. But can its loudest note  
Silence one murmuring thought? or can this potent grasp  
Inclose heavens lighting, or the smallest beam  
Which from the sun is darted? Love is more pure  
And less substantial, 'tis no created body, Form,  
And Matter, but an etherial essence, fancies creatures.  
And to be Master of an immaterial soul,  
Who would refuse to sacrifice that dross,  
That clogs Mortality? He is a beast  
That would not fall, to rise a Constellation.  Hal. 
Yet, Sir, consider what you give,  
A crown, a sceptre, and a kingdom.  Cham 
These are but titular emblems of felicity,  
Visions of bliss, symptoms of happiness.  
What is there in a crown, worthy our estimation?  (He puts it on Flavandus head. 
Place it here in its most proper sphere,  
'Tis but a glorious trifle; look now Halisdus  
With impartial eyes, and tell me which casts  
The greater lustre; thy silence does condemn thee.  
See, I kiss it, embrace it, and no virtuous heat  
Pays a gratuity: One kiss of hers  
Makes me contemplate of a future happiness  
That rapes me to an ecstasy of pleasure.  
Dull, senseless, and base stupid earth,  
Go to the centre; My airy thoughts climbs Heaven,  
And graspeth now a Deity.  Ber. 
Beware a cloud Ixion▪ if my plots hit right,  
It shall be twice as fatal.  Char. 
Yet ere Bermudo  
I do fully cease, ere that my soul  
Be quite dismantled of that glorious robe  
Which Fate so freely did allot 〈◊〉,  
Oh let these dewy drops, the truest Harbingers  
of a set●ing Sun, entreat thee  
Not to bring my frailty to a custom:  
Do not, oh do not! do●te like me Bermudo,  
Let not posterity in succeeding times  
Account this folly lawful, and traduce Me,  
Me the original; 'Twill vex me in my urn.  Ber. 
It shall not sir. I'll break the custom,  
And to show how much my soul's  
Obedient to your will, and that the world may see  
That 'tis not pomp nor majesty affects me,  
I make a vow before just heavens, and you,  
That if ere my heart be conquered with a woman's love,  
Your Crown shall be restored.  Cham 
Thou know'st not what thou vow'st Bermudo.  Ber. 
I do my Lord, and know withal  
How strictly Religion binds me to performance;  
For should I dare to violate what I have vowed,  
It would call a curse upon me, high  
As the punishment Damnation pays to sinners:  
I must then royal sir, & so must ye, my Lords,  
And peers of Lelybaeus, acknowledge him again  
Your sovereign, unless a do a deed  
Which humane frailty names impossible,  Cham 
Canst thou be so good Bermudo?  Ber. 
'Tis not a crown great sir,  
With that same large Prerogative annexed,  
Can make Bermudo be ingrateful;  
You nourished my declining fortunes,  
And brought them to that height which now  
They stand in, and should I like ungatefull plant  
Consume the stem that nourished me,  
Infamy would surely blast me.  Cham 
Thus than I do indulge thee  
All the prerogatives of majesty.  
Go and ascend my throne, and let all with one applause  
Say after me, Long live Bermudo King of Lelybaeus.  Trumpets and shouts within. Omnes. 
Long live Bermudo King of Lelybaeus.  Omnes. 
Long live Bermudo King of Lelybaeus.  Omnes. 
Long live Bermudo King of Lelybaeus.  Ber. 
I have it now, seated firm, beyond the power  
Of Revocation: Thanks to the Heavens,  
And our diviner Policy. Long has this kingdom  
Under the easy yoke of an esteminate King  
Surfeited with luxury, and been a Proverb  
For our neighbouring Princes to express lasciviousness:  
The thought whereof did grate my heart,  
And stirred a noble Anger in my blood.  
Shame of all Kings, dishonour of thy race,  
It was I that forced my credulous ●ister  
To make this trial of thy constancy.  
I made Flavanda to demand thy crown, only  
With a promise to restore it: But can you think  
A gem so lost, will e'er be found  
Before the extirpation of that seed  
Which thy effeminate government has sown  
In this too much abused kingdom?  Cham 
If that the thought of what I was  
Can not procure some reverence,  
Yet slight me not ●or what I may be,  
When the conditions which you hold  
Your kingdom by are broken.  Ber. 
Condition's? 'Tis true, I promised when ere  
My heart was conquered with a woman's love  
Your Crown should be restored.  Fla. 
That was not all▪ A vow  
Was passed to me, sealed with an Oath,  
That when our nuptials should be solemnised  
You would restore the kingdom.  Ber. 
It is confessed: nor dare I disobey it.  
Vows of this nature may not be broken  
Without the violation of Religion.  Cham 
Come dearest then, let Hymenae all Rites  
Restore a double happiness.  Ber. 
Stay rash man, hear our Decree first▪  
Read Arontas, and let thy voiyce  
Strike terror to the Nation.  Arontas reads. 
Whereas this fertile kingdom, under the easy reign of our esteminate predecessor, has long su●setred with a degenerate passion, which the weaker ones style Love, the wiser Folly, to the high dishonour of the Nation, and great displeasure of that Virgin Goddess whose rites we ought to celebrate. That we may now therefore repair our lost honour, appease the wrath of that incensed Deity, and avert those judgements which are now so imminent; We have thought fit to decree, and be it decreed by the most high, and excellent Bermudo, the Supreme Lord, and Ruler of this Nation, that for the space of seven years next ensuing, none shall presume to entertain that passion: If any one shall presumptuously, contrary to this our pleasure, be ●ound so weak as to express it in the least of Circumstance, their lives to Heavens shall forfeit,  Bermudo. Ber. 
You have heard our will Charastus,  
Presume not then to disobey it: 'Tis not the remembrance  
Of your former greatness, or the people's love,  
Can exempt you from the justice of our anger.  
Couldst thou suppose, fond man, Bermudo  
Would restore a Crown for bare gratuity; No,  
I did but pull away the bait, to make  
The hasty fish receive it with more eagerness,  
Which now is caught, thanks to our Industry:  
And that the captive may not flatter his imagination  
With a hopes of a Recovery, Let our Decrees be published.  Exit Arontas. Cham 
That sir you have a power to punish my credulity,  
This knee, ne'er bend before to humane greatness, testifies.  
Oh royal sir! Let the severity of your Law stop here,  
Here on my head let your anger fall:  
Punish not my folly in your loyal Subjects,  
Guilty in nothing but obedience. If not for my sake,  
For my sister's sake, for Desdonellas' sake,  
She though a Princess loved you sir a Subject:  
I saw it, and was silent, and surely,  
Had not I thought, you had supposed  
Ingratitude the worst of evils,  
I near had left myself so bare,  
Clothed only with my shame and ruin.  Ber. 
If Desdonella harbours such a thought,  
She feeds the flame that will consume her:  
Nor she, nor any sir shall dare to do,  
What is denied their sovereign.  Cham 
Then thus proud man I rise,  
And boldly tell you, that though Religion  
Ties our hands, yet there's a power above you,  
Which neither custom nor Religion can control,  
He sir will punish to the height the deadly sin  
Of an abused Authority: Remember it, and tremble.  Fla. 
Alas, fond maid, to what a deluge of misfortune  
Has this thy incredulity now brought thee?  
What indigested heaps of misery has it thrown  
On thy o'ercharged soul? Ye sacred Powers  
That guard distressed Innocence!  
If that my brother's tyranny has not as yet  
Exiled ye this Nation, pity my tears,  
And since I needs must hate where I am forced to love  
Learn me a loving hate: But can I hope  
The heavens will pity me in such a vale of wickedness?  
No surely, I'll therefore to the woods,  
There harmless Innocence wrapped in security,  
Entombs faint envy, there vain Ambition  
Covets no other Crown but Roses, No sceptre  
But a Sheephook, these will I covet too.  
Farewell Bermudo; and because once thou wert my brother,  
In Heavens I wish thee.  Ber. 
And I thee in hell for wishing it.  Fla. 
Since that the Constellations yet do want  
A fierce and cruel tiger, I'll pray the Heavens  
To place thee there, that when a Tyrant's born,  
The world may say Bermudo gave the influence.  
My ill-spent tears bids thee adve: Farewell all cruelty,  
A wolf and Lamb compared to us, for sympathy,  
May well be styled the zodiacs Gemini.  Exit. Cham 
Farewell thou perfect model of all goodness,  
Haste to the shady woods, there I will live,  
In contemplation of thy excellence:  
Loves Theory shall be my study; a Science  
Far beyond thy reach Bermudo; thy grosser ●ence  
Is ignorant of all loves, except of that  
Whose base flame knows no commerce with purity,  
That which insatiate lust perhaps has prompt thee too;  
Mine is a love superplatonick, a flame,  
Whose bright continued pyramid of splendour  
Shall soar above thy dulle● reach Bermudo,  
And make thy faint ambition become more blind  
Than are thy thoughts that guide it.  Ber. 
What curses mutterst to thyself?  
Are they against me, or against the destinies?  Cham 
Thou art not worthy of my curses,  
And to curse my stars were irreligious,  
For 'twas Love, not Fate  
That made Charastus thus infortunate.  Exit. Ber. 
Farewell, a pair of Fondlins'.  
Is Arontas gone to publish our Decree?  Hall. 
He is my Lord. Shall I recall him?  Ber. 
Stir not a foot to h●nder our designs.  Hall. 
Oh good my Lord! This is not the way  
To keep you in your kingdom long Sir.  Ber. 
Why? Lives there a man so bold  
As to violate the Majesty of a King?  Hal. 
It is a crime I must confess, that we Scicilians  
Most abhor; nor do I think there lives a man  
So irreligious: But by your leave,  
He is no King that has no Subjects,  
And if you take this course, what Subjects will remain?  
Consider sir, Love is the principal cause  
That begets you Subjects, And if you take away  
The Cause, the effect will follow.  Ber. 
Let not that trouble you sir.  
Let it be your care joined with Arontas  
To send a Guard unto the utmost limits of our Kingdom  
That bound upon the other Promontories  
With a Commission to let none pass:  
If any of another Nation come within their reach,  
Bring strait to our subjection; which don  
Haste ye unto our Ports, burn there our ships;  
If that a man escapes, your heads shall pay his ransom.  
We long have surfeited with extremes, and now  
Extremes shall cure this deadly malady,  
Which Justice is Halisdus, and not Tyranny.  Exeunt.  

Act. 1. Sce. 3.  Enter Virtusus. Vir. 
Once more in spite of fortune, and the raging waves  
Of a tumultuous Sea, does my unhappy foot  
Salute the Earth again. Did ever man  
From all eternity behold a night so dismal  
Leave behind no sad remembrance of its former horror?  
Here's not a stem that's widowed of his leaf,  
No, nor one branch become  
The hopeless issue of the Husbandman, but all  
In a sweet tranquillity enjoy that happiness  
Which Nature has allotted them: I am  
The only object of heaven's Tyranny,  
Else had these senseless Plants  
Perished this fatal night, when both the Arctic,  
And Antarctic Poles, striving to kiss each other,  
Confounded Heaven, Earth, Sea, Hell, and All  
Into an indigested Chaos: yet in this dire  
Confusion of the Elements, these stand untouched  
Outbraving fortune's Malice, whilst wretched I,  
The heavens lest part of care,  
Was banded too and fro by the immerciless winds  
Uncertain of a rest, and had not the thought  
Of thee my Thesbia, balanced my rottering soul,  
The insatiate bosom of the Ocean  
Had been my wish't●for grave.  Enter Fidelio like a shepherd. 
Sir, the fortune of the Sea having cast me,  
A sad and desolate man, upon the Confines  
Of an unknown Land, I must desire  
Your charitable disposition to declare  
Your countries' name unto me.  Fid. 
Most willingly. Know sir you are cast  
Upon a most unfortunate shore, Lelybaeus  
Is the countries' Name, one of the three  
Promontorian Kingdoms of famous Sicily.  Vir. 
Heavens, now I see ye are not altogether cruel:  
This is the happy country that my voyage aimed at.  Fid. 
Call it not happy sir, for 'tis the most  
Infortunat'st habitation that ever man enjoyed.  Vir. 
It seems not so by the outward Appearance.  Fid. 
Oh no! Nature has bedecked it with the best  
Of all her ornaments, nor could she, if she would  
Create another world, frame any part  
To parallel with this.  Vir. 
What diastrous chance than  
Has made it thus unfortunate?  Fid. 
Pardon me if I refuse to tell you that,  
The relation whereof would draw tears  
From my o'ercharged eyes. Let this Decree  
Inform you sir.  He gives him a paper, and he reads. 
Heavens I thank ye: This courtesy  
Will make me die ungrateful to your bounty.  
Oh how my soul now gluts itself, to see his enemy  
Thus offered as a sacrifice to his incensed Ire!  
Just anger seize me then, and Constantina,  
Let the thoughts of thy sad sufferings  
Inspire my soul with vengeance, arm my strength  
With a Revenge as ample as the cause:  
Yet Prince Virtusus I'll not kill thee basely;  
That were to mistrust my cause, which is as just  
As heavens are innocent, Thou shalt not die  
For to be damned in ignorance: No, I'll summon  
All thy faults, and thunder '●m to thy ears;  
If then thy treachery has not exiled thy valour,  
Let thy sword plead thy innocence:  
By which most noble pleading thou shalt die  
Honoured, by my Revenges charity.  Vir. 
Oh my unjuster stars! Why did ye stop  
The ocean's mouth, denying me an entrance,  
Yet bring me here to be entombed  
Alive upon the shore? was it because I feared  
Your threatening waves, or that the louder winds  
Strake terror to my affrighted Conscience? This cannot be:  
For how oft in scorn has my undaunted sighs  
Echoed the blustering winds, and my full tide eyes  
For fear of scarcity, how oft have they  
Replenished the waves, and nourished  
The decaying billows? Yet must all this be  
The Prologue only to my ensuing Tragedy?  
Oh cruel Pity! Oh inhuman charity!  Enter Charastus. Fid. 
Peace sir: The King.  They Kneel. Cham 
Why kneel ye unto me sirs?  
If I have not deserved your pity,  
I have not deserved your scorn I am sure.  Fid. 
The Heavens forbidden, when ere I see  
Such beams of Majesty, that I should presume  
To approach without that awful adoration  
Which my Allegiance pays unto my sovereign.  Cham 
'Tis true, good Subjects ought to do so:  
But when a lion's dead, the base Ass  
Will come, and trample on him,  
And spurn that face, which when alive  
Was death to look on.  Fid. 
Such incivility becomes the Beasts;  
But man whose purer soul  
Claims something of divinity, can easily discern  
That sacred Majesty which on Kings  
Hang like the Gods re●in'd ideas: He cannot be  
So foolishly impious, to think the Sun,  
Because ofttimes he does obscure himself  
Under the gloomy shade of some gross exhalation,  
That he never will again come to his pristine splendour.  
How oft do we see those blazing Members  
Of the air, decline? those fiery Comets,  
Which though composed of exhalations  
Covet the highest Region, where hurried  
With their vain imaginations for a while they reign,  
Contracting their own ruin that at length will come  
As suddenly as fearful? Such will Bermudo's fall be,  
And the higher he lifts his towering thought●  
The deadlier will his precipice become.  Cham 
Canst thou perceive that Majesty which to Kings  
Is still essential, and speak these words against  
Thy lawful sovereign? Surely thou art no Sicilian.  Fid. 
I am great sir, and yet dare say  
'Tis virtue makes a King: majesty without that  
Is a disjointed structure that must fall,  
And come to ruin. 'Tis not a Crown alone  
That I adore, for should I do●e on that,  
And slight the goodness which you are Master of,  
I were worse than he, that fears the idol,  
Yet contemns the Godhead: since then Bermudo  
Wants the better part of King, a royal soul,  
I'll look on him, as on polluted incense,  
Sacred, though not holy; And on you, as on  
An unfurnished Temple, pious, though not glorious.  
Then pardon sir, if I prefer an undecent sanctity  
Before a comely wickedness.  Cham 
Couldst thou distinguish, I confess 'twere just:  
But since wise Nature has ordained  
Goodness essential to Supremacy, 'tis fit  
You serve and honour him.  Fid. 
And so I will: but it must be  
As Infidels do Devils, for fear, not love.  
Far be it from me sir to confine  
Goodness to Greatness only, or suppose that man  
Is solely royal that's ambitious;  
That were to think the Heavens an easy sponge,  
From which the daring soul  
Squeases his ends out: He rather sir is great  
That dares be good.  Cham 
Then thou art great I swear; exceeding great:  
Thou canst distinguish between good and good.  
Had I had such an intellectual soul  
To put a difference 'twixt those attributes  
That make a King complete, the gilded flashes of his tongue  
Would then have rendered him, as far contemptible,  
As now he is fatal. Come nearer to us Shepherd:  
Nay! flatter not a falling greatness;  
To kneel unto an Altar that's defaced  
Smells more of Superstition than Devotion▪  
Arise, worthy our arms,  
And if thou needs will serve thy King  
In me his small Epitome, chide not his folly  
With this strict observance; to make him Master  
Of those joys, which ●e han'● pour to command,  
Is exprobration not affection.  Vir. 
Noble Charastus!  
Thy miseries cannot outvie thy virtues,  
Nor can they suffer an ignoble act  
To derogate from fortune's Conquest,  
Though she has made thy sufferings  
Ample as her power. Wonder not, great Prince,  
Who 'tis dares Comment on thy miseries,  
Since none can truly know a kingdom's loss,  
But he that feels it.  Cham 
If thou hast lost one then,  
And that experience stimulates this boldness,  
I shall rejoice in thy society: I oft have seen  
A feathered Captive sadly in a cage  
Mourning in silence his determined freedom,  
But having got a partner of his sufferings, the silly Bird,  
As if revived by another's mischief,  
Has from his drowsy taciturnity awaked,  
Chirping sweet Io Paeans to our ravished ears,  
Until his eyes became the sad oblation  
Of his fainting voice.  Vir. 
Behold a partner then, O●e  
That fortune's malice has in sundry shap●●  
Horrid as coward's fears, or midnight apprehensions,  
Strove to appall his courage, yet to him  
Those P●nick horror● seemed but painted fires  
Quenched with the smallest drop of's resolution.  
Behold a Prince equally distressed:  
But if our sympathetic disasters  
Has not created an instinct to know me,  
Summe up your patience sir, ●nd that will tell you  
That none can parallel its fortitude,  
Except Pachynas' Prince, Infortunate Virtusut.  Cham 
Stay, and ere thou further speakest  
Let me survey thee sully, for in thee is drawn  
The just resemblance of my misery.  
By all our former happiness! 'Tis rarely limned;  
Fortune, thou hadst eyes, thou ne'er couldst  
Copy me so truly else.  
Oh royal Prince, my woes sad character!  
Let us incorporate, and be one,  
One monumental trophy of misfortune.  
Bear witness oh thou sacred Register of united hearts,  
How Virtusus here joys to behold Charastus there.  Vir. 
Allied thus by misfortune, our united wills  
Shall hate a separation. One act we'll still pursue;  
One thought we'll think; One soul we'll have;  
One heart, and one Ambition.  Cham 
Ambition! In that we'll imitate our mother Earth,  
To fall is her Ambition, should she aspire,  
'Twere not Ambition, because not natural.  Vir. 
This Union sown in tears  
Shall rise in glory; my prophetic soul divines it:  
Mean while we'll live here in these woods disguised,  
Sometimes we'll visit Court, and see if Fate  
Will put a period to our sufferings, till then  
From you renowned Shepherd we must crave concealment.  Fid. 
Your graces may command your humblest vassal.  
I have a story of my own to tell you; But for a while  
I must crave leave to lie concealed.  Cham 
Then we'll not urge it.  
Hence, hence Ambition now, and all those pleasing thoughts,  
Which Crowns and sceptres whistled to our ears.  
The silent Groves, and murmuring streams,  
The shady woods, and whistling winds, will be  
A recreation beyond Court vanities. There we three  
Will fancy to ourselves a Triarchy.  Exeunt.  

Act. 1. Scen. 4.  Enter Bermudo. Ber. 
Of what airy substance is man's soul  
That still 'tis so ambitious to aspire?  
The higher still I am lifted, the more I covet.  
Is there no end Heavens of our vain desires?  
Cannot a Crown and sceptre stay our towering thoughts?  
But must we aim at things impossible?  
Are we All composed of that same disputable element  
Whose questioned flames outstrips the highest Region?  
Is there no Earth commixed within us,  
Or did we drop it at our first creation?  Enter Halisdus. 
Thou envious Man, why comest thou with a face  
So wretched, thus to check our joys?  
What sorrow ' is't thy tears does thus prognosticate?  Hal. 
I now lament the woeful fruits  
Of your dire cruelty: Oh too much wronged Princess!  
Wretched Desdonella!  Ber. 
What of her? Perhaps her passion  
Has caused her to lay violent hands upon herself.  
Is't not so?  Hal. 
Your Highness is too true a Prophet,  
For the woeful Princess when as the fatal news  
Of her dear brother's Misery, resounding in her ears  
Was seconded by the late published edict, Knowing  
That she could not live without your anger,  
Which to her was worst of miseries,  
Threw her dejected body into the hideous stream,  
Where the enamoured wa●es proud of their rich prey  
Even killed he● with embrace▪  Ber. 
She was a fond and foolish woman.  
We will not spend one tear would it recover her.  Hal. 
She loved you sir to● too well.  Ber. 
For that we will not▪ Those loser thoughts  
Shall never seize Bermudo▪ The world shall know,  
To offend in those absurdities is not the Nature  
But the Vice of Power, from which I'll fly  
As from a singing Siren, or a weeping crocodile.  Enter Arontas. 
What news portends your haste?  Aron. 
Two ships my gracious Lord, this morn  
Arrived within your harbour, which we,  
Bound by our duty, & your express Command,  
Took, ransacked, and burnt: But seizing of the men,  
Two cried out, Lay not your hands on sacred Majesty;  
For we are Kings: yet nevertheless  
We have brought 'em here to be examined by your highness.  Ber. 
Spies on my life! Let 'em be brought before us;  
They shall die. 'tis I, their fate, have said it.  Exeunt. 
King's are not safe in their own territories;  
But still are subject unto Treachery.  
He that ascends a Throne by such severe,  
And unjust dealing, goes but on a slippery path,  
Where but to a stumble is a precipice.  
Beware Bermudo then, Traps are laid to take thee,  
envy's big, and will be delivered of her brat Ambition,  
Which we must strangle in the Infancy,  
Or all will perish.  
He that gins in mischief must go on, and in it reign,  
If he but leans to virtue once, he falls amain.  Exit.   


Actus secundus. Scena Prima.  Enter Virtusus hastily, and Fidelio following, in each hand a naked Rapier. Fid. 
OH save thee Great Prince, from yonder Hill  
A fierce and cruel Beast comes raging.  Vir. 
Where is this hideous Monster?  Fid. 
Alas! it follows thee▪ Here, take this sword,  
And stand upon thy Guard: See, how ●e yawns,  
As if he meant to swallow thee alive:  
His eyes are numberless from which proceeds  
Such a sulphureous flame, that alas, I fear,  
The very smell will kill thee: Oh what a black  
And noisome mist his gaping mouth sends forth?  
His tongues spit floods of venom, and his reaching tail  
Sweeps down whole mountains, on his  
Cristed back doth rise, so many and such massy spears,  
That you would swear whole Armies  
Came to thy destruction.  Vir. 
I see nothing, sir, so horrid.  Fid. 
Alas, it comes invisible.  Vir. 
Wouldst have me fight with shadows?  
I fear you are distracted sir.  Fid. 
So, now you are safe from company,  
I'll be more plain.  
This fierce inhuman Beast, which I so mentioned,  
Lodges here, here in my Breast his den is,  
Long on my inmost Bowels he has gnawed  
Lacking his worthy prey; But now on thee  
He means to seize. Revenge his Name is;  
You may guests the Monster.  Vir. 
My innocence is ignorant of his Nature.  Fid. 
I'll prompt it in few words. You must die.  Vir. 
It is acknowledged: So must we All.  Fid. 
Nay, by this Hand I mean, Revenges Instrument.  Vir. 
I am so innocent,  
I can't persuade myself to credit you.  Fid. 
Coward's still plead Innocence.  
Darest thou not fight?  Vir. 
My cause too good is, yours too bad.  
Think what a stain my honour would receive,  
Should I but fight when such an inequality  
Parts our causes.  Fid. 
Oh Coward!  Vir. 
Are you more valiant, Because  
In a distempered rage you dare draw a sword,  
Which not provoked you durst not?  
'Tis he is truly valiant that will fight,  
Not when his furious Blood boyles  
In his veins thus, not when a fervent inundation  
Swells his distempered channels, but when it coldly flows  
With a mild, soft, and quiet motion:  
Those streams that run with such a hideous violence  
Are still the shallowest; The silent waters  
Are most dangerous.  
If I have wronged you sir in such a manner,  
That nought but death will expiate my crime,  
Let me understand my fault before I die.  
Beasts do not fight without their natural parlye:  Fid. 
I scarce have so much patience  
As to tell thee: Thou hadst a sister.  Vir. 
And, hope I have one yet. What of her?  Fid. 
Canst thou remember her, and no crimson Blush  
S●●in thy immodest cheeks? oh impudence!  Vir. 
When I remember her,  
I have less guilt than I expected:  
For if my wronging her my only fault is,  
Heaven knows I am virtuous.  Fid. 
Hell is divine then: Less Tyranny is harboured there.  
If for to cloister up a sister be a virtue,  
Let me be vicious Heavens: For to have killed her  
Had been charity; But to bury her alive  
Where she must still consume in love's hot torturing flames  
And never perish, is an act that Saints  
All humane Malice. knowst not me yet?  
knowst not Fidelio?  Vir. 
Fidelio! Let me embrace thee: I must.  Fid. 
Keep off dissembling crocodile: Too long  
Has the thought of thee already rioted in my bosom,  
Which now I'll banish quite: Prepare to die.  Vir. 
Hold yet your hand:  
She is not in a Nunnery as you think.  Fid. 
Ha! Is she dead then? oh my misconstruing soul!  
'Tis too true: Can I know it,  
And let thee live a minute after?  Vir. 
Do not abuse your patience: She is not dead.  Fid. 
What happy place contains her then?  Vir. 
I know not that sir.  
When that my Father did with bad success  
Send unto Delphos, to demand what fortune  
Should betid my sister, after that solemn Contract  
That was made between you, He received from thence  
This short but fatal Oracle.  
Brabantas take this answer, and no other,  
Thy daughter's born to disenthrone her Brother.  
These words did so enrage my Father,  
To think his own bowels should root out  
His own posterity, that nought but  
The immurement of my sister could assuage his Passion,  
Which shortly he determined to perform;  
But she, the night before that dismal day,  
The silent darkness helping her escape,  
Departed from the Court; But whither  
I am uncertain, for my raging Father  
Supposing me the plotter of her flight, next day  
Did banish me his Kingdom, on pain of death  
No● to return without her.  
First to Pelorus I begun my voyage,  
Which then I found all drowned in tears,  
Lamenting your departure, which as I heard  
Her late supposed immurement had caused.  
Long there I stayed not, but sailing onwards,  
The tempestuous Sea cast me unawares  
On this infortunate kingdom; where I shall never find her.  Fid. 
And wouldst thou carry her back again  
To her imprisonment? Oh! the unconscionable  
Cruelty of a Brother!  Vir. 
Do not deceive yourself. Heaven knows  
My thoughts are innocent.  Fid. 
Talk not of innocence false man,  
It is a virtue which thy childhood ne'er could boast off,  
Thy tainted blood runs thick within thy veins,  
And I must vent it, lest it prove dangerous.  Vir. 
'Twill prove as clear as crystal  
In token of my Innocence: No silver wand'ring stream  
Shall with a purer current flow, than this  
My unpolluted blood shall, to invite  
Thy guilty hands, to wash them of their stain.  Fid. 
There I could bathe eternally, and never faint.  
Prepare. Have at you sir. So cunning?  They fight, and a Letter drops. Vir. 
Hold: What had I forgot?  
For this same crime Fidelio I will not die  
Innocence is wronged in't: I'll give thee  
A juster cause for thy Revenge, thy sister's Will:  
Here in this letter 'tis enclosed.  He gives him the Letter. Fid. 
Letters to me from Thesbia? art sure  
The enclosed injunctions are to kill thee?  Vir. 
Her threatening brow at my departure told me so.  
When I received them, me thoughts her face appeared  
Like to a quiet stream crisped on the sudden  
By some gentle wind, which soon, too soon  
Arose to billows; Then her tongue  
Proclaimed me vagabond, commanding me to find  
My sister and her Brother, or near to see her more.  Fid. 
Thou wilt grow odious to all the world.  
She loved thee once Virtusus, and ever would  
Haddit not thy virtue failed, for which  
If now she has sent thy doom,  
Millions of Armies shall not hold my hand  
From acting a Revenge, that shall puzzle  
All the Furies for to second.  He reads. Vir. 
Never did guilty Prisoner at the Bar  
Await the sentence of the Magistrate, with such  
A Holy and Religious fear as I do mine.  
See how his clouded brow  
Already dooms me guilty: Such another look  
Would save the Executioner his labour.  Fid. 
Oh cruel sister! Wouldst have me pardon him?  
Thinkest thou he is innocent? the cruel Leopard  
Is less spotted.  Enter a Messenger. 
The news?  Mess. 
The Prince Charastus is returned from Court,  
And does desire a speedy conference.  Fid. 
we'll wait him instantly.  Mess. 
But good sir, stay not; The affair,  
He says, is very weighty.  Exit. Fid. 
My sister's pleasure, and the King's affairs  
Defers our combat till some other time, mean while  
Read this enclosed Letter, my sister sends it thee,  
she'll not the Proverb break,  
Love bids us write what we are shamed to speak.  Exeunt.  

Act. 2. Sce. 2.  Enter Arontas and Spadatus. Spa. 
Why so sad Arontas?  
Can the honours lately conferred upon you  
Make you forget your wont liberty?  Aron. 
I am already weary with their burden;  
Fate has converted my felicity to a wickedness  
So horrid, that the Ghosts of injured Kings  
Will for ever haunt me.  Spa. 
What desert in thee can procure  
So royal Attendance?  Aron. 
Hast thou not heard then of that cruelty  
Which will for ever record my name  
Amongst the Tyrants?  Spa. 
I yet am ignorant; Prithee inform me.  Aron. 
I tremble but to think on't.  
The Kings of Pachynus and Pelorus, going to Delphos  
To consult, about the finding of their late lost Children,  
Were by the last infortunate Tempest Cast on this Shore.  Spa. 
What of that?  Aron, 
I▪ bound by my new got office, and the hopes  
Of future honour, presented them to the King,  
Who, contrary to my expectation, has,  
As spies, condemned them, le●t by their flight  
The world should know the tyranny of his cruel laws.  Spa. 
And must they die then?  Aron. 
Most certain.  Spa. 
Surely they must not.  Aron. 
Why? what should hinder?  Spa. 
The people.  Aron. 
Heavens keep such thoughts from Sicily.  
The People? they resist Authority?  Spa. 
May they not oppose a Tyrant?  Aron 
Take heed whilst they oppose one  
They introduce not thousands. Be confident  
The ruin, spoil and rape of Innocence that attends  
But one such single act, will be far greater than  
The malice of ten Tyrants can ever perpetrate.  Spa. 
Though Innocence may suffer for a while in it,  
And much too, Yet we shall at length be free.  Aron. 
Neve●, Oh never. Open but that gap once,  
And ten thousand unseen miseries will enter.  
Those whom the People dote on so, admire,  
And saint for seeming virtues, if they once get power  
(Heavens having stamped that curse still on such changes)  
Will turn the greatest and the worst tormentors.  
Oppression in a lawful King, is but a kind of wantonness;  
But in all others, a Necessity. No power, I must confess,  
There is without its whip; but the usurper  
Lashes with Scorpions.  Spa. 
Then we can change again.  Aron. 
Most likely sir you will.  
Change will beget a change, till All are no-nothing.  
Rebellion is a Circle that will find no end  
Till men want Ambition, or the People, Madness.  Spa. 
What must we do then?  Aron. 
Keep close unto that sacred rule of strict obedience.  
Though tyrant's reign, one grave, or age may end it;  
But Government let lose to change, and popular disorders,  
Contracts that ruin which nothing but eternity can bury.  Spa. 
I find it a sad truth; yet would these Kings  
Were saved though. I am strangely troubled.  Aron. 
No King can fall, but good men  
●inde an Earthquake.  Spa. 
Shall we to Court, and see the event?  Aron. 
Led on, I'll follow. Oh Allegiance,  
Thou elder child of Virtue, Lend us thy passive fortitude,  
With that high saintlike goodness arm this Nation.  
Resistance ever brings a swift damnation.  Exeunt.  

Act. 2. Sce. 3.  Enter Brabantas, Sperazus, and jailor. jay. 
My Lords, the King commends him to ye  
In this Message. He bade me tell ye,  
Ye must prepare yourselves for a Noble,  
Sudden, and a fatal entertainment.  Bra. 
What does his cruelty intend to do now?  jay. 
No more than Tarquin did to the Poppeys  
When he lopped their stately heads off.  Bra. 
Must then our Heads go off?  jay. 
No sir; They must be cut off: My worship  
Is appointed to execute that honourable function.  Bra. 
Base peasant, has thy Master sent thee thus  
To jeer our Misery?  jay. 
Good words sir, I shall be a cruel Destiny,  
And have three cuts at your thread of life else.  Bra. 
Thus dares the base Ass revile the dying lion.  
Hence thou unnecessary Parenthesis of Nature,  
Or by my just anger, thou shalt be our Harbinger.  jay. 
I am gone, but shall return in Thunder.  Exit. Bra. 
Oh ye powers!  
Where's that majestical glory, which to Kings  
Is still essential? where is that awful power  
Which our least Nod may justly challenge?  
Surely you have but flattered us, else peasant's tongues  
Can ne'er thus triumph o'er our Misery.  Spe. 
Be patiented Great Brabantas.  Bra. 
Oh 'tis above my patience, that we two  
Whom the All-potent Gods have framed their Image,  
And have given as equal power to rule in Earth  
As they in heaven, should thus be mocked by one  
Whom nature's overcharged breast has vomited,  
And made a drossy lump worth nought  
But scorn and foul reproach of purity.  
King's are earth's Gods, how dares the base sort  
Profane their Deities?  Enter Fidelio and Virtusus like Priests. Vir. 
Most royal sirs, no sooner did your sad estate  
Arrive ou● Knowledge, but it raised  
Pity within us, so far, that being bound  
By the Religion of our office, and the commiseration  
Of your Miseries, we thought it fit to visit ye,  
And prescribe some necessary comfort.  Bra. 
There is no comfort left beyond my miseries.  
That name is banished quite; my cr●me so horrid is,  
That all the infernal torments will be  
But my deserved penance, and no punishment,  
And the enduring them but my devotion, and no sufferance.  
Oh reverend Fathers! there's such a crime  
Lies burdened my sad conscience, that to relate it  
Would affright your ears, and puzzle  
Your Inventions for a penance.  Fid. 
Let not the defect of a sufficient penance  
Make you irreligious; Heavens mercy  
Is above your crime.  Bra. 
Had there been ever sin of such an exorbitant nature  
For their mercy's precedent, I might be confident;  
But now to hope it, were flat impudence.  
The crying voices of my injured children  
Are too clamorous for any prayers of mine  
To arrive there.  Vir. 
No question sir your children's cries  
Are Mediators for you. They will but prove the steps  
Whereby your prayers may easily ascend:  
It is their filial duty.  Bra. 
Ought there to be a filial duty  
Where no paternal care was? Such goodness  
Would but aggravate my crime; should they  
But plead for me, how wicked then were I  
In wronging them? oh sirs!  
Is't not a crime most horrid, when a father  
Shall immure his daughter in a Nunnery,  
Because a foolish Oracle did say, she was born  
To disenthrone her Brother?  Fid. 
Will not a careful Husbandman ofttimes  
Cut off a branch, because he sees it may offend  
Some other? Necessity compelleth oft to cruelty.  
And he is mad that will not part  
With a corrupted limb, when it may prove  
Injurious to the whole body.  Bra. 
But he is worse that kills himself,  
Because he wou●d not die. Shall I  
For fear of drowning from a well rig'd ship  
Leap down into the waves? This is  
Wilfully to court, that which I fain would sh●●.  Vir. 
Your Son sir I perceive in this  
Was chiefest Author; 'Twas his accursed fear  
That made your tenderness to use  
Such rigour on your daughter. Though him you father,  
Father not his crimes.  Bra. 
Wouldst have me still heap sin on sin?  
Is not the ruin of a daughter an offence sufficient,  
But must I rob a Son too of his honour,  
And make a rape of Innocence my Relaxation?  
My soul already is replenished, I need not bring  
Vice in a newer fashion: Had he been guilty  
He might have rested safely in Pachynu●.  Fid. 
No more: It is enough Virtusus.  They discover. Bra. 
I would my eyes were fountains  
Fraught with tears, that I might ever  
Weep for joy at this thy safety.  Spe. 
My Son Fidelio, welcome to my Arms;  
Now let me die Bermudo, for thus supported  
Dare I stand out braving Fate, and make  
Death cremble at my boldness.  Bra. 
Arise my son; Let all the blessings  
That the Earth can give to mortals, light on thee:  
That thou mayst safely flourish and spring up,  
When this same withered truncks blown down  
By age's Tyranny.  Fid. 
Tri●le not time▪ Great Sirs.  
Take these our ill beseeming robes, in these  
You may escape the keeper's curious eye,  
And pass all undiscovered.  Bra. 
But how will ye escape then?  Vir. 
Leave that to Heavens and us.  
D●spure it not: I pray make haste.  Spe. 
Heavens be your guard then.  Vir. 
And yours.  Exeunt Bra. and Spe. Fid. 
Oh Virtusus, Pardon my infidelity,  
No thought of mine was the first that caused  
That ●oul suspicion of thy Loyalty,  
Only the ill-sounding Trump of same▪  
Blew some such speeches to my ears, which they  
Too suddenly entertained, and would as suddenly  
Have banished, had not some envious tongues  
Then seconded it. That friendship which before  
I vowed, shall now be ' established;  
I have called a Parliament within me,  
'Tis now confirmed by Act. Fool that I was  
Ever to mistrust thee.  A continued cry within of Fire. 
Hark, 'tis done; Charastus now I see  
Thou are truly faithful.  Enter Charastus hastily. Cham 
The Lodge is fired, the Keeper's gone,  
And I am pursued.  Both. 
How? Pursued?  Cham 
Time will not give us leave to talk on't;  
Make haste, and save yourselves.  Exeunt. A confused company pass o'er the stage, crying stop the Shepherd.  

Act. 2. Sce. 4.  Enter Bermudo and Arontas. Ber. 
What tumult's grown in our disturbed Court?  
Will not the heavens permit me for to take  
One peaceful hour, But must they still  
Molest my wearied senses with these dismal sounds?  
But heavens I thank ye: ye have now awaked  
And summoned up an almost forgot Revenge:  
The slow paced time is now fulfilled in which  
The two proud insolent Kings are doomed to suffer.  A cry within of fire. 
Hark: Surely the Gods already have prepared a fire,  
And do expect the Kings for sacrifice.  A cry again of fire. 
Still more and more; Look out Arontas.  Exit Arontas. 
What should these flames portend? what secret mystery  
Is in Fate, that passes thus a King's capacity?  
Be it good or bad, speak it ye powers;  
Speak it in thunder Heavens: or if  
The affrighted world must still be ignorant of its ruin,  
Let some gentle wind whisper it to me alone:  
Why should Bermudo be denied to be Fates councillor?  
If it be treachery against me you would conceal thus,  
Be speedy in your plo●s, I will unfold 'em else,  
Unlock fates Cabinet, rip open the all-containing breasts  
Of the inscrutable destinies, where thus  
I'll dissipate them all. Ha!  A shout within. 
Why tremblest so my breast? wilt never be refined  
●rom that terrestrial passion? Are not my thoughts  
Too crowned? Must they still live  
In base subjection unto fear?  Enter Arontan. 
The cause Arontas, quickly?  Aron. 
The porter's lodge, most gracious sir,  
Fired by a malicious Shepherd, caused  
These sudden accl●mations of your Subjects.  Ber. 
And was that a fit subject for their ridiculous shouts?  
Now I perceive they are weary of my government,  
Else my danger could ne'er beget their mirth.  Aron. 
The mirth proceeded at the Shepherds Apprehending:  
See where he is.  Enter Spadatus jailer and Guard bringing in Virtusus and Fidelio. jay. 
Justice most gracious sovereign. Justice I desire.  Ber. 
'Tis Treason to suspect the contrary.  
Which was the Author of the flames?  jay. 
Of that your great Authority must inform you,  
For both were taken flying, yet but one  
Was seen about the Lodge; which that one was  
By examination you may easily find sir.  Ber. 
Be assured we'll do our best: it concerns us nearly.  
In the mean while fetch you forth the Prisoners.  jay. 
Your Highness will shall be obeyed.  Exit. Ber. 
When the severer hand of Justice menaceth destruction  
The innocent oft trembles, when the guilty smiles:  
How often has my doom beat terror  
To affrighted Innocence, yet these two  
Conscious persons, which must upon necessity expect  
‛ Its fatal fall on them dare arm themselves  
With impudence, and suffer their audacity  
To outface my justice, appearing rather  
My Judges than my Prisoners.  
Are all good manners blotted from your memory?  
If that the horror of my Justice cannot  
Beat down those stubborn floodgates, yet let  
Your guilty consciences make room for showers  
Of penitential tears to wipe away  
My hover severity, or it will fall as unavoidable  
As deadly. When heavens thunder speaks  
The senseless Ash will bow his head in a true  
Submissive reverence, but the stubborn Oak  
Unmoved refists their threaten, and with soaring pride  
Advances still his branches; But oft times we see  
He pays a fatal forfeit for his impudence. So shall ye.  Vir. 
He stands to be suspected sir that basely fears.  
Who would commit pure and undefiled Innocence  
Unto so cowardly a protection?  Ber. 
Who dares be vicious, dares be impudent in denial.  
That is an essential part of villainy;  
He is but a poor proficient in the Mercurian Art,  
That frames not an excuse before the Plot.  Fid. 
Excuses sir we have none: There is  
Too great a contrariety 'twixt innocence and them,  
One breast cannot harbour both.  Ber. 
That Innocence which you so falsely to you  
Attribute, is but an excuse itself, or otherwise  
It would have dared the utmost of suspicion,  
And not have caused such timorous flight.  Fid. 
Does not the Lamb the sacred emblem  
Of happy Innocence, make haste away, if he once spy  
A ravenous wolf pursue him? and yet his flight  
Ought not to raise the least suspicion of his virtue.  
The dismal noise of Fire worse than a ravenous wolf  
Followed our ears, which made us I confess to fly;  
But whither? only to your Court sir.  
Had we been guilty, we never could suppose  
Your Court to be our Sanctuary;  
For he is mad, that having slain the husband▪  
Will seek protection in the widow's house:  
We had been far worse, that having fired a Member,  
Would dare to take refuge in the body.  
Will e'er the timorous Hart fly unto the Hu●ter?  
Or the harmless Dove meet the pursuing Falcon?  Enter jailer. jay. 
Mercy most gracious sovereign, Mercy I desire.  Ber. 
Where are the prisoners sirrah?  jay. 
They have escaped, my Liege. Mercy, oh mercy.  Ber. 
Escaped? Speak it again villain.  jay. 
They have escaped. Oh mercy.  Ber. 
Escaped? what treachery is hatching in the infernal Pit?  
What damned magicians has the Furies sent  
To stupefy a King's divinity? ye heavenly Powers,  
And you diviner Providence, yield,  
Yield your precedency to Hell,  
From thence proceeds the masterpiece of plots  
That justly robs you of Supremacy. Escaped!  
It was as easy for a Lamb to escape  
From out the paws of a half starved lion,  
Or for a damned body to return from out  
The jaws of Acheron, had they not been  
More than mortal. They were Devils, damned Devils,  
Sent from Hell to jeer me;  
Had they no other shapes to personate but Kings?  
Must Divinity become a cloak to Treachery?  
Oh ye Gods restore 'em back again,  
Or take your Bounties.  Aron. 
Good my Lord, this passion ill becomes your Highness.  Ber. 
I am mad Arontas, stark mad:  
Fury like lightning feeds upon my soul.  
Good Heavens send down some ministering Spirit  
To divert this flame, or I shall fall  
Armed with an universal ruin. Hear me  
Ye just powers, 'Tis I, Fates Fate, entreat ye.  Enter Halisdus, and Thesbia in boy's apparel. 
And art thou come blest Spirit? why now I see  
The Heavens are but our wishes Instruments.  
Hail glorious Saint, thy charity has robbed thee  
Of thy excellence: Thou that satsed enthroned  
Amongst the Deities, filling the heavenly Quires  
With thy Harmony, whilst with thy notes  
The emulous spheres jared in confusion,  
Why hast thou vouchsafed to lay aside Divinity,  
And visit poor and undeserving mortals?  Hal. 
Mistake him not my Lord: He is a mortal,  
Sent as a Present from your Subjects  
That guard the confines.  Ber. 
Thou art blind, old man, I can perceive  
Divinity within him, the least part whereof  
Will make a monster of Perfection. Nor shall I  
Think him less than he does seem to be,  
Unless his courteous voice proclaim it.  Thes. 
Let no supposed excellence in me  
Make you an Idolater, but if you see aught  
In this poor fabric, worthy this Admiration,  
Admire the Deity that did infuse it:  
Give not the creature the creator's due.  Ber. 
If beauteous sweet thou art mortal, as yet  
I am not fully satisfied, Tell me thy name and Country.  Thes. 
Anthrogonus men call me sir.  
Pelorus is my native Country.  Ber. 
Oh happy Country that canst boast of such a rarity!  
Look here effeminate men, ye that with impartial eyes  
Adore a thing called woman, here, here  
You may find a difference; but I have too much lost myself.  
Revenge bids me retire. Jailer, were not thy head  
Too base to answer for two Kings,  
I'd make thee an example to succeeding times  
For such neglectful villains.  jay. 
Oh! good my Lord! my Lodge wa● fired only,  
That I being busy in the quenching it  
They might escape.  Ber. 
Thou promptst me well, Shepherds confess or die.  Fid. 
He that confesses sir an undone crime,  
Deserves the punishment of the sacrilegious,  
Honour, that Holy and Religious mystery, is defiled in't,  
And if they be punished in the highest nature  
That rob a Church of some divine and holy ornament,  
What punishment deserve they that take away  
Divinity itself, and make a rape of their Devotion.  
Honour a household God is, which removed  
Destruction surely enters.  Ber. 
Not confess then?  
Oh Allegiance, where's now thy former glory?  
Me thinks I see thee buried in the earth,  
Crying aloud for vengeance on these traitors.  
Rest quiet soul, I will assert thy cause,  
And wreck thy vengeance in a full effusion  
Of blood and horror.  
Once more bold Shepherds we'll vouchsafe to ask ye,  
Will ye confess the Author? we may be merciful.  Fid. 
I'll not belly our Innocence to gain your mercy.  
Let me be tortured with all the torments  
That timpanized cruelty swelled to the height  
Can ever yet invent first.  Ber. 
Let him have his will in't.  
Away with him to Tortures.  Vir. 
Oh spare his life great King; Spill not one drop  
Of his pure innocent blood. 'Tis worth thy Nation.  Ber. 
Let him confess then.  Vir. 
I will confess what ever you will have me.  Ber. 
Didst thou not fire the lodge then?  Vir. 
Alas I did not.  Ber. 
jailer away with him.  Vir. 
I did, upon my knees I did.  Fid. 
Believe him not great King: 'tis this accursed Policy  
To rob me of the glory of my sufferings.  Vir. 
Shall I no● be believed then? Stay, you need  
No witness, when you have one really conselling.  Thes. 
It is confessed you see great sir, what would you more?  
Be now a King and pardon him:  
Rigour becomes your petty Magistrates that know  
Nothing of their Authority, but oppression.  
A Throne's a Mercy-seat, and he that sits thereon  
Ought to distribute it, where ere he sees  
True penitence, that's promised by confession.  Ber. 
Peace Anthrogonus,  
He is not worth thy pleading for.  Thes. 
Those better spirits that ascend  
Will oft look down, and wheresoever they see  
Virtue oppressed, will vouchsafe to help with pity.  
I do no more, I pity him, and spend  
Some tears, and prayers, a poor boy's benevolence.  Ber. 
Thy tears Anthrogonus have prevailed▪  
My adamantin heart melts at those showers.  
He shall live. And be thy prisoner only▪ No more.  
Come, we'll be for martial sports: The Boar  
we'll hunt to morrow. Prepare our javelins.  
A King like a Colossus stands, o'er striding fate  
Whilst envies sails swelled with ambitious winds  
Floateth between his legs, and cracks her Mast  
With Admiration only at his height: No Fate  
The true Nativity of Kings can calculate.  Exeunt.   


Actus tertius. Scena Prima.  Enter Charastus. Cham 
NOt one tear more I'll spend for thee my sister;  
It is a grief too light to solemnize thy exequys.  
My heart in silence shall weep blood, when I remember  
Desdonellus fate. Hence then effeminate tears:  
Ye are too soft an expresser of my misery,  
The senseless Trees but struck in favour by the Sun  
Will do as much, and shall I when fortune darts  
Her real beams of malice, express no greater sorrow?  
Yes, an inward bleeding is most dangerous,  
That, that I will learn to practise.  Enter Fidelio. Cham 
Fidelio! Let me embrace thee.  
I do contain more worth within these arms  
Than Atlas bears upon his shoulders. Speak dearest friend.  
Where is Virtusus? living or amongst the dead?  Fid. 
Alive too, but in prison.  Cham 
I'll free him instantly; I'll have my Crown again,  
Too long Bermudo has usurped it. I'll break upon him,  
Like some direful Contet sparkling my vengeance  
'Bout his Throne, or like a swelling channel lon● damned up  
Will I discharge my streams on all sides of him,  
Rushing forth with a strong and hideous torrent  
As mischievous as irresistible.  Fid. 
Forbidden it Providence. Be not too rash fond man,  
Religion, and your sacred laws oppose it.  
You have indulged him all the Prerogatives of Majesty,  
Crowned him yourself, and should you now  
Lay violent hands upon him before his Crown is forfeited,  
How would you violate your Laws, and scandal  
Your Religion? Think what an easy precedent  
'Twill be hereafter to your Subjects.  Cham 
Far be it from me to violate Religion:  
I would not for the world's vast Monarchy  
Receive the mortgaged Crown before its forfeiture.  
I'll wed Flavanda first, so doing  
Religion seconds my attempts, and restores  
The Diadem again unto me.  Fid. 
Still you grow rasher: will you for a Crown  
Receive a Serpent to your bosom? His Sister?  
Will all your glory, and your high swollen titles  
Make constant her that loves thee not.  
Take heed, there's danger in't, great danger.  Cham 
Her Love's more constant than the Rocks,  
Less blasted with the puffs of vain Ambition:  
Nature has lost the mould where she was framed,  
And cannot second what she did:  
'Twas my Flavanda whom her curious hand  
From all eternity strove to make perfect.  Fid. 
Were she the exactest piece of Curiosity that ever  
Admiration doted on, yet if she want a soul  
Able for to govern all those excellencies,  
We cannot style her perfect (Perfection being  
The unity of both most excellent) our love's  
Like to ourselves are still terrestrial,  
Reflecting only on the outward object,  
Without regard of that divine and most celestial  
Fabric of the soul We think  
Those seeming spots within the Moon, mere motes  
And blemishes, when indeed they are most pure,  
And most pellucide; so on the contrary,  
We deem all virtuous that is fair, and yet  
The Moon is fair we must confess, yet she  
Is only constant in Inconstancy.  Cham 
Canst thou look virtuously on any thing that's fair?  
Canst thou behold dame nature's masterpiece.  
And no new Admiration swell thy enamoured fancy?  
Canst thou but seem to court Divinity,  
Or behold the Sun in all his glory, without a true  
And real Adoration? if so: Go court my best Flavanda.  
Carry a thousand Ovid's in thy tongue,  
Let thy words melt to the winning'st eloquence  
That e'er enchanted Lady; Speak in thy highest phrase,  
Thou canst not flatter her; she is as far beyond it,  
As I come short of admiration,  
And if all this does produce a tear,  
Or sigh, more than in pity of thy folly,  
I will as much abhor inconstancy,  
As now I dote upon her excellence.  Fid. 
I were injurious unto you, and to that deity  
That lies enshrined within those rays, should I  
Presume to approach but with a virtuous adoration.  
No immodest thought shall once extract  
An amorous glance, no rude word shall preach  
Uncivil doctrine to her, nor any melting touch  
Cast a delicious silence o'er her body, whilst  
Her pleased eye retorts a second invitation:  
All shall be truly harmless, all divine.  
I'll lay a seeming ●iege against her constancy,  
And if she bravely can maintain that fort,  
I'll style thee happy in thy humble choice, happier  
Than those that wed 'bove their aspiring fortunes,  
Where every nod of the displeased wife  
Claims an obedience in the Husband.  Cham 
On to thy wars then, but take heed,  
Fly not too long about those flames, lest that  
Thy melted wings like to a second Icarus  
Throws thee down into a deadly Ocean of destruction,  
Where thou must sink eternally: So Farewell.  Exeunt.  

Act. 3. Scen. 2.  Enter Virtusus reading a Letter. Vir. 
Thine for ever Thesbia. If this be true  
I am above thee Fate. Why should I doubt it? Her hand  
Is the truest Character of her faith, her Seal  
The firm and furest obligation of her Love  
Which like the Gordian Knot binds most inseparably.  
'Tis that divinest Thesbia that has tied  
Our absent souls together, reuniting too  
Our hands though distant in as firm a Kno●  
As Hymen and his sacred Rites could do, though present.  
Be frolic then my soul; To day  
Thou art wedded to thy happiness. Swell high my blood;  
I'll entertain my Thesbia in a dream:  
There my delighted fancy may in spite  
Of cursed distance, kiss its fill,  
There in a second slumber I may lie  
Melting my soul with hers, whilst each embrace  
Invites another, and each amorous look  
Calls to a second Parley; There my ravished senses  
Rapt to the highest ecstasy may find out  
New sorts of pleasures, and sweet fresh delights.  
Rest here then melting soul, to All good night.  He sleeps Enter Thesbia. Thes. 
Did our chief bliss consist in worldly pleasures  
As Epicurus did define, I might suppose myself  
Most happy; But alas, take heed,  
Trust not a lion though he ●awns.  
Oh ye powers! why did ye not!  
When this same fabric lay like melted wax  
Void of all form or feature, why did ye not  
Frame it most miserable? why was I made  
Beyond the reach of happiness?  
I would Bermudo thou hadst ha●ed me,  
I could have been ambitious then, and Crowns  
Are like Love, ne'er pleasant but in getting,  
Once got, they are troublesome: Happiness consists  
In expectation only; Fond gamesters when they play  
Desire to win, but having won, their play is ended.  
Sick men will please their thoughts with that,  
Which to enjoy were deadly: Ambition  
Were a virtue could 〈◊〉 shun the end.  
What sleeping prisoner? Thou art happy in thy thraldom;  
Kings cannot sleep so sound;  
Where is my father Shepherd? where is he?  
For whom thou endur'st this thraldom?  
Cannot thy sleeps inform me? This Paper may.  She takes the Letter. 
Ha'? Amaze me not ye Heavens!  
Do not abuse my too inclining senses with the fight  
Of this same flattering object. Oh desire  
Thou art a false optic misleading of our fancies  
To that sight which most we covet.  
Why thus transformed Virtusus? Are these a Prince's Robes?  
Is sleep a lover's fellow? at noon tied too?  
Then Thesbia is forgotten.  
Sleep on sweet soul, she has deserved thy scorns;  
Let Quires of heavenly Spirits guard thy slumbers,  
And when thou walkest let thy enamoured soul  
Turn to those pleasing sounds: Thesbia would have  
No mortal rival. Alas he wakes.  Vir. 
Stay Morpbeus stay, force not thy leaden wings  
So quickly from mine eyes: oh let me ere behold  
This Pleasing object. How has my fancy  
Travelled all this while? what Seas, what Gul●s,  
What unknown Lands has my imagination compassed?  
If dreams those weaker fancies of our brain  
Can work so really upon our souls,  
Oh let me dream eternally, let all my life  
Be one continued slumber: ha'? a Vision!  Thes. 
No, a real piece of Misery, one that begs  
Upon his knees a courtesy.  Vir. 
Thou art my jailer boy,  
Thou mayst command it.  Thes. 
I not command, but my obedient soul  
Pours out itself in supplication: Because I am your jailer,  
Let not that keep back your clemency,  
I will become your fellow-prisoner rather,  
Weep when you weep, sigh when you sigh,  
And be the true and perfect flatterer of your misery.  
Tell me, oh tell me! where's that unhappy King Sperazus,  
Whose life thy loss of liberty has purchased?  
Long have I sought him up and down,  
Yet still was so unhappy as to miss him.  Vir. 
Wouldst thou betray him then false Boy?  Thes. 
Far be it from me, I would but chide him only;  
Tell him he was cruel, inhumanely cruel,  
Cruel to his own dear daughter,  
Robbing her of that affection by his strict command  
Which she had placed on Prince Virtusus:  
Nor was this enough to satisfy his ire,  
But he must force her to revile him too,  
(Heaven knows too much against her will.)  
How oft poor maid has she with showers of tears,  
Distilled from those never empty fountains,  
Prayed that the heavens would set an everlasting seal  
Upon those lips that uttered such a profanation?  
But they reserved them for to sing in heaven,  
As now they do.  Vir. 
Is she dead then?  Thes. 
No, she lives in heaven a sacrifice  
Unto Virtusus ire.  Vir. 
I have heard too much: Hence Night-Raven  
Hencethou black interpreter of death,  
Haste to the Stygian shades, be never more  
Here heard on earth: Thy voyee will blast us all.  Thes. 
I am sorry sir—.  Vir. 
Hold, stop thy accursed Mouth;  
Let it not breathe such dismal vapours:  
Haste unto Pluto's choir, there let the mandrake's voice  
Yell forth his matins; Howl there the Dirges  
Of tormented souls; Learn Harmony from Toads.  Thes. 
Yet hear me.  Vir. 
Never, oh never.  Exit. Thes. 
Thus often Politicians with their too much care  
Turn what was perfect to a just despair.  Exit.  

Act. 3. Sce. 3.  Enter Flavanda and Constantin● as Shepherdesses. Fla. 
Call you this place a Cottage, it is a beauteous  
Palace rather, adorned to entertain some Deity;  
Art sure? and Nature too has met to make it  
A perfect paradise: I have lived in ignorance too long;  
Courts are false optics blinding our weaker fancies  
With a false and basely forged felicity.  
This is the truest happiness.  Con. 
Now I perceive things are most sweet  
Known by their contraries; Courtiers amongst us  
Are had in admiration; we whose simplicity  
Can be but honest only think flattery virtue.  one knocks. Fla. 
Some one knocks, prithee admit him.  Enter Fidelio. Con. 
One from Charastus' Madam desires  
To speak with you.  Fla. 
From Charastus? come you from him sir?  
Pardon me if I express a greater pleasure  
Than modesty will allow me: How does that Prince?  
Alas, I fear all is not well you look so strangely.  
Is he alive or dead? speak quickly, quickly gentle ●ir.  
Release me of this fear. Why are yo●  
So cruelly silent?  Fid. 
Admiration Lady stopped my speech: He lives,  
Lives happily in contemplation of your excellence▪  Fla. 
Does this same visit sir proceed from him?  Fid. 
No Lady: my devotion bound me hither  
With as great a zeal, as Pilgrims to their Pilgrimage▪  
For since Charastus' tongue that poor interpreter  
Of your worth blazed your perfections to me,  
My heart would never be at quiet  
Till my ambitious eyes were witnesses of that excellence,  
Which now alas I find of such a full authority,  
That I am forced to adoration: Thus low  
I offer up myself unto your mercy.  
Oh be as gentle then as fair,  
And let some showers of pity quench those flames,  
Or cruel love worse than a flash of lightning  
Will consume the Sacrificer, Altar, and the Sacrifice.  Fla. 
If showers of tears could quench the flame  
I would be full of pity, but love's fire  
Is of that nature that the more we strive  
To quench it, the more it still does burn.  
Pity ' its fuel is, and should I spend some Tears,  
It would raise a strange presumption in you  
Of an eadie Conquest; I'll not deceive  
Your hopes so much: Charastus sir has conquered,  
And is of force to keep. I am only his.  Fid. 
Only his? Good aught to be common still:  
Do not, oh do not, sweet, confine a happiness  
To only one: Make not a stealth of nature's bounty,  
But like some gentle stream running betwixt two fields  
Be a delicious ornament to both.  
The twining ivy that ascends  
Embracing the loved Elm will oft vouchsafe  
The encircling of some neighbouring bough, and yet  
The Elm cannot accuse it of inconstancy.  Fla. 
To suffer our affections so to wander  
Were but to prostitute▪ and make common that  
Which nature hath reserved within for a prize  
Due to the most deserving.  Fid. 
The Sun himself ne'er stands upon curiosity,  
But lends his beams to all: He ne'er regards desert.  
Be wise Flavanda, know he that woes thee  
Is a Prince, the Prince of great Pelorus  
Wither he shall car●y thee in as full a Triumph  
As he would his Penates.  
There thou mayst shine in all thy glory  
Whilist thy Beholders melt to see those rays,  
And never seek a shade to shelter them,  
Whilst here you stay, the tyrant's Law  
Wor●e than a grossly exhalation dulls your beams,  
Not suffering them to shine at all, no not so much  
As on my friend Charastus.  Fla. 
With what face dare you call him friend  
Whom thus you strive to ruin? Can you suppose  
He will forget this injury? Surely  
he'll ever hate you for't.  Fid. 
he'll rather love me for't:  
Atheists themselves love Atheists, and shall we,  
We of so pure a faith maintain a hate  
Against one another for being of the same Religion?  
How injurious should we prove unto that Dei●y  
To whom we pay this reverence,  
Should we but think her mercy lay confined  
Within the circumscribed bounds of constancy,  
Or suppose that that love can ere be limited  
By a promise which Nature has made free;  
Love rests not in a point, 'tis large,  
Diffusive as the air, not like a stream that still  
Tends to the Ocean, but like some wand'ring flood  
Which at the will and pleasure of the Spring  
Returns unto her bosom: Draw part, Sweet,  
Of that wand'ring stood to this side of the fountain,  
Here let it come in a full effusion,  
I'll meet its pleasing Billows with a virgin Love  
That yet remains unstained, unproffered, unpolluted.  
〈◊〉 Thou liest, false man, 'tis stained, 'tis proffered,  
And polluted too.  Fid. 
Nay, blush not, Sweet:  
Thou'lt make Aurora blush to see herself outgone  
In her peculiar excellence.  Fla. 
Let not this crimson have a colourable mistake,  
'Tis a red flag of just defiance against thy Treachery.  
Recant fond man, thou wilt grow odious else,  
More odious to me than my evil Genius:  
I shall abhor thy sight till penitence  
Has washed away this profanation. Dearest of Friends,  
If e'er thou wilt do a favour to Flavanda,  
Haste to Charastus, Tell him this man's disloyalty.  
He surely will severely punish it.  Con. 
I obey most willingly.  Exit. Fid. 
Now She's gone, I am not what I seemed  
The base abuser of thy constancy: No saucy flame  
Burns now within my veins, 'Tis a religious fire,  
I cannot style it love, but zeal.  
Why didst thou sweet suspect me? I was  
Too confident to be a Lover: Loves flames burn high  
Still trembling with their height;  
Mine were too base, and too audacious▪  
Be happy now Flavanda, ere that too morrows Sun  
Shall deck these meadows with his beams  
Hymen shall join you to Charastus. I was se●t  
Not as his rival, but his Instrument.  Exeunt.  

Act. 3. Sce. 4.  Horns within. Enter Bermudo. Ber. 
This Boar has missed us strangely: I'll see  
Wither I can trace him in the woods.  He goes out and enters again. 
No sign at all? 'Tis strange: Where lies the wind?  
North or North-East? He must needs be this way.  Stay: 
what foot is that? 'Tis fresh and newly printed.  Music below ground. 
Ha! Guard me Diana: A Rape, a Rape;  
Where flies my ravished senses? oh  
From what earthly cave proceeds this heavenly harmony?  
Dissolve, dissolve my soul, turn air▪  
And echo forth those blessed harmonious accents;  
A voice too? orphans, orphans, beg'st thou again Euricide?  
Let amorous Lovers take delight  
And glory in variety,  
Love still to gaze, though every sight  
Adds still unto their misery.  

Song.  
I in a Cave  
More pleasure have  
Loving but one,  
Than they that love,  
Still to remove  
Can in a Throne.   
Surely the ground is holy where I tread;  
The heavenly Choristers are met to day  
To consecrate this wood, eternal Ministers of heaven  
If my rash foot has offended in the disturbance  
Of your holy Ceremonies, blame my rude fo●rune.  
Oh let me not wander here in admiration thus,  
But send some gentle air to be my guide  
Out of this pleasing Labytinth: Oh Diana  
Take pity on your servant.  Echo. Servant. Ber. 
What voice calls? Art thou a ta●ling echo?  Echo. 
No.  Ber. 
No? what art thou then? Art thou some gentle Nymph  
Inhabiting these woods? or art Diana's self?  Echo. 
Diana's self?  Ber. 
Most gracious Goddess of these silent groves,  
Long has thy servant lived the poor admirer  
Of thy excellence▪ long has he lived in ignorance  
Of that glory whose true worth to know  
Would surfeit Admiration▪ Tell me, of tell me,  
Mayst thou be seen by mortal eye?  Echo. 
I.  Ber. 
I will no longer live in ignorance.  
I'll seek thee in the deepest caves,  
Search the remorest corners of the wood  
To view thy splendour. Oh stay then Gentle Goddess,  
Fly not hence, oh stay I come.  Echo. 
Stay, I come.  Ber. 
Come not to me sweet Goddess,  
I am not worth such favour: 'tis happiness enough  
For me to seek thee, though I ne'er should find thee.  
Oh come not then, I am thy servant,  
I am Bermudo stay.  Echo. 
Bermudo stay.  Ber. 
Yes, with a zeal as fervent as the  
Melting Bride expects the wished arrival  
Of the Bridegroom.  Enter Desdonella from the Cave attired like a Sylvan Goddess. Des. 
Lie there thou sweet and sole companion  
Of my misery, whilst I from out this solitary Cave  
Behold the so admired fabric of the Heavens,  
And then contemplate on their excellence.  Ber. 
Eternal piece of chastity, at whose shrine  
Pure Virgins offer up unspotted incense,  
Lo thus prostrate at thy feet Bermudo lies  
Offering himself a most unworthy sacrifice.  Des. 
Alas I am betrayed: it is Bermudo.  
I must dissemble.  Ber. 
Beauteous Diana, Goddess of the woods  
May I behold thy splendour? As yet I durst not  
Lest thy refulgent eyes should blind me for presumption.  
Oh draw a veil o'er that majestic countenance  
I shall be blinded else with too much seeing.  Des. 
men's weaker eyes must not behold  
Divinity in all its lustre: That were a sight  
Too glorious, else Bermudo I would appear to thee  
D●ckt with divine, and holy ornaments,  
B●t envious Fates forbid that happiness to man,  
I must assume some other shape  
Before thou canst behold me.  Ber. 
Take any gracious Goddess so I may see thee,  
Couldst thou assume the Devils 'twould be lovely.  Des. 
I have thought of one Bermudo not so terrible  
Though bad enough, what thinkest thou of Desdonella's  
The late dead Princess? thou hatedst her alive,  
Her shape then surely cannot ravish thee.  
Shall I assume hers?  Ber. 
Oh any gracious Goddess, any▪  Des. 
Arise Bermudo then, Look up,  
Behold in Desdonella's shape Diana; Speak,  
Am I not very like her? Cam'st not perceive  
Her tear swollen eyes, her trembling hands,  
And love-fick countenance? Look I not  
Like a true and perfect Lover?  Ber. 
Oh Desdonella wert thou now alive,  
I should admire thee;  
Thy shape was never lovely until now.  
Thou art transparent grown, I can perceive  
Divinity within thee, the reflection whereof  
Dissolves my frozen bosom, and makes me stand  
Like to a burning Statue, all on fire,  Des. 
Why tremblest so Bermudo? can Desdonella's shape  
Of late so odious, make thee tremble?  
Fond man, where's thy Allegiance to Diana?  
where's now that chastity which so oft  
Upon mine Altars thou hast boasted?  Ber. 
Pardon Divinest Goddess; no lose desire  
Causes this sudden alteration, no upstart flame  
Makes me forgetful of my loyalty;  
'Tis not the outward shape that I admire,  
(Though I must needs confess 'tis excellent)  
There's that within clameth an Adoration,  
And I were worse than sacrilegious should I rob  
Divinity of its due.  Des. 
Look no more thorough that false optic, fear;  
●●e not so timorous; Divinity is laid aside,  
And I am perfect mortal, come, 〈◊〉 confident,  
And kiss our hand; why so fearful?  He kisses her hand. 
Now for this favour you'll report Diana is unchaste.  Ber. 
Let me be blasted then; I were more impious  
Than superstition, should I think a kiss or an embrace  
Can be a breach of chastity; Those are rewards  
Given to afflicted goodness; but what merit lies in me  
Whose just worth from out the centre of your  
Chaster mercies may extract so great a favour  
I must confess I know not, unless I take  
Your liberality for the cause.  Des. 
I am so far from being ingrateful unto him  
That harbours but a spark of chastity, that I suppose  
The favour of our hand, a poor  
And trifling recompense for so much virtue;  
But should I offer up a lip to you Bermudo,  
You▪ would be civilly fearful, thinking me  
unchaste to offer it, and yourself  
More impious to receive it.  Ber. 
I were erroneous should I think so;  
Will not the Sun ofttimes vouchsafe  
An humble salutation to the earth, and yet not lose  
One of his chaster glories; far,  
Far be it from me to think, when ere I see  
Approaching beams of Chastity, that I may refuse  
To meet them with an equal ardour:  
When I consider that the unity of two chaste bodies  
Makes chastity entirely perfect, I dare put on  
A confidence to salute a Deity,  
Provided always our intents be chaste.  
'Tis not an outward ceremonious action  
That can spot the soul, for could we sin  
And think but chastely, 'twere no fault.  
Armed with which opinion I am confident,  
And dare taste the sweetness of that lip,  
And think it lawful too.  He kisses her. Des. 
Ou● impudence; That kiss has pulled a ruin on thee.  
Hence from my sight, make haste,  
Lest my pursuing vengeance overtake thee.  Exit. 
How near my Virgin-modesty was forfeited?  
Who can look virtuously with affections eyes?  
Beware ye vesfall Virgins, ye that do make  
Your chastity your Religion, beware of too much gazing;  
Eyes oftentimes dart forth a lustre  
That will dull devotion were it armed  
With all its sacred glories.  Enter Halisdus. Hal. 
How fares it royal Princess with you  
After this wished conference?  Des. 
As with a ●eary Mariner shipwreck in the Haven.  
Many a tedious voyage has this wand'ring bark  
Past in the gulf of desperation, yet still was ever  
Lost in the port of happiness; oh Halisdus!  
I am grown weary with this sailing;  
Is there no other way for to be happy,  
But by this most infortunate adventure?  Hal. 
Yes Madam, if you'll be advised. You know  
On what condition Bermudo holds his Crown  
Just now with you broke it; If you please then  
I'll tell your brother of the forfeiture, and so  
To save his life he'll condescend unto your will.  Des. 
Accursed policy to shun a rock  
And fall mongst pirates; Far,  
Far be it from D●sdonella to enjoy that love  
That comes by composition; that were an act  
Becoming those that set a common price on Chastity,  
And sell Repentance unto Prodigals.  
True love admits no hire, 'tis Lust not Love  
We bargain for. Grant he has sinned,  
Ought I to punish him: Will ere the Leopard  
Chide the Ermine for being spotted? That were  
To blame their own deformity in another  
Without excusing of themselves.  Hal. 
Thou art too virtuous Desdonella:  
None I can blame for the misfortune but thy virtue.  
Oh ye powers! Is this that just reward which virtue pays?  
All will hereafter strive for to be vicious  
If excellence must merit misery. Come Desdonella  
I'll to thy Cave, and furnish all thy wants:  
Thy virtues glories had they their perfect light  
Would puzzle all eternity to write.  Exeunt to the Cave.  

Act. 3. Sce. 3.  Enter Constantina. Con. 
Where am I now? what makest thou Constantina here?  
Alas I am come to do a Message,  
And have forgot my errand; oh ne'er remember it.  
Couldst thou forget ever, thou Might'st be happy.  
Thou must accuse Fidelio; Thou must die first:  
Though he has sinned, thy tongue shall never punish him.  
Oh Fidelio thou art false, false as inconstancy itself,  
False unto me, and to the world's vast expectation too.  
Is this the melancholy life thou vow'dst so oft  
To lead in Lelybaeus? why did my soul  
Leave her religious Sanctuary, country, friends, and all  
To see thee court my ruin in an unknown Land?  
Should I now chide, and seek Revenge,  
I did but Justice, 'Twere equity  
No rigour should I kill thee.  
I cannot be so much a woman; oh ye powers  
Why made ye me so soft, and him so cruel.  Enter Charastus. 
Hail gracious sir, these so dejected looks  
Speak you Charastus: I have a message to you,  
Would but your eye suffer your ear to hear it.  
Why do you g●●e so? has your divining soul  
foretell the happy tidings that I bring you?  
If some instinct has forestalled my errand,  
I shall not need for to relate. I'll only tell you sir.  
You have a friend, by name Fidelio, a Man,  
(A ●ine rather where scattered virtues gathered up  
Lie hoarded in a commixed unity)  
If ere perfection was, it is in him. He Sir  
Has spoke your cause so feelingly to Flavanda;  
Pleaded with such divine and holy Oratory,  
That her love now blazes with such violence  
As I could wish you presently would see her.  Cham 
Divinest closure of a soul more pure,  
No general pardon sent from Heaven  
Can strike attention in me with so great a zeal  
As thy commanding voice as don; dearest,  
Dearest Flavanda canst thou suppose a poor,  
And silly garment can keep me from  
The discerning of thy excellence, that knew it,  
When I lay a misshapen embryo in the Chaos?  
'Tis not a silken cloud, Divinest, that can hid the Sun.  Con. 
You do mistake it sure.  
This is a Meteor only, reflected from the true one.  Cham 
Those rays are too too glorious for reflections,  
They cast a lustre would make  
An angel of Ae●hiop, would not their heat  
Convert him to his wont colour.  
Nor can I think such beams can meet  
But in my dear Flavanda: Art thou not she?  
I prithee say thou art, 'twill ease me somewhat.  Con. 
Your reason sir will tell you that I am not.  Cham 
Make me not m●d I prithee: can there be  
Two most excellent, two most rare,  
Two chiefest above all, it is a mystery  
Beyond two worlds: The Sun admits  
No partner of his glory, the phoenix no partaker,  
Why should not she the chiefest of all women  
Assume the like Prerogative? Must there be  
A divided essence of an united excellence?  
Oh Nature! why didst thou give to man, two hands,  
Two eyes, two Affections, and but one heart?  
Pardon divinest Lady if my too much care  
Has made me negligent, there is  
A direful conflict fought within me by two friends,  
Either must have victory by my ruin:  
What will that victory yield.  Con. 
I see you are disturbed sir;  
I'll crave leave to return.  Exit. Cham 
Thus does the Sun fly our Horizon,  
This Night clad in a misty veil,  
Spreads darkness o'er the world,  
Whilst mortals wander in obscurity.  
Oh Love, thou are too much a wanton;  
Thy sport's too serious. Who fires a Church  
Or kills his parents may be happy,  
Repentance oft will wash away that stain,  
But he that loves, loves doubtfully as I,  
No tears, no sorrows, nor repentant sighs  
Can wipe away his misery, but he must die  
Starved in the midst of plenty.  Enter Fidelio. Fid. 
Why so sad Charastus? prepare your ears  
To entertain news that will startle all your  
Melancholy thoughts, and make you pampered appetite  
Swell high with contemplation of a happiness,  
Flavanda's constant, more constant  
Than a miser to his gold; The vestal Virgins  
At their Altar may be tempted, but not she.  Cham 
Oh Fidelio thou hast abused my trust, I  
Sent thee not to praise my constancy, but to try hers;  
Didst thou not promise me to court her,  
Nay court her in thy chiefest rhetoric,  
To use all the persuasions that thy tongue  
Can in civility pronounce?  Fid. 
And so I did, by all that's good, I did.  Cham 
Thou swearest not by thyself now:  
He is not good that's false unto his friend.  
Why stird'st thou a suspicion in me of her constancy,  
Yet ne'er would seek to prove it?  Fid. 
What Dev●● has inspired thee with this falsehood?  Cham 
It was my better Angel rather  
Sent from Heaven to warn me.  
Didst thou not flatter me? Extol my loyalty  
Beyond its merit? Tell her each fie I spent?  
What tears her love had caused?  
But that I know she is constant,  
I should suspect her for thy praises.  Fid. 
If thou believest Charastus there is faith  
Or loyalty in Fidelio, (which surely thou oughtest not to suspect)  
I tempted her as far as piety and friendship  
Would permit me, yet like a steadfast rock she stood  
Throwing the insulting billows on the movers face.  
Oh Charastus thou art happy;  
She is a gem incomparable, and did I know  
What envious tongue had blasted thus our reputation,  
I'd make it eat its venom.  Cham 
If thou but heardst, it thou wouldst start,  
And stand amazed to hear such sweetness.  Fid. 
Do not delay your joys with her encomium.  
A Priest and your Flavanda does expect you  
For to tie that Knot which you before  
Too rashly would have done, had my unlucky hand  
Not hindered it.  Cham 
Alas Fidelio the tide is turned;  
If now you wed me 'tis unto my grave.  
From my divided heart springs a biforked flame,  
Hymen will stand amazed to see't, and will not tell  
At which to light his torch at.  
Farewell Fidelio, death he needs not fear  
That does desire to meet it every where.  Exit Fid. 
Oh Love thou art too cruel! How canst thou tyrannize  
Over his too soft nature? Hadst thou but eyes  
Thou then wouldst pity him, but as thou art,  
Blind and obdurate, thou shoot'st at random still;  
So fortune guides thy shafts, and always she  
Upon desert spends all her cruelty.  Exit.   


Actus quartus. Scena Prima.  Enter Flavanda. Fla. 
THe lying Painters picture aged time  
With wings at's heels, as if he always flew,  
But that their licence warranteth their acts  
I justly might accuse them of their falsehood;  
The time that Love obeys is slow, exceeding dull,  
Held back with leaden fe●●ers.  
Each tedious minute makes a week,  
Each month an age, and each delaying year  
Seems fully a Platonnick.  Enter Charastus. Cham 
Whither despair dost hurry me?  
What new found death canst thou invent  
For an inconstant Lover? If there be one  
Which never yet imagination compassed, let me enjoy  
Its wished virginity, I have deserved it fully.  Fla. 
T●lk not of death Charastus now; my arms shall be  
Thy living sepulchre, my Bed thy winding-sheet;  
Hymen shall write thy joyful Epitaph,  
And Virgins pure shall 〈◊〉 an Epithalamium for an Elegy;  
We two like to two meeting channels will turn one,  
One individed and united Body.  Cham 
Oh Flavanda I blush to see thee;  
I am a villain grown, yet I still dearly love thee▪  
I am inconstant, Dearest, canst thou think it?  
The ficklest fortune is more steadfast:  
The wind ofttimes is stable, but my heart  
Wavers at every object.  Fla. 
Have I a rival than Charastus?  
Is the stream of your Affection then divided,  
And your Love grown less?  Cham 
Not less Flavan●a; Streams parted with a stop  
〈◊〉 with a greater violence 〈◊〉 her side,  
Than when they kept united in one channel.  Fla 
I 〈◊〉 ●on●●ss my unworthiness; I will resign  
Unto thy ●●ether love, could I but think her worthy.  Cham 
Never, oh never, never shalt thou do it.  
For sooner sure the Gods can separate the orbs  
Th●n our so long united Hearts.  Enter Constantina. 
Were the separation but in nature's power, here comes  
Those rays that easily would make the dissolution.  Fla. 
Thou hast made a worthy choice Charastus.  
I glory in my rival more than Lovers in their nuptials:  
This Act confirms your love to me, and should I die  
I make no question but my liveless trunk  
Would pleasure in your happiness; no ●o●iembrace  
Can ye exchange, but I should be partaker  
No kiss without a joyful blush from my wan cheeks  
Should join your tender lips together.  
Delay not then your joys for me.  
My Love is old and stolen; hen's fresher  
Than the maiden Rose whose pureness ye●  
No boisterous hand has touched profanely.  
I'll imitate those friends that take more pleasure  
For to see some feed, than if they fed themselves.  Con. 
I'll starve before I'll taste such cares,  
They will infect me with inconstancy▪  
They're like devouring flames, they still turn  
All they meet with to their own nature:  
But I will fly them worse than stings of Scorpions,  
Or that deadly root, that pallateth the eye  
But poisons still the palate.  Fla. 
Eat not approaching happiness for my sake;  
I am grown old in his affection, and Age  
You know must die, yet when I am dead  
Be not I 〈◊〉 jealous of my Ghost.  Con. 
If death can end this controversy, 'tis fittest  
I should yield, when I am dead  
I happily may love him, but never living.  Cham 
Contend not so my hearts two parallels  
For what's another's due; Death my desert is,  
Here I live, like to a needle 'twixt two lodestones,  
Paying a trembling reverence to both,  
No full Allegiance unto either.  
Oh ye individed moities of my soul,  
Tear not my heart with your attractive virtues  
Thus by piece-meals, divide it gently,  
Ye both are victors of my better part already,  
My body is not worth your quarrel.  Con. 
Nor your heart; we night as well  
Quarrel for fortune, she's as constant.  Fla. 
But not so lovely.  Con. 
Constancy the only beauty is in eyes  
That true affection governs, which till Charastus  
Gets again, I shall abhor to see him.  Exit. Fla. 
Would I could do so too; But envious Fate  
●wharts my desires, and condemns my hate.  Exit. Cham 
Do I yet live? remain my senses perfect?  
Oh I could rave, tear out my traitorous eyes,  
Dissect my heart, and rend affection from affection.  
Surely I am mad, because I am not mad:  
Mad men enjoy their happiness, but we  
In having reason know our misery.  Exit.  

Act. 4. Sce. 2.  Enter Constantina. Con. 
Where is that boasted constancy which so oft  
Men use to glory in? where is that Faith,  
And that eternal Loyalty, which once exalted men  
'Bove demigods? Is there not one left virtuous?  
We might have been inconstant by Authority,  
Custom would have allowed, it but men,  
Whose purer souls should harbour most divinity▪  
Are now become less constant far than we  
That claim no being but from them.  
Why should we suffer then for what's another's fault?  
My act shall work a reformation in the world,  
And man, not woman, shall hereafter be  
The Proverb to express juconstancy.  Enter Fidelio. Fid. 
Kneel you to me Lady?  Con. 
Wonder not Fidelio why thus low  
An unknown Virgin offers her obedience;  
It is a reverence that we ought to pay  
When we behold such virtue, and should I  
Be so uncivilly modest to deny an adoration  
When duty and affection bind me,  
The world might justly style me irreligious.  Fid. 
That modesty I must confess is incivility  
That smothers an affection; But what worth in me  
Can stir affection in your chaster breast I know not,  
And I must needs Lady either be a fool  
In extolling of myself, or uncivil in condemning your judgement.  Con. 
I look not on you sir with superstitious eyes,  
I cannot make an Idol of perfection,  
It is your souls idea I admire  
Whose excellence I have studied long  
Taught by your Constantina's praises.  Fid. 
You have chose a most unprofitable Subject  
For your study Lady, it is so sparing of reward  
That it forgets itself, and must for ever, you.  Con. 
It is a study like the chemic,  
The end I must confess is hard to gain, but yet  
It shows most sweet conclusions to the industrious.  
Many there are that study it with delight,  
But none with such a fearful fervency as I;  
Yet though I tremble, I despair not, since she,  
That only had the power to obtain it,  
Has resigned it to me for a legacy, which I may  
Justly challenge, and you may not without impiety deny.  Fid. 
A legacy? if she be dead that was  
Sole Mistress of the Art, the Art m●st die too.  Con. 
Mistake me not, she is not dead sir,  
She has usurped another study only, called  
Obedience to a Husband, for Constantin● your once betrothed  
Is now married to the Duke of Florence my only Brother.  Fid. 
She is worse then, her constancy is dead,  
And with it dies my love eternally.  Con. 
Oh say not so; that was my Legacy given to me  
By her departing Constancy, and if the Laws fulfil  
The wills of wicked men, 'tis fit that sacred constancy's  
Should be obeyed▪ She told me here you lived  
In Lelybaeus a disguised Shepherd for her sake,  
Which made me take this journey and this habit,  
And surely had you not a fresher Love,  
You ne'er could disobey your Constantina's will,  
Especially to one so like her.  Fid. 
I must confess thou art so like her,  
That I should believe what thou hast said is true,  
Were I not so confident of her Loyalty.  Con. 
Shall I not be believed then?  
Let her hand persuade you, since my tongue cannot.  She gives him a Letter. Fid. 
This is her seal and Character, I know'um well;  
The direction, ●o her wronged Fidelio.  
I begin to tremble, my gelid blood  
Flies fast unto n●y heart, a●d ca'ls for vengeance.  He reads. Con. 
Read and repent false man.  Fid. 
Oh heavens! Why of those numerous torments  
That attend our sinful actions, chose you a woman  
Yo torment me? If that my crime so heinous was,  
That all your malice joined with fortunes  
Can not invent a punishment to equal it,  
Hell surely might have furnished you,  
You needed not have called a woman to your council,  
Their malice is above H●ls hate,  
But I'll be revenged on, all their Sex,  
For none I am sure is constant since she is false.  Con. 
Be not so confident of our weakness:  
The loving Turtle shall not serve her mate  
With half that faithfulness as I will you.  Fid. 
Hence Ethiopean devil; Thou art too like her  
To be good: I'd rather meet a Succubus,  
Embrace a sooty Moor, or dally with a Negro's horrid curls.  
They may by chance prove constant, but thou  
Wilt presently deny thou lov'st me.  Con. 
Let me die eternally, if ever I deny  
I love you.  Fid. 
Then follow me to Bermudo, thou shalt be the first  
I'll sacrifice to my just anger. Oh men accursed!  Exeunt.  

Act. 4. Sce. 3.  Enter Virtusus. Vir. 
Oh thou restrainer of our wilder actions,  
Thou that keep'st in awe all raging superfluities,  
Teaching sobriety to the grossest Epicures,  
Couldst thou restrain our wand'ring imaginations too  
Thou wert a paradise, but they in the obscurest places  
Wander most, and in the darkest Caves, where light  
Near yet vouchsafed an entrance, oft will see  
A perfect splendour and a full effusion of immaterial Beams  
Descending down from an impenetrable postern.  
Thoughts are the Devils chiefest Instruments.  
The holiest friar in his seclusest Cell  
Oft sins in imagination; The purest vestal  
At the Altar will ofttimes fancy a thing unlawful;  
And should that be the utter ruin of Virginity,  
Where should we seek it Heavens?  Enter Bermudo and Thesbia. Thes. 
See yonder he is, Great Sir.  Ber. 
Thou art a courteous jailer; He sares  
More like a Prince than Prisoner.  Thes. 
I love not Sir to triumph over Misery.  Exit. Ber. 
Shepherd, thou hast thy liberty.  
The importunate entreaties of Anthrogenus have commanded it.  
See now thou goest, and with submissive knees  
Be thankful to his bounty; It is  
But a poor gratuity for freedom.  Vir. 
I scorn that freedom that is given  
Not for desert, but out of courtesy.  
Flattery a thraldom is beyond a Prison,  
And I abhor it worse; I'll not thank him  
Nor Heavens for what's my due sir.  Ber. 
Why stubborn fool? What merit lies in thee  
Whose just power may challenge but a favour from him?  
It was not thy desert that raised this pity,  
But his Charity.  Vir. 
His duty rather: true goodness  
Whensoe'er he se●s oppressed Innocence  
Is bound in duty to relieve it.  Ber. 
Is Innocence the ground of your presumption?  
Shepherd beware lest thy contempt  
Kindle a flame that will consume thee.  
Thou hast stirred the embers, without prevention  
'Twill be dangerous.  Enter Thesbia. Thes. 
Oh smother it a while, Great Sir;  
Let it not spend  
As yet its violence: He will accept your courtesy,  
I know he will▪ It was not He, it was  
His modesty that refused it; See how he blushes Sir.  
Gentle Shepherd, die not ingrateful to our bounty;  
That crime will blot your former innocence,  
And make it seem as loathsome as impiety.  
If against me you do conceive this Hate,  
Go but with me, and I'll tell you sir  
She is not dead, Thesbia is not dead,  
And reconcile us two in a perpetual league of friendship.  Vir. 
For once I'll try your cunning.  Ber. 
Shepherd choose which you will have,  
A perfect freedom, or a sudden grave.  Vir. 
I shall have both in either.  Exeunt Virtusus and Thesbia. Ber. 
Hast thou Bermudo with ambitious wings  
Soared 'bove the reach of common thoughts?  
Have I obtained that happiness which proudest envy  
Scarce can pry into? And must I stoop  
Unto a boys soft Lure? Surely some holy power  
Conceals itself within that pleasant habitation,  
Whose awful noise freezes my raging appetite,  
And turns my fury into Charity.  Enter Fidelio. Fid. 
The hardened Earth made stiff with winter's frost  
Views not the Sun with such a full alacrity,  
As I your Highness.  Ber. 
A lustful couple joined in lose embraces  
Hate not the approaching Morn with such an enmity,  
As I your flattery.  Bid. 
Believe me Sir I cannot flatter you.  
My simple honesty leaves that study unto them  
That seek preferment by it: I never hoped  
To raise my fortunes by my handsome lying.  
The zeal I bear your laws has armed my confidence,  
And I do wish I had a thousand unchaste damsels  
To present you for a sacrifice.  Ber. 
And I do wish if this be true,  
I had ten thousand favours to requite thee with.  Fid. 
My duty Sir, and not those hopes of recompense  
Has bred this hate, which death shall not extinguish,  
But my angry Ghost shall hate 'em in Elysium.  
The very name of woman is grown odious,  
And I abhor a lover's sighs worse than the air  
Breathed from infection.  Ber. 
Let me contain thee in my arms thou faithful Champion;  
We two will grow together, and be one,  
One terror to that foolish passion.  Fid. 
I have not earned such favour yet.  
I would not willingly receive my hire  
Before I have deserved it: Let your Revenge  
Eat of my labours first; I can present you  
With a taste, a woman, that dares outface  
Impudence itself, who in despite of all your Laws,  
And that, which lately I did count  
An ornament of woman, blessed modstie,  
Is turned a shameless wooer.  Ber. 
If this be true, I'll wear thee here  
My better Genius; Long have I sought out such a one.  
To make their sex more odious to my eyes,  
But ne'er till now could find one.  
Conscience that food of fools and bane of Greatness  
Has abused me still, making my subjects  
To conceal those crimes, which had they but revealed,  
My exercised severity ere this  
Had bred a Hate, more deadly to their Sex,  
Than raging dog-days, and Platonnick men.  
Thou art an honest subject, Shepherd, thou preferst  
Thy King's content before that Bug bear Conscience,  
For which, ask any thing, 'tis thine,  
Ask Monopolies, I'll seal 'em all, yet do not,  
They are the rewards of flattery, and cannot  
Equal thy desert.  Fid. 
Your favour Sir will far exceed my merit.  Enter Constantina. Ber. 
Hast any witness, Shepherd, of the fact?  Con 
Yes sir, I am his witness;  
I know she loves him, Loves him as her soul,  
And were there but a thing more dear unto her,  
She would love him better.  Fid. 
Oh Audacity: This is she.  Ber. 
She? Unto what height of impudence are women grown?  
Darest thou defend thy crime, that thou art grown  
So confident?  Con. 
I come not Sir for to defend my crime,  
Or to expostulate with your Highness, for if I did,  
I then would tell you, she that loves most truly  
Aught to be thought most modest,  
And that affection if but constant does as far  
Exceed your chastity, as Chastity, Incontinence.  Ber. 
Bold woman! Hast thou forgot thy Sex?  Con. 
I think I have, for I cannot dissemble now,  
But what I say, proceeds from Truth  
Great as thy Tyranny. I flatter not your Highness,  
Such common Courtship let them use that are  
Afraid to die; My resolution shall out brave thy rigour,  
Use then thy full Authority.  Ber. 
Who waits without?  Enter Guard. 
Convey that Strumpet hence, ere that the Night  
Sheds Poppeys on the Earth, she dies.  Con. 
Now I shall die in charity with all  
Since thou art merciful: For this same courtesy Bermudo  
Whilst I live, I'll pray thou may'st repent,  
And when I am dead my obsequient Ghost  
Shall wait upon thee still to put thee in remembrance.  Ex. Guard with Constantina. Ber. 
Shepherd, this courtesy has fatred my revenge,  
My raging fu●y feeds upon this fuel with a devouring appetite,  
And if thou add'st not still unto the flame  
Vengeance will lack his prey, and feast on me.  
Proceed then in thy holy work, and sooner shall each sense  
Forget this Organ, than I my pious instrument.  Exit. Enter Virtusus. Vir. 
Whither so fast Fidelio? How fares it friend?  Fid. 
Well.  Vir. 
That well sounds ill me thinks.  
Is this the joy you give my liberty?  
Hadst thou received thy freedom so,  
The calmer Seas when Halcyons breed  
Should have appeared more boisterous than I:  
I'd not have frowned to see thee free,  
But if some billows did by chance arise,  
I would have turned 'em into dancing waves  
For joy of thy secuity.  Fid. 
Alas Virtusus, I am glad to find thee safe, but  
My afflicted soul cannot express the joy.  
Oh seest not my heart swelled with revenge  
Extend my stretched out sides, and canst thou hope  
For any thing but frowns?  Vir. 
Thy looks I mu●t confess declare a Passion,  
But of what nature I am ignorant.  Fid. 
If thou ha●t lost thy penetrating eye,  
Look upon my face, and there my eyes  
Sparkling forth fire for anger, will give light to read it by.  
Canst not conceive it yet? See'st thou not woman there  
Imprinted in the wrinkles of my frowing forehead?  
Oh woman, woman, woman!  Vir. 
Come, forget this passion for a while,  
Forget all women, and their virtues too.  Fid. 
Alas there is not one left virtuous, but are all  
As false and as disloyal as thy sister.  Vir. 
I hope you don't suspect her sir.  Fid. 
Yes, and your Mother too.  
One man could not beget two contraries:  
Thou art too good to be her Brother, and she  
Too bad to be Brabanta's daughter.  Vir. 
My ears have sucked in poison, which works  
Like Stybium in my brains. If this be true  
(Which yet I cannot credit) nor piety nor sister's cries  
Shall hold my hand, but I will sacrifice her blood  
For an atonement to thy anger.  Fid. 
Oh Virtusus 'tis too true: wouldst thou rip open my heart,  
There, there thou nightst behold  
Disloyal Constantina writ in bloody notes;  
There too as in a perspective thou shouldst see  
The Duke of Florence's lustful eyes  
Fixed fast on Constantina, whilst the amorous Girl  
Plays with his wanton hair, and in  
A thousand other ways invites embraces.  Vir. 
Should Heavens in thunder speak it,  
I durst to contradict 'um.  Fid. 
'Twill be a less impiety to contradict this paper.  He gives him a Letter. Vir. 
It is her seal and Character:  
I'll read no more; would 'twere her body,  
Thus I'd rend it; Thus would I tear her unchaste limbs,  
And blow 'em like to atoms in the air;  
Thus in contempt I'd spurn her lustful face,  
Bowl with her rolling eyes, and twist her hair  
In ●opes for executions. Did I but know  
What vein her blood inhabits,  
I'd make a sluice and draw that channel dry  
Though I lay drowned in its gore.  
But I am too passionate; who fury can allay,  
Vengeance may sooner, and securelier pay.  Enter Charastus. Fid. 
Oh Charastus, never till now unwelcome to Fidelio.  
Thou art too happy now for my companion.  
I have dissolved thy love's ambiguous Riddle,  
And given thy soul a free election,  
By making a necessity of thy choice.  Cham 
False and disloyal man, darest thou yet live  
And glory in thy wickedness? Hast thou a Conscience  
Not to kill thyself when such a stain commands thee?  
Oh thou profaner of all Justice  
Ought he to live that cannot look upon perfection  
But with envious eyes?  Fid. 
My care has not deserved these words Charastus.  Cham 
Call not that care Fidelio which thy spleen  
Too long has nourished, 'tis an inveterate Hate  
Sent from the fouler mansion of thy soul  
To blast perfection: Is that physician careful  
That instead of physic gives deadly poison  
To his patiented?  Fid. 
No dire mistake was author of my charity,  
But a Revenge which all their Sex must tremble under,  
And 'twas my fortune to practise first on her,  
And her honour to precede whole thousands.  Cham 
Thou art the worst of Mountebanks, they kill  
Their poorest Patients for experiments,  
But thou destroy'st Patience itself, the richest Gen  
That ever Art envied dame Nature for.  Fid. 
It is the nature of Revenge to punish first  
Those things from whence they took their poison.  Cham 
Poison from her?  
Herein thou show'st thy venomous disposition:  
Spiders suck poison from the sweetest flowers  
When Bees draw Honey. Her words  
Though armed to my destruction seemed to me  
Adorned with more variety of sweetness  
Than ere enriched our Hybla, more pleasant  
Than the jucie grape stole from the Vine  
Just at the entrance of maturity;  
And can they then, can these delicious words  
D●still'd to the invitation of a happiness be a poison?  
●Tis thy bad Nature only that converts to vaught  
What ere the Gods thought good.  Vir. 
dote not Charastus so on one, whose scorn  
Makes her condition poorer than her birth,  
Which surely is ignoble. The Kingly Eagle  
Stoops not unto flies.  Cham 
But yet a fly mounted on eagle's wings  
Deserves more commendations than your pairted Peacocks  
That boast but in the gross absurdity of Nature.  Vir. 
If for to reach a glove dropped from  
A neighbouring Queen, be to degenerate  
From Majesty?  
What will the world report when they shall hear  
Charastus stooped to the meaness of a Shepherdess?  Cham 
Art thou disloyal too Virtusus? two such more  
Would learn the heaven's impiety. Adieu false friends,  
Know my revenge shall be  
Fully as ample as your Tyranny.  Exit. Fid. 
I dare, vie vengeance with thee at the highest;  
My heart's as great with rage, and less confined  
Within the bounds of charity, 'tis free,  
Freer than air, it soars aloft, hover  
Like some prodigious Meteor o'er all women.  
All shall groan under its heavy weight, all must sink  
Or all my ends will perish,  Vir. 
Not all Fidelio, be not so severe: Out of  
Those numberless thousands that do clog the Earth  
One may be found unspotted: thy sister's Virtue  
〈◊〉 of sufficient value to redeem a destined hecatomb  
Of unchaste women, though doomed by Tyranny itself.  Fid. 
I do suspect her too; she is too much  
A woman to be good: Women are all  
The fruits of drunkenness, begot when men  
Like senseless beasts wallow in strange desires;  
Then coveting to frame a Monster like themselves  
Nature complying with their avarice, sends them  
A daughter: How can that Sex then be divine  
That's thus engendered betwixt Lust and Wine.  Vir. 
Be more charitable Fidelio in your opinion:  
Blame not all for one.  Fid. 
Charity is cold:  
'Twill breed a contrariety in my raging breast.  
Give me hot fuel: I would be all on flame.  
Feed me with Bridegrooms thoughts, and let me drink  
The fervent sighs breathed from the truest penitence;  
bath me in Lovers tears, dry me with  
The fiery palm of some notorious Red-haird Scrumpet:  
I would be a living element of fire  
To cross the new philosopher's opinion.  
Yet from this flame I would send one spark  
But to the ruin of a woman,  
For now I find the Proverb's verified  
He that begets a daughter surely went drunk to bed.  Exeunt.  

Act. 4. Sce. 4.  Enter Sperazus and Constantina. Spe. 
Daughter this forwardness of yours to die,  
Makes me believe you are innocent, and now I am  
Grown confident that what you said is true,  
Although at first I must confess it startled incredulity.  Con. 
As grave Sir I am not bound with an untruth  
To wrong myself; so I do scorn  
To mitigate my crime with coined excuses.  
I must confess I am guilty of that sin  
Which now they tax me with: If it be a sin  
Chastely to love, I am most wicked, if not,  
I call the Gods to witness I am innocent,  
For no lose desire has ever yet profaned me.  Spe. 
Thou art the purest Virgin living then,  
Purer than those that think all Love  
An argument of looseness: Who ne'er knew Wine  
Cannot be thought abstemius, 'tis the forbearing taster  
That is temperate. She that is chaste and never loved  
Does only good compelled by ignorance;  
But she that loves and can be chaste  
Enjoys that virtue in its full perfection.  
Such an one, divinest Maid, art thou,  
Whom but to ransom from the tyrant's Law,  
I'd stretch my feeble limbs with vigour on the Altar,  
And with a zeal undaunted meet the flames:  
So with them should my soul aspire  
Beyond the reach of gross mortality.  Con. 
And do you envy me that happiness?  
Is not my soul as free as yours to expiate  
Its own transgressions; The Gods I am sure  
Desire a Sacrifice though spotted, if offered  
By the repentant sinner, more than whole Hecatombs  
Bestowed by Innocence.  Spe. 
Thou pleadest divinely 'gainst thyself; thy only fault  
Is too much goodness, which lest the Heavens  
Should not know how to pardon, by wanting of a precedent,  
I'll furnish thee with showers of tears  
To make a flood wherein thy soul may float  
In peace unto security.  Con. 
Reserve them for some other subject;  
I make no question but to die for him  
Will be both penance and a pardon. Can my heart  
Be but so kindly stubborn to resist my thoughts oppressions,  
And no● break till I endure this martyrdom,  
I should receive the joyful Crown of immortality.  Spe. 
Let not the thought of that, divinest, trouble thee;  
Here is a juice distilled from Nepenthe, Drink it,  
And the remembrance of thy former miseries  
Will fly thy imagination.  He gives her a vial. Con. 
Alas I dare not take it: my life  
Is of so short a moment, that I shall ne'er requite you,  
And I would not willingly dy● ingrateful.  Spe. 
I own both this and far more to thy virtue.  
Farewell thou mirror of all goodness;  
Take these my tears, my prayers, my sighs,  
Companions of thy journey, and when thou art amidst  
Those sacred flames, thy'l help to waste thee to eternity.  Exit. Con. 
Right heavenly Sir adve.  Spe. 
Where were thy eyes Fidelio?  
This will be news  
Will make thy affrighted blood start from thy veins,  
And turn thee more pale than she consumed to Ashes.  Exit.  

Act. 4. Sce. 5.  Enter Bermudo. Ber. 
Now sails our wishes with a steady course,  
The tottering bark poised by a seconds help  
Floats safely on the Maine. But yet be not  
Too credulous fond man, the balance is uncertain,  
And should that fail the shipwreck would be deadly.  
Trust not too much unto a friend; Opportunity  
Base mischiefs Bawd to them is too obsequious.  
Brutus could pierce great Caesar's side  
When Pompey could not; Mistrust then all Bermudo,  
Be intimate with none; 'Tis State policy.  
A Snak● though fostered in a Kings own bosom  
Will grow at length as mischievous as uncontrollable,  
And pierce that breast that nourished it.  Enter Charastas. Cham 
Ye silent Ministers of Night  
S●nd your Cimmerian darkness o'er the world,  
Choke up the Sun with fogs and misty vapours,  
Let it b● night eternal, or let my eyes  
Drop from their hollow caverns, that I may never see again  
So gross impiety.  Ber. 
What fury does transport thee?  Cham 
In what foul part lies my accursed memory?  
I'll tear it out, and be a lump of dead forfogetfulness.  
Entomb: ye just Heavens within oblivious Cave,  
I would forget myself, my all, so with them  
I might forget that wickedness  
Which these my eyes were witness off.  Ber. 
What art thou frantic fellow?  Cham 
Pardon dread sovereign if my rage  
His slacked my due obedience. Fury so blinded me  
I could not see those rays which from your majesty  
Shoot in a continued lustre.  
Oh Modesty where's now thy ruddy wings?  
Where is that bashful trembling which so 〈◊〉  
I have seen adorning Country Mansions?  
Why liv'st thou now an exile in the woods  
●anisht from Court and City?  Ber. 
The man is mad.  Cham 
I would I were great King so this were ●alse:  
Oh Sir, your Court is spotted with such Lust  
As can command a blush for ever in my cheek to think on.  Ber. 
Ha! my Court?  Cham 
Yes, your Court, that Holy Temple  
Where Justice and Religion hand in hand  
Walks in a happy unity, is now become  
The sink of soul impiety.  Ber. 
My Court become a bro●hell house of Lust?  Cham 
These two unhappy eyes saw two  
Melting in close embraces, Kissing each other with such fervency  
As if their lips desired to be united and become  
An individual happiness; Alas my chaster tongue  
Cannot express those amorous tricks  
Which their hot appetites belched out  
To teach old Lust a new lasciviousness.  Ber. 
Swell higher yet my rage;  
Thou art at too low an ●bb to punish such impiety,  
Swell till your channels crack▪  
Let a general inundation break the banks  
And turn to ruin all it meets with.  
Their two deaths cannot alone dissolve  
This mass of wickedness: Thousands must die  
To expiate this crime, if it be true.  Cham 
'Tis too true great Sir; your eyes  
Shall be witness of it, if you'll be pleased to follow.  Ber. 
Led on.  Exeunt▪  

Act. 4. Sce. 6.  Enter Constantina and Thesbia. Con. 
The holy absolution of the Priest  
Sings not so glad a Requiem to my departing soul  
As this thy comfortable presence; Do not,  
Oh do not then obscure thyself with ill beseeming tears,  
I shall suspect thou thinkest me still unchaste,  
And spendest these tears to puri●●e my spotted Conscience.  Thes. 
When friends do part but for a week or so,  
Their weeping eyes the emblems of their troubled hearts  
Will let fall tears, and shall we  
That now must part eternally  
Deny our souls that charitable sacrifice?  
Thou a long journey Constantina now must take,  
Who knows whither I shall see thee more;  Con. 
Alas poor soul, weep not for my felicity.  
It is a glorious place that I shall go too.  
There in a golden firmament enamelled with bright stars,  
Amidst a thousand Virgins I shall hear  
Eternal harmony, still sounding, and still pleasant,  
There fragrant smells shall never cloy  
My fainting appetite though still presented odoriferous.  
And canst thou weep because thy friend  
Must go to such a Paradise?  Thes. 
I weep not dearest because thou goest,  
But that I stay behind; can I accompany thee,  
No vestal Virgins at the Altar should appear  
With such a joyful countenance: But since I here must live  
A walking Ghost penned in an earthly sepulchre,  
It would be impudence to refrain from tears;  
Weep on then Thesbia, let thy eyes  
Flow with a continued moisture, to drain these fens  
Will puzzle all projecting undertakers.  Con. 
My weakness can resist no longer.  
These tears proclaim thy triumph;  
We two like two Niobes will shed tears  
Till we become one Fountain.  Enter above Charastus and Bermudo. Cham 
See great Sir how close they are?  
Oh do you start Sir?  Ber. 
Ha! Anthregonus, I would my eyes were lightning  
For to blast thy spotted soul, yet leave thee still as fair.  Cham 
With what affection they embrace?  
See how their wanton heads wearied with kissing  
Hang like two drooping lilies on each others shoulder,  
Their very eyes to sympathise with them  
Melt into tears.  Ber. 
My rage involves a thunderbolt, this poor thin cloud  
Cannot contain it long; 'twill out to all our times.  
Oh Anthregonus little canst thou think  
What raging sorrows boil within my breast  
At this sad spectacle; The sight of such impiety  
Feeds on my heart worse than Cantharideses▪  
Or the deadly sting of a foul Conscience.  
My eyes shall be no more your Pander.  
Take heed fond fools, Bermudo comes  
Armed to destruction:  Exit. Cham 
Thus climbs Revenge: thus her aspiring head  
One step has mounted, ere to the top it comes  
Your hearts false men shall feel its rigour.  
Sleep on fond Boy, thou hast a soft but fatal pillow,  
Had not Bermudo loved thee, nor thou saved their lives,  
Thou mightst have lived, but now  
To punish three thou diest.  
Thus by degrees Revenge must rise  
Who strait brings death knows not to tyrannize.  Exit. Bermudo within breaks open the doors upon them. Con. 
Alas we are betrayed.  Thes. 
I care not I since Innocence is my guard.  Enter Bermudo and Guard. Ber. 
Seize on that lustful couple.  Thes. 
Why this violence? ye needed not have come  
Thus armed to betray our innocence:  
That weak resistance we could make  
One word might have subdued, but if you think  
To f●ight us with your strength, know we have  
A guard abou● us shall confront your hopes.  Ber. 
Guilt's a sufficient terror to itself,  
It needeth no addition; but Justice as it strikes  
So must it speak, like thunder.  Con. 
Should it strike here, it would be truly so;  
The holiest Temples oft are struck with thunder.  
Should you but ta●e his Nature and destroy  
So pure an edifice as his, it were no Justice  
But profane severity.  Thef. 
Plead not for me: I dare his utmost rigour,  
In that he will be constant, and constancy I love  
Be it in cruelty.  Ber. 
My cruelty will but water when it flows on thee.  
Oh thee such tender years can be so old in wickedness.  
Hadst thou a soul A●throgonus as pure  
As its enclosure thou mighest have been  
Enthron'd a Deity for mortals to have wondered at.  
Wouldst thou yet live? There is a strange  
Conflict fought within me, by Piety and Affection.  Thes. 
Let not Affection pull a curse upon you.  
It is not in the power of your Majesty  
To spare my life and take he●s, unless you will be  
More impious in breaking of your laws,  
Than you were pious in the making them.  Ber. 
'Tis true Anthrogonus, thou canst not live  
Without I violate Religion; Thy body must  
Within an odoriferous cloud ascend the Skies  
To crave a pardon for thy soul.  Con. 
The Gods require no humane sacrifice.  
Mercy if offered in a free oblation, is the only incense  
They delight in. I am enough to satisfy the Law,  
Make not Religion sir too great a Butchery,  
Your pity and his repentant tears  
Will be a sacrifice more sweet,  
Than all the Cookery of humane entrails.  Ber. 
Witness ye Gods with what unwilling hands  
I offer up this sacrifice; But Laws must be obeyed  
When piety commands, though to the maker's ruin.  
Kings that make Laws to encrap others, may  
With their own plots by chance themselves betray.  Exeunt.   


Actus quintus. Scena Prima.  Enter Constantina and Flavanda. Con. 
IF thou wilt know a reason why I sent for thee,  
Ask of my heart, for that would never be  
At quiet till I had seen thee,  
But rolling still in my disturbed breast  
Prompted my soul to die not stained with such forgetfulness.  Fla. 
Thy immaculate mind tells me thy soul is pure,  
I should suspect the heavens before its whiteness:  
The alabaster Mines helped by the Sums reflection  
Cannot show a piece so candid.  Con. 
I cannot boast its colour, 'tis a foul one,  
And ere I die, it will be one continued spot  
More ugly than deformity itself: There is  
A crime that I must perpetrate, or else my Ghost  
Cannot rest quiet in its utne.  Fla. 
There is no crime so horrid, but thy former goodness  
Has made a virtue: One drop of poison  
Poured into the Ocean, polluteth not the water,  
But clears itself and adds unto the stream.  Con. 
Ingratitude is a sea of venom,  
Which my malicious soul has entertained,  
And most discharge her poison upon thee;  
Thou that hast been the partner of my sorrows  
Must now become the subject of my malice.  Fla. 
Thou canst not find a fit subject, I dare  
Encounter with the deadliest poison thou canst give  
And think it a preservative.  Con. 
Mine is the worst of venoms;  
If thou but tak'st it, 'tis not thy body only  
That must perish, but thy soul too.  
To what sure destruction do I run on either side?  
If I refuse to sue unto thee, I am ingrateful,  
And if do, the same stain brands me still.  
Canst thou be inconstant? wonder not Flavanda  
Why I ask so rude a question,  
For by thy inconstancy, I must be proved constant,  
Thy weakness must be my triumph,  
And thy disloyalty my eternal glory.  
To ask thee now whether thou couldst leave Charastus  
Were a Tautology as absurd as to name, Flavanda  
And most excellent, I know thou dost  
Already understand me.  Fla. 
Yet I am ignorant for whom thou pleadest.  Con. 
I plead for one that loves thee with an ardour  
More fervent than Charastus, one that will n●t waver  
When he sees whole Chataracks of beauty, much less  
At the small suspicion of a feature. Fidelio  
Is the man; which ought you to respect then most  
Him that left me for you, or you for me?  Fla. 
Be not mistaken Constantina,  
That love that he professed to me was only feigned:  
Charastus sent him but to try me.  Con. 
I prithee say not so; thou wilt undo  
A Virgin with a truth; if he be constant,  
How impious then was my suspicion.  Fla. 
When you were gone, he told his treachery,  
And with what plots he sought for to betray me.  Con. 
No more.  
Thou hast returned my poison to the full;  
The false suspicion of his Loyalty heaps sin on sin.  
My soul's one leprosy so foul,  
That surely the flames in which I must be sacrificed  
Will against their Nature downwards tend,  
And hurry me to Hell. Oh Fidelio, never before  
I wished thee false: thy constancy will be my ruin.  Enter Fidelio. Fid. 
Oh Constantina here shall my knee take root,  
Until thy voice denounce my sentence:  
This penitence  
Entreats no pardon, 'tis Justice rather Rigour  
I desire.  Con. 
Let this suffice  
To show my duty and my penitence: could  
I fall lower  
My ambition to outgo thee in humility  
Should force me down.  Fid. 
Kneelest thou to me? the earth shall not resist me,  
But my obedient soul shall pr●ss me down,  
Till nature bids me stay, lest I should  
Violate her laws by falling upwards.  Con. 
Thou canst not kneel Fidelio and I stand,  
When the Sun is down, the exhalations fall:  
Arise, and I will personate those vapours.  Fid. 
Thy sentence must dissolve my frozen joints  
Or I shall fall again: Canst thou forgive me?  Con. 
Canst thou forgive me?  Fid. 
No, I cannot; it lies not in heaven's power  
To forgive where none is guilty; A pardon  
Does belong unto a Conscience stained with wickedness,  
But thou art innocent, so innocent  
That the purest crystal will confess some spots  
To see thy whiteness.  Con. 
To make me clear, prove not yourself disloyal.  
Or you inconstant are, or I more stained  
Than misbelieving Atheists with my incredulity.  Fid. 
Thou art become more glorious by thy incredulity:  
Thou couldst suspect, and yet be virtuous.  
Thou thoughtst me false, yet loved me still,  
When I upon a supposition sought Revenge,  
And most unluckily obtained it.  Con. 
Yet I was Author of thy crime:  
My foul suspicion was thy sin● sad precedent.  Fid. 
Thou makest my sin appear more horrid:  
Thy suspicion was but the confirmation of thy constancy,  
And were that a precedent to me  
How wicked then were I for to be vicious  
Because thou wert virtuous.  Con. 
I cannot conquer you with arguments, yet  
In civility you must yield: contend not with a woman;  
That victory will be no glory surely;  
You must not sir deny me that: See,  
My soul pours out itself in a petition.  Fid. 
Weepest thou Constantina: I'll plough the earth,  
And sow those precious seeds, ●ee'l have  
A crop of Pea●l, more glorious than the Oriental:  
Venus shall have a necklace of these Gems,  
Diana's Virgin Zoac these beads shall beautify,  
The other Deities shall labour in our Harvest,  
And think one seed a pay too prodigal.  
Weep Sweet no more, thou hast shed enough  
To purchase immortality, I prithee weep no more  
Lest I be forced to sow my Tares  
Among that heavenly ●rain.  Fla. 
How well those drops become them? the pleasing dew  
Adds not a greater lustre to the Rose.  
With what a sweet variety they slow?  
How prettily they spo●t in method?  One Knocks. 
Alas! one knocks Fidelio.  Fid. 
I will not wake to hear him. Tell him  
I say I will not: in this sweet slumber  
I'd not disturb the Heavens with a petition,  
Or should they call, I would refuse to hear them.  Enter Arontas. Aron. 
Most noble Shepherd, the King expects you in the Temple,  
For to s●e the sacrifice, and you fair Shepherdess  
(I am 〈◊〉 I must become so sad a messenger)  
Must presently prepare to suffer.  Exit. Fid. 
Never did voice jar ho●●ser in my ears,  
Oh what a hellish sound it leaves!  
Hells three mouthed Porter joined to Scylla's quite  
Cannot howl out so sad a Message.  
Prepare to suffer? What is that?  
Comment on those sad words sweet Heavens,  
Unsold that hideous mystery: I dare not think  
Upon the exposition ●s so horrid.  
knowst thou what 'tis to suffer?  C●n. 
Yes, 'tis to die, and be immortal.  Fid. 
Death is the common ●ode to immortality; men  
Whose lives abhorred all virtue but Repentance,  
In abundant troops, flock by that common highway,  
And shall she whose Virgin soul no thought has blemished  
Find no unknown path peculiar to such excellence?  Con. 
To die a spotless sacrifice is a glorious path  
Near trod ●n but by them whose saintlike presence  
Still addeth to its curiosity: The Altar is no funeral Pile,  
That melts its fuel into Ashes, but a re●ining fire,  
As gentle as those flames from which  
The purified Gold receives it lustre.  Fid. 
Oh do not deceive thyself: How often do we see  
The Sacrifices perish, and ne'er return  
More glorious by their sufferings.  Con. 
'Tis true, that fire that cleanses but the Gold  
Consumes the drosser metals: Had bea's,  
Our common sacrifices, but souls confirmed divine  
By Innocence and Reason, we might adore 'em  
On our Altars without the blot of superstition.  Fid. 
If death must purchase immortality,  
Thou must not, shalt not be immortal:  
There is a debt due unto Nature for thy goodness.  
Live here an everlasting mortal then and pay it.  
The glory freely given unto dese●t  
Is greater than if purchased.  Con. 
But who can give it? 'Tis not in nature's power.  
She frames our goodness for the Heavens;  
There I must live, hemmed in with happiness:  
There no felicity will be wanting, but when  
These tears makes me remember thee.  Fid. 
Let not the thought of me thy murderer  
Disturb thy happiness: I will revenge thy quarrel to the full.  
Something must be done: Farewell thou heavenly Candidate▪  
Thou hast a place selected mongst the Deities  
Where thou must sit and teach the ignorant world  
That constancy, which none but thou couldst ever boast of.  
I shall betray a womanish passion in me  
Should I stay longer. Farewell thou new elected Deity.  Exit. Con. 
My Tears so stop my speech, I cannot Bid Farewell.  Enter Thesbia. Thes. 
What weeping Constantina? Can the fear of death  
From out the circle of thy purest innocence  
Draw such a saintness.  Con. 
The senseless trees, herbs, plants, and flowers  
In dewy tears lament the sun's sad absence, and shall I  
Deny that duty to Fideli● when a sad eclipse  
Must hid him from me to eternity.  
Tears are not emblems of a saint belief,  
The hottest days melt often into showers.  
Oh Thesbia! my heart will break,  
And cheat the Altar of its sacrifice.  Thes. 
Here, drink this Nepenthe's juice then,  
'Twill ease thy heart, do not refuse it, the Priest  
Ju●t now bequeathed it to me as an heavenly cordial.  Con. 
What had I forgot? See here's the same.  
Oh 'twas a Holy man; He would said have died  
To save my life.  Thes. 
So would he to have saved mine: Trust me  
He made me weep to see his silver tears  
Distil in such abundance from his eyes;  
My dear, dear father could have done no more.  Con. 
Let's then on bended knees in adoration of his charity  
Wish that the Heavens will never be ingrateful,  
But ●ill shower down on his deserts a due felicity.  Thes. 
Upon our knees we wish it;  
And as this juice from our o'ercharged souls  
Expels our miseries, so may his sorrows vanish.  They drink. 
'Tis down. My congealed blood late frozen to my heart  
Dissolves, and with a quick agility  
Leaps in my new-filled veins. My thoughts have pleasant ●uell,  
And every sense is ravished with an unknown happiness.  Con. 
I am strangely altered; I have forgot  
The principal end of my creation, to be miserable.  
Come sit down, I have a great mind  
To imitate the dying Swans upon caiisters' Banks,  
And sing my funeral elegy.  She sings. 

Swell swell my thoughts, and let my Breast  
Receive with joy eternal Rest,  
Swell higher yet, faint not to see  
The end of all thy misery.  
Death's but a sleep,  
Then do not weep,  
But with desire  
Embrace the fire,  
So shall thy soul, so shall thy soul, aspire   

Unto a place where it shall see  
Etern●ll Crowns of Majesty  
Attending on its pompous train  
Uncompelled, without disdain:  
Then let not fire  
Make thee retire,  
Nor yet deny  
This obsequy.  
Lest in despair, lest in despair thou die.   

Then let not fire  
Make thee retire,  
Nor yet deny  
This obsequy.  
Lest in despair, lest in does— pair—   she sleeps. Fla. 
Thus ceased the dying Nightingale, enamoured sleep  
Delighted with thy Harmony stole the last accent  
From our ears. Thesbia! what has her voice  
Hush thee into a slumber too, and left me here  
The sole resister of its power? Sleep on sweet souls,  
And when ye wake, think it no pain  
If ye be forced too soon to sleep again.  Exeunt.  

Act. 5. Sce. 2.  An Altar discovered: Loud music. Enter Bermudo, Arentas, Spadatus, Halis does, Virtusas and Fidelio. Ber. 
What means this silence Shepherd? me thinks you look  
As if you were at some most solemn funeral,  
Where the c●rps of an endeared friend is to be interred:  
These visages become that place; but when you go  
To ●alu●e the heavenly Deities with your f●ee oblations,  
You must put on a far more pleasing countenance  
That the Gods may pleasure in your offerings,  
And delight in your burnt sacrifice.  Fid. 
My divining soul great King, foretells  
An universal ruin in this sacrifice,  
A general numbness prompts my heart unto a sad,  
And deadly melancholy: Surely I have offended.  Ber. 
Yes in thy drooping zeal. Come, let not ●ear  
Hinder that devotion, which thou beganst  
With such a noble resolution, to thy immortal glory.  Fid. 
I do conjure you Sir by that hate which you  
Conceive 'gainst women; By your Crown, by your sceptre,  
By all the Gods I do conjure you  
To spare this humane sacrifice.  
If you needs must offer to their Deities,  
Surfe● their Altars with the richest gums,  
Fetch forth the phoenix nest for an oblation,  
Order the world lament the loss of all their cattle,  
Profane not thus their Altars with a woman's blood.  Ber. 
Thou hast won so much on me by thy former service,  
That to deny thee now were a most vild ingratitude  
Did not the Gods require it: my vow to Heavens is past  
And cannot be recalled, to promise them  
The malefactors for an offering, and then  
Cheat 'em with a sheep or some such tri●le,  
Is not to sacrifice but defraud.  Fid. 
The Gods ne'er feast on humane entrails,  
Their Nectar is not mortals blood:  
Think you their stomaches have so base an appetite  
To hunger after that which men do loath?  
Repentance is their banquet, the steam of fervent sighs  
Their food, and tears not blood's the potion they delight in:  Ber. 
Be not ingrateful Shepherd;  
Strive not, for my love, to make me impious:  
Justice and fidelity commands them for a sacrifice.  Fid. 
Sacrifices must be pure, not spotted;  
The fairest bea●●s are destined to the Altar.  Ber. 
The sinner gets his pardon sooner  
By his own sufferings, than if he'd suffered by a Proxee.  Fid. 
I did belie her Innocence, believe me Sir  
She is innocent, as innocent as the new-begotten child.  Ber. 
To purge a sin, ofttimes a Lamb must die▪  
And so shall she, our zeal will be the greater.  Fid. 
Rather your impiety:  
Who offers up one Godhead to another's honour?  
Be not so irreligious to destroy that gem,  
Which I adore, as a resplendent Deity  
Sent from Heaven, to beautify the earth.  Ber. 
Take heed; Be not so fond superstitious.  
Thus to contract a Deity to a Beast.  Fid. 
A Beast! can Heavens hear this,  
And no thunderbolt tell the proud King he lies?  
A beast! wert thou armed with thunder,  
Or were it but to see thee ten thousand deaths,  
Nor piety, nor Religion should withhold me,  
But I would tear tha● venomous tongue out,  
And hang it like a lying Meteor in the Ayr.  Ber. 
He grows frantic: Alas poor man,  
He deserves my pity more than anger.  Fid. 
Where sleeps your Justice now?  
Rouse up your drowsy headed laws  
To take revenge on him that dares their utmost.  Solemn music. Ber. 
Whence this sad music?  Enter Sperazus, Flavanda, and others bringing in Constantina and Thesbia, veiled All in a solemn manner. Fla. 
Cease your petitions: it lies not in the power  
Of your prayers, nor his mercy to recall 'em:  
Fate has deceived the Altar Sir; The Lambs  
That should have been the sacrifice, are dead.  Ber. 
Dead!  Fla. 
Yes; Your threats great King has proved  
Their executioner: Imagination that unnatural flame  
Has not consumed, but broke their tender Hearts.  
Here you may see the ruins of those well-built Temples.  She unvails them. Fid. 
Ha! Heavens vanished unto Heaven;  
Why didst thou steal thy death divinest?  
Why did thy flitting soul post so away,  
And give no warning to thy friends?  
Hands off ye dogs, do not deny the Gods their sacrifice.  He snatches at a Sword, and the Guard hold him. 
Me thinks the Genius of the world doth stagger;  
The affrighted Earth turns round, and sends forth  
Foggy trees, in a continued lamentation for its loss:  
The Heavens stand still to entertain her ex excellence,  
And all the Planets turn to Constellations  
With amazement: Copernicus, thy opinion Now is verified.  Ber. 
Most reverend father, though cruel destiny  
Has abriged part of our triumph by their deaths  
Yet to manifest our duty, in all ceremonious order  
Let their corpse be sacrificed.  Spe. 
I dare not Sir pollute the Altars  
With a dead oblation: High Heavens will be displeased  
With our offerings; The very beasts abhor the dead.  
Let but their bodies be interred, & then come  
And offer a few prayers, and without doubt  
The Deities will be appeased.  Ber. 
Your will shall rule us  Exeunt. Manent Fidelio and Virtusus with Constantina and Thesbia. Fid. 
Oh death, thou grand Commissioner of Fate,  
Seize these my vital spirits, since she is gone  
Whose warmer breath so oft has nourished them.  
What! canst thou not hear now Death?  
Art thou grown astonished at thy late got prize?  
Assume he quickly heavens; Death will forget  
His office else and let the populous world  
Surfeit with multiplicity.  Vir. 
Did ever traveller so faint to see  
The end of all his travels? Has all my wearied steps  
Tended to this Home, and tremble I to be●hold it?  
Where be those pleasing smiles, those wheeling eyes,  
And that harmonious voice, which once did call me, Brother?  
Are all gone? Has death ravished thy Virgin blushes too,  
To adorn thy soul translated to some Deity?  Fid. 
That new star which the Astronomers of late  
Observed in Cassiopeia, was but thy Harbinger,  
Sent to prepare that room to entertain thy excellence:  
There thou must set, Queen Regent of the Constellation;  
Oh be my Zenith ever!  
Lend me thy influence to direct my actions,  
And sooner shall the Adamant forget the North,  
Than I thy sacrifice.  Vir. 
What Justice would not stagger  
To condemn such excellence? what tiger almost famished  
Would not stand amazed, and rather starve,  
Than make a prey of such perfections?  Fid. 
Why mad'st her Nature of such goodness,  
And tookst no care for to preserve her?  
Me thinks those lips, soft and as ruddy  
As the purest wax, invites impression.  He kisses her. 
Heavens, be not jealous If I kiss her.  
They're warm: a crimson blush gins  
To beautify her cheeks, and says I was immodest:  
Oh Heavens! She stirs too; Now for some glorious apparition.  Con. 
What new fire burns my polluted breast?  
Whence come these unknown flames?  
Guard me some chaster power; good providence  
Redeem this Temple from a profanation.  Fid. 
Thou hast mistake thy way divinest; Heaven  
Lies not here; That h●s a narrow pa●h  
N●re trod on but by virtue; Go, Knock  
At Repentance gate, one rear of thine  
Will easily compel an entrance: Thy goodness surely  
Is not ignorant, it is thy charity only  
To enrich the earth again with thy diviner presence  
That has caused this wilful error.  Con. 
If thou be'st here, I'll seek no other path,  
This is the only way my wishes aim at.  F●d. 
Keep off; The beams of thy divinity  
Will consume me; I begin to melt;  
My knees more stubborn than the Elephants  
Bows down in adoration with thy lustre.  Con. 
I cannot tell what strange effects  
Sleep has procured upon my outward shape;  
My thoughts are su●e the same, they have Fidelio  
Still thei● subject, which makes me confident  
That I am not changed, but still am Constantina.  Fid. 
Thou art some Goddess rather, which  
To appear more glorious has assumed her shape;  
Alas, the Heavens has stole her soul  
For an immortal pyramid, and it would be  
Too great a prejudice to it, should it return  
From such celestial happiness.  Con. 
I am transformed in nothing but my tongue,  
That once was powerful to charm belief;  
where's now its vain Authority? Thesbia  
I prithee sweet awake, and tell thy incredulous Brother  
That I live, yet strait must die  
Killed with his most misjudging charity.  Vir. 
'Tis she; oh Thesbia my dearest sweet, Awake  
Awake, Virtusus calls thee; Depart not in a dream;  
Let not thy soul he ravished with those joys  
Which heaven presents thee with; good sle●p  
Be not so cruel to be eternal.  Enter Sperazus. Spe. 
Tri●le not time Fidelio with these Ceremonies;  
Arise, 'twas only sleep caused by a potion  
That deceived the King.  Fid. 
May I believe you?  Spe. 
Believe your senses, why so fearful?  
She's no Ghost.  Fid. 
Liv'st thou Constantina? thou art so pure  
I do suspect it.  Thes. 
What pleasing waves rocks my delighted soul?  
How is it tossed within a gulf of happiness? Ha!  Vir. 
Let it float still, divinest, the enamoured waves  
Will be made happy by its presence.  
Nay, fly not Thesbia from the Haven:  
Here are no traitorous sands, no sudden storms,  
Nor unseen Rocks to ruin thee. All  
Is as free from danger as thy wishes.  
Why casts thou Anchor? Hop'st thou to be securer  
In that miserable Ocean? Oh Thesbia  
Thou wilt raise storms in that securer Port  
If thou deniest an entrance.  Thes. 
Surely you do mistake me Sir.  
Thesbia was a woman, and can you love her,  
And think her so immodest to turn man.  Con. 
Thou canst no longer Thesbia lie concealed,  
He knows All.  Thes. 
Hast thou betrayed me Constantina?  
Oh let me sink under my shames sad burden.  Vir. 
we'll sink together then; thou and I  
Will be each others monument.  Spe. 
No more!  
I hear Bermudo coming: true Lovers care  
Will in possession o●t-times breed despair.  Exeunt.  

Act. 5. Sce. 3.  Enter Bermudo. Ber. 
My Plots still fail, and all my shafts  
Shot 'gainst resisting walls  
Bring back a ruin to the sender that sacrifice  
Wherewith I thought to expiate my crime  
Fate has converted to a murder so horrid,  
That I must sink, or get a pardon for devotion.  
Oh how my grovelling soul pressed down with wickedness  
Rolls like the imprisoned wind  
Penned in the hollow caverns of the Earth,  
Finding no vent to aspire, but still must lie  
Under the heavy weight of soul impiety.  
Repentance must redeem it from its thraldom, a ransom  
Which I dare not think on lest envious Fates  
Should turn that too into a wickedness.  
The greatest are not still the best I see,  
Kings are but crowned to fall decked with a pompous infamy.  A groan within. 
Ha! what dismal noise beats that alarm  
To my guilty conscience? my affrighted blood retires,  
And leaves my trembling arms  
Shaking like sapless branches at the Northern wind,  
My feet the Basis of this tottering pyramid  
Cleaves close unto the earth, whilst my erected hair  
Stiffer than bristles of a Porcupise  
Stairs in the face of Heaven: Oh I am thunderstruck.  Enter constantin's and Thesbia severally. 
Ha! the easy stomached earth vomits they dead,  
To tortures me; Am I environed round with Ghosts?  
Conceal me ye good Heavens;  
Spread an eternal darkness o'er the world,  
That very sprights may wander still in ignorance:  
Wrap my affrighted soul in a defence  
Not to be pierced with apprehensions eye;  
Make me invisible or blind.  Con. 
Heaven's cannot hid you from my just revenge  
Without the forfeiture of goodness: Murder.  
That crying sin has like a power Spell  
Summoned my scarce cold corpse, not fully settled  
In my latest urn, to appear again on earth,  
And force as accusation of thy conscience.  Ber. 
Mount mount my soul, and with the swiftest winds  
Fly to some unkwown Land, where the affrighted Su●  
Near yet durst enter, nor the amazed Heavens  
Think on a place so horrid: where the corrupted air  
Darts forth infection, & the ulciferous winds  
Whiffs plagues to the inhabitants more loathsome  
Than the stench breath from polluted charnel houses;  
Where death surfeits his fatal arrow,  
And each funeral Knell yield by a dying Mandrake  
Proves still the dirge of an ensuing frailty.  
Is there no Sanctuary for a guilty conscience?  
Let me then sink, sink to the centre.  
Release those captive giant's Heavens, that now groan  
Under the heavy weight of mighty Mountains  
Hurl Pelion upon Ossa, and Olympus upon Pelion,  
And all their fetters upon me, to press me down  
Beyond the reach of Register: Let me not suffer  
In their annals too, but let a sad mortality  
Of Remembrance seize all succeeding times,  
That I may fall forgotten.  Thes. 
Is this the way to expiate thy crime Bermudo?  
Are prophaner wishes thy repentance? take Heed  
Do not precipitate thy inclining ruin; Pull not  
That hover Justice on thy head, lest it fall  
No less than fatal.  Ber. 
Thou blessed idea of a form divine, forgive  
My rash devotion; entomb Revenge amongst those  
Sacred relics, and let thy incensed ghost  
Sleep in its peaceful urn: oh be as mild as excellent:  
Draw hence those looks, filled with such pleasing horror,  
And each succeeding day shall add  
New trophies to thy mercy.  Thes. 
Thinkest thou my patiented Ghost can rest in quiet,  
Whilst thy majestic cruelty tramples over the ruins  
Of my lost honour? Can I behold thy ambitious mind  
Swelled higher with my suffering, and no pious envy  
Seek to abate thy triumph? shall wronged innocence  
Unrevenged lie, whilst charity proclaims it lawful?  
A crime unpunished is a virtue in the opinion  
Of the giddy multitude.  Ber. 
Let not misconstruing fools contract those beams  
Which in a bounteous manner use to slow  
Even to the period of their lustre.  
No mortals force procured my hate:  
I still preserved thee like a blooming Rose,  
Vvatered thee with my choicest streams, and sand thee  
With my pleasingst gales, till envious fate  
Stole that delicious Bud, not fully ripened.  Thes. 
Thou hadst forestalled his office else; and like  
A treacherous wretch to make my ruin seem more horrid,  
When that my pampered Appetite lay bathing in felicity  
Thou wouldst have thrown me headlong to destruction,  
There to die like to some harmless Beast  
Fatted for slaughter.  Ber. 
It was devotion sought thy ruin, I was compelled  
To play the Tyrant by Religion: and like  
A careful Mariner in a storm, to throw away  
A Gem, prized far beyond my Diadem,  
Witness ye Heavens how oft my Zeal  
Suffered affections checks; how oft my Love  
Held back my hand from ruining that comely Temple  
Which I so admired, and ever must, though now  
Imagination makes it horrid.  Thes. 
Play not still the Hypocrite;  
Why mentionest Love? Did ever Love  
Pronounce so sad a sentence.  Ber. 
Witness ye powers before whom I kneel  
How dearly, dearly I did love thee; And surely  
Had not fate been so hasty, I had ruged hard  
With my Religion to have saved thee.  Enter Charastus, Brabantas, Sperazus, Flavanda, Fidelio, Virtusus, Arontas, Spadatus, Attendants and Guard. Gha. 
His own words condemn him▪  Omnes. 
They do most mighty Prince, and we obey.  Cham 
Love that so long has barred me from my throne  
Once more reseats me in my former dignity.  
Seize on the Usurper Guard.  Ber. 
Hands off, Rebellious Miscreants, that unjust authority  
Profanes our sacred person? Can Scicilians  
Grow so impious, to violate their Kings?  Cham 
The date of your supremaces is expired; your approaching end  
Must put a fatal period to your Tyranny:  
A Crown  
Is off too pure a mettle to endure long  
Within so gross a Mine.  Ber. 
Unheard of wickedness! Heaven's can you hear this,  
And dart no quick consuming plague into his treacherous bosom:  
Where be those laws which we Scicilians still  
Held as Religious orders? where's Piety  
And Allegiance, out adored Penates.  Cham 
Here in this breast: Long has Religion  
And my former vow maintained thy tyranny:  
Long have I seen thy pompous height  
Grown riotous with my ruin, yet still have flattered it  
Without ambitious interruptions: No  
High fwelled thought has once desired a repossession  
Nor ever should, had not thy love of him  
Declared a forfeiture.  Ber. 
Take not so poor a Covert for thy irreligion:  
A boys chaste Love forfeits no Diadem.  Thes. 
Thus, that false title I renounce: thus  
I appear myself, decked with my virgin's innocence;  She discovers herself. 
These blushes speaks me woman Sir.  Ber. 
Am I outreached in policy? good Fate  
Send some invisible dart, and kill me quickly,  
Shame will deceive thee of thy triumph else.  Spe. 
Be not ashamed Bermudo: It is an honour for to fall  
Thrust by a royal hand: A practised politician  
No ignoble brain did work thy ruin.  Bra. 
Our revenge must thank thee Thesbia;  
Thou hast dissolved this mass of Tyranny,  
And brought our long-lost honours to their former lustre:  
We own duty to thee for our second birth,  
And ignorance must pay ingratitude, if you refuse  
The reacceptance of that Crown bestowed so freely  
By your Liberality. I will not say Vintusus has desert  
Whose just heat may challenge your affection,  
That were to extol him beyond humane merit,  
But I dare say though poor in worth  
he's rich in his endeavours.  Spe. 
Her blushes do bewray her Love, which long eat this  
Had met its wished for happiness, Had not revenge  
For my second Fidelio been too obstinate.  
The love of him made her forgo her Country,  
And on unknown Lands hazard these many dangers  
In his search: She told it to me, when her Confessor.  
Here take her Virtusus as a Virgin Sacrifice,  
Pure as the timely blossom whose forward Zeal  
Decks the arising Spring.  Bra. 
I'll make the harmony complete:  
Thus from that cloister which my timorous age  
Before designed thee too, a parent's care releases thee;  
And with the same devotion confines thee to Fidelio;  
Turn thy Repentance to obedience, thy zeal to Love,  
And all thy care into a settled constancy,  
That from the ruins of that chaster Temple  
A sacred Structure may erect itself, no less perspicuous.  Spe. 
May our Kingdoms joined by this double concord  
Like two flames of incense shoot up still  
In one continued lustre, whilst our souls  
Peitcht on their sparing glories  
Reach an immortality.  Cham 
Can I yet live and see my life divided?  
Shall hymeneal flames consume her Virgin Zone  
And I stand by a vain Spectator: Patience  
Thou art a virtue.  Fla. 
What sad thought great King can in the midst  
Of this solemnity draw such a veil o'er that majestic splendour?  
Which in his perfect brightness ought to shine  
To the refreshing of your numbed Subjects.  Cham 
The remembrance of my lost Sister, hangs like a dog  
Upon my soul, yet prompts me forward to revenge.  
Can Charastus triumph whilst Desdonella lies  
In her eternal sleep, rocked with the pleasing Lullaby  
Of falling waters? Can I maintain a thought  
Tending to happiness, before Revenge  
Has quietly entombed her? first shall my rage  
Swell higher than the streams that buried her,  
That all may perish with its inundation.  Fla. 
Rob not the Heavens Charastus of the honour  
Due for your happiness: can you be so ingrateful  
To their mercy, to let revenge  
Cheat them of their alacrity claimed justly by their ●avors.  Ber. 
Stop not the current of his anger: Let it flow.  
Here are no trembling barks that fear its vigour.  
Can he invent a torment which never yet  
His predecessors boasted of, my patience  
Should convert it into charity.  Enter Desdonella and Halisdus. 
Diana! amaze me not ye Heavens:  
Can she vouchsafe such favour unto him  
Who late abused her with immodesty? my incredultty  
Sins too much against her virtue: 'Tis she,  
The air's perfumed, the odoriferous clouds  
Filled with delicious spices distils to odours:  
The fragrant flowers as she walks  
Offers their sweetest incense, and where she treads  
The adoring grass bows in a pious gratitude.  
Are ye all amazed? why kneel ye not,  
And with a general adoration entertain that Deity  
That freely comes to visit you? Thus greatest Goddess  
My obedient soul submits with truest penitence,  
I must confess I did abuse your presence  
With most profane & unchaste ceremonies,  
Yet I must say it was my Zeal,  
And the assurance of your clemency, that made me.  Des. 
Arise Bermudo: it is I must kneel;  
Thus as a Subject to your power I bow,  
But as a powerful Subject thus I stand.  
If my supposed death has in your noble breast  
Kindled religious sparks, if Desdonellas' fare  
Has moved your patience to Revenge,  
Calm your disturbed thoughts; See I live  
This shape is truly real.  Cham 
My Sister Desdonella, more welcome than my immortality:  
Unto what power shall I ascribe this happiness?  Des. 
I own my life unto his courtesy;  
He mocked Bermud'os' Statutes with my feigned death,  
Whilst in a Cave my melancholy Lu●e and I  
Flattered each others misery.  Cham 
Surely Halisdus thou wert born  
To make thy King ungrateful; my joys abound  
To an unmeasured height, I fear they are  
Too vehement to last.  Ber. 
I am amazed; my converted appetite  
Courts an unknown desire; my fervent zeal  
Turns to a loser flame, and worships now  
The Temple for the Deity.  Des. 
Why now so strange Bermudo? didst thou admire  
The structure only for the bvilder's sake?  
Is it become less glorious in another's right?  
Can virtue vanish with a name.  Ber. 
No Desdonella thy supposed divinity  
Made me perceive something that still is excellent;  
All is not vanished with those beams,  
The departed Sun leaves still a heat behind him.  Des. 
But can that heat, cast from those weaker rays  
Extract so full an adoration? Canst thou bu● pay  
A liking to its fervour, and not contemn it  
For the absent Sun?  Ber. 
How impious were I should I hate that shape  
Which I durst think Diana would inhabit?  
When I contemn it, may my blood forget its motion,  
My soul her faculties, and the Heavens my soul.  Cham 
On that condition take thy throne again.  
Learn now to be a King, and rule with such pleasing majesty  
That thy Subjects may sooner doubt thy favour,  
Than fear thy anger.  Ber. 
This council might be welcome unto them  
That do desire a Diadem; But unto him  
That is already wearied with his weight,  
It is as vain as expent fencing unto Cowards,  
They may have skill, but dare not use it.  
Yet, if you'll needs instruct my unwilling soul  
In that virtue which you only Sir are Master of,  
Reign longer than, and let me learn by your example.  Cham 
He must not reign that cannot rule Affection;  
If you refuse this favour, I shall suspect you  
Still to be a Tyrant, and nor worthy of my Sister.  Des. 
Alas what means my Brother?  Cham 
To make thee Queen, and ●eat thee  
In the highest dignity, whilst ● in shepherd's weeds  
Learn to assuage desires. Nay weep not sweet Flavanda,  
Perhaps thou dost suspect thou art a stranger to my heart,  
But witness, oh ye Heavens, that what I do  
Proceeds from Love to thee; Thee I will meditate,  
And when I sleep my dreams shall fancy thee.  
Still I'll discouse of thee, and when the happy end  
Has crowned my studies that I truly know thee,  
I shall have searched the deepest point of all philosophy.  
But you fair Princess whose conquering eye  
Has took a prisoner captive, and now boasts  
In the bare spoil of another's victory,  
You I must ne'er remember, but must  
As ill taught children learn to forget again  
What my greedy eye too soon conceived.  Con. 
Good Sir.  
Make not me an accessary to your inconstancy.  
Your hopes of me you see are vain,  
Hymen has joined our hearts already in a knot  
Which naught can separate but death.  Cham 
'tis true, fair Creature, you are His:  
Meet him with an ardent Love.  
And from the Ashes of thy nicer cha●●ty  
Let a tall Phoenix issue, whilst I  
In silent groves desire of Fate to die.  Fid. 
Stay Charastus; Let not thy destruction  
Crown our wedding.  Cham 
Let fortune then decide the controversy: Here  
Take this sword, and plead thy title, a cause so just  
Would make a Coward valiant:  Fid. 
But me a Coward.  Cham 
Thy goodness has incen'st me;  
Dost thou refuse the combat? take ●eed  
Pull not a ruin on thee with thy virtue; I am enraged.  
My envious heart is tympanized with anger.  
Hadst thou but offered to have fought at first,  
I then had left the combat, and with as much scorn  
Had hated thy disloyalty, as now I emulate thy goodness.  
Guard thyself.  Hal. 
Hold, Princes hold, Make not a theatre of the Temple:  
Do not profane this sacred place  
With an incestuous quarrel.  Cham 
Incestuous? Is love incestuous?  Hal. 
Yes, of your sister.  Cham 
I have no sister except Desdonella.  Hal. 
Pardon me great King if I unfold a secret.  
Which never should have been revealed  
Had not the fear of your destruction forced me.  Cham 
If it be good, do not delay my joys so long  
As I shall be in pardoning thee.  Hal. 
You greatest Princess, I have injured most,  
But yet I know your virtues to be such  
That I despair not of a Pardon.  Des. 
Assure thyself there is no crime so horrid  
But the remembrance of thy former goodness  
Will command a Pardon for.  Hal. 
Then thus Braba●tas I restore thy Son  
Took from thee in the late intestine wars  
When Scicilies' three monarches like three meeting streams  
Strove to convert each others Kingdom  
To their own Dominions.  Bra. 
I must confess in those inhuman broils  
When Sicily groaned with her civil wars, I lost a Son  
Who in his tender years was taken from his Nurse  
By the rough violence of a barbarous soldier.  Hal. 
I was that soldier that in hope of great reward  
Took from the nurse that unresisting Babe  
And brought him here to Lelybaeus to present  
The King with: But fortune, that seldom  
Crosses wicked men, then ●rown'd on me:  
For our tender Prince committed for the more security  
To my loving wife, did with a fall  
From her too careless arms receive his death.  Bra. 
Oh most unhappy fate.  Hal. 
I than was forced to turn my captive to a Prince again,  
For in the room of dead Charastus  
I then placed your Son, who hitherto  
Has lived our sovereign, and ever should, Had not  
The fear of their approaching ruins told it.  Bra. 
This happiness may be wished for, not obtained.  Hal. 
I could produce your Kingdoms Arms  
Wove on his Mantle, but this would be  
A shallow testimony to that I'll show you.  
Look on his left wrist, there you may see  
The half Moon, from which Lunaster he was named  
If fame's Report be true.  Bra. 
It is most true; He had his name from then●e.  Hal. 
See royal Sir, 'tis still preserved.  Bra. 
Do I yet live, and see my Son Lunaster?  
Fate thou art too bounteous: I cannot live  
To pay a due gratuity, an age will be too little  
To express my joys in.  Cham 
Am I deceased that now my transmigrated soul  
Seeks out a new inolosure?  
Tell me my name good Heavens, my country too,  
Who are my Kin, or rather who are not.  
All here I think do claim alliance.  
Fairest Constantina my divining soul  
Prompts me to call thee Sister: Be not I prithee  
Angry with my Love, I will no more  
Harbour incestuous flames, yet I will see thee still,  
And keep a brother's distance: you'll not be jealous Sir?  Fid. 
I were injurious to her virtue then.  Cham 
Nor you Flavanda?  Fla. 
Let me die hated first of all,  
And have no tomb but malice.  Cham 
I am not mortal sure, such joys as these  
Belong to immortality.  Spe. 
When three Kingdoms join, it is a royal unity,  
Sicily shall be no more Trinacria now  
But one promontory whose soaring top  
Stretched hove th' insulting billows  
Shall strike a terror to our foes, whilst we  
Armed with their fear sleep in security▪  Vir. 
Let not the loss dear Brother  
Of this kingdom trouble you; we'll haste unto Pachynus  
And when that envious ●ate bereaves us of our father,  
Thou and I, will like the zodiacs Gemini,  
Reign our alternate courses in that happy kingdom.  Con. 
Yet I must ruinated that happiness:  
It is I Virtusus that must disenthrone thee.  
So Apollo said.  Cham 
No dearest Sister, I am  
That Brother that Apollo meant; my crown  
Already thou hast lost, my Love to thee has lost it.  
Ha●st thou been less fair, less constant to Filio,  
And more kind to me, I still had reigned;  
This ne'er had been divulged; Had it Halisdus?  Hal. 
Never Sir. Tortures should ne'er have forced it  
From me.  Cham 
The Oracle is fulfilled then. Let all fears vanish.  
Heavens knew a Crown was not my due,  
That made me sure so willing for to part with't.  
I am glad 'tis gone so fairly, and I am confident  
There's none, knew he the cares, the troubles,  
The perplexed thoughts and dangers that attends  
A good King's throne, but he would resign  
As willingly as I do, did not his calling,  
And his shame forbidden it. That Kingdom  
Which my ignorance so long usurped, returns to thee Bermudo,  
'Tis Desdonella's right, she is the richer jewel.  
Be once a man again, and from the ruins  
Of thy pristine Tyranny, build a most glorious Structure  
To reach Heaven; Let not thy former cruelty  
Make thee despair; who would aspire  
Ought first to fall, that he may rise the higher.  Ber. 
Come dearest Desdonella, too long I have practised Tyranny;  
Mercy hereafter shall become my study. For now I see  
Our lives are but a Scene, a Scene that changes  
At the will and pleasure of the Author;  
We are all but Actors and do take  
Each several day a several part; This day  
We personate a King, the next a Beggar.  
This is our course of life which varies still, till Death  
The closer up of all comes in and clean  
Puts out the Tapers, and withdraws the Scene.  Exeunt. 
FINIS.