BASSANES rushes in with a poniard, followed by PROPHILUS, GRONEAS, HEMOPHIL, and GRAUSIS.

Bass. I can forbear no longer; more, I will not:
Keep off your hands, or fall upon my point-
Patience is tired,-for, like a slow-paced ass,
You ride my easy nature, and proclaim

My sloth to vengeance a reproach, and properly.
Ith. The meaning of this rudeness?

Pro. He's distracted.

Pen. Oh, my griev'd lord!

Grau. Sweet lady, come not near him. Bass. My birth is noble: though the popular blast

Of vanity, as giddy as thy youth,

Hath rear'd thy name up to bestride a cloud,
Or' progress in the chariot of the sun;
I am no clod of trade, to lackey pride,
Nor, like your slave of expectation, wait
The wanton hinges of your doors, or whistle
For mystical conveyance to your sports.
Gron. Fine humours! they become him.
Hem. How he stares,

Struts, puffs, and sweats! most admirable lunacy!
Ith. But that I may conceive the spirit of wine
Has took possession of your soberer custom,
I'd say you were unmannerly.

Pen. Dear brother!

Bass. Unmannerly!-mew, kitling-smooth formality

Is usher to the rankness of the blood,
But impudence bears up the train.

Ith. His jealousy hath robb'd him of his wits;
He talks he knows not what.

Bass. Yes, and he knows

1 This passage is not without curiosity, as tending to prove that some of the words now supposed to be Americanisms were in use among our ancestors, and crossed the Atlantic with them. It is not generally known that Ford's county (Devonshire) supplied a very considerable number of the earlier settlers in the colonies.-GIFFORD.

To whom he talks; I will hallo 't: though I

Blush more to name the filth than thou to act it.

Ith. Monster!

Pro. Sir, by our friendship

Pen. By our bloods!

[Draws his sword.

Will you quite both undo us, brother?

Grau. Out on him!

These are his megrims, firks, and melancholies.
Pen. With favour, let me speak.—My lord, what
slackness

In my obedience hath deserv'd this rage?
Except humility and silent duty

Have drawn on your unquiet, my simplicity
Ne'er studied your vexation.

Bass. Light, of beauty,

Deal not ungently with a desperate wound!
No breach of reason dares make war with her

Whose looks are sovereignty, whose breath is balm :
Oh, that I could preserve thee in fruition

As in devotion!

Pen. Sir, may every evil

Lock'd in Pandora's box show'r, in your presence,
On my unhappy head, if, since you made me

A partner in your bed, I have been faulty,
In one unseemly thought, against your honour.
Ith. Purge not his griefs, Penthea.

Bass. Yes, say on,

Excellent creature!-Good, be not a hinderance
To peace, and praise of virtue.-[to ITH.]-Oh, my

senses

Are charm'd with sounds celestial.-On, dear, on: I never gave you one ill word; say, did I?

Indeed I did not.

Pen. Nor, by Juno's forehead,

Was I e'er guilty of a wanton error.

Bass. A goddess! let me kneel.
Grau. Alas, kind animal!
Ith. No; but for penance.
Bass. Noble sir, what is it?

With gladness I embrace it; yet, pray let not
My rashness teach you to be too unmerciful.

Ith. When you shall show good proof, that manly wisdom,

Not oversway'd by passion or opinion,

Knows how to lead [your] judgment, then this lady,

Your wife, my sister, shall return in safety
Home, to be guided by you; but, till first
I can, out of clear evidence, approve it,
She shall be my care.

Bass. Rip my bosom up,

I'll stand the execution with a constancy;
This torture is insufferable.

Ith. Well, sir,

I dare not trust her to your fury.

Bass. But

Penthea says not so.

Pen. She needs no tongue

To plead excuse, who never purposed wrong.

[Exit with ITH. and PRO.

Hem. Virgin of reverence and antiquity,

Stay you behind.

[To GRAU. who is following PEN.

Gron. The court wants not your diligence.

[Exeunt HEM. and GRON.

Grau. What will you do, my lord? my lady's

gone:

I am denied to follow.

Bass. I may see her,

Ór speak to her once more?

Grau. Be of good cheer, she 's your own flesh and bone.

Bass. Diseases desperate must find cures alike; She swore she has been true.

Grau. True, on my modesty.

Bass. Let him want truth who credits not her

Vows!

Much wrong I did her, but her brother infinite;

[Exeunt.

Rumour will voice me the contempt of manhood,
Should I run on thus; some way I must try
To outdo art, and jealousy decry.

Flourish.

SCENE III.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter AMYCLAS, NEARCHUS leading CâLANTHA, ARMOSTES, CROTOLON, EUPHRANEA, CHRISTALLA, PHILEMA, and AMELUS.

Amyc. Cousin of Argos, what the heavens have pleas'd,

In their unchanging counsels, to conclude

For both our kingdoms' weal, we must submit to:
Nor can we be unthankful to their bounties,
Who, when we were ev'n creeping to our graves,
Sent us a daughter, in whose birth our hope
Continues of succession. As you are

In title next, being grandchild to our aunt,
So we in heart desire you may sit nearest
Calantha's love; since we have ever vow'd
Not to enforce affection by our will,
But by her own choice to confirm it gladly.

Near. You speak the nature of a right just father. I come not hither roughly to demand

My cousin's thraldom, but to free mine own:
Report of great Calantha's beauty, virtue,
Sweetness, and singular perfections, courted
All ears to credit what I find was publish'd
By constant truth: from which, if any service
Of my desert can purchase fair construction,
This lady must command it.

Cal. Princely sir,

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

Near. Chief, glorious virgin,

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

Amyc. Excellent cousin, we deny no liberty;
Use thine own opportunities.-Armostes,

We must consult with the philosophers:
The business is of weight.

Arm. Sir, at your pleasure.

Amyc. You told me, Crotolon, your son's return'd

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

Crot. He shall soon attend
Your royal will, great sir.
Amyc. The marriage

Between young Prophilus and Euphranea
Tastes of too much delay.

Crot. My lord

Amyc. Some pleasures

At celebration of it, would give life

To the entertainment of the prince our kinsman:
Our court wears gravity more than we relish.
Arm. Yet the heavens smile on all your high
attempts,

Without a cloud.

Crot. So may the gods protect us!

Cal. A prince, a subject?

Near. Yes, to beauty's sceptre;

As all hearts kneel, so mine.

Cal. You are too courtly.

Enter ITHOCLES, ORGILUS, and PROPHILUS.

Ith. Your safe return to Sparta is most welcome: I joy to meet you here, and, as occasion

Shall grant us privacy, will yield you reasons
Why I should covet to deserve the title

Of your respected friend; for, without compliment,
Believe it, Orgilus, 't is my ambition.

Org. Your lordship may command me, your poor

servant.

VOL. I.-16