SCENE I.-A Room in the Palace.

Enter MENAPHON and PELIAS.

Twelve months we have been sundered; but henceforth

We never more will part, till that sad hour,

The frothy foams of Neptune's surging waves,
When blustering Boreas tosseth up the deep,
And thumps a thunder bounce!

Men. Sweet sir, 'tis nothing:

Straight comes a dolphin, playing near your ship,
Heaving his crooked back up, and presents

A feather-bed, to waft you to the shore,
As easily as if you slept i' th' court.
Pel. Indeed? is't true, I pray?

Men. I will not stretch

Your faith upon the tenters.-Prithee, Pelias,
Where did'st thou learn this language?

Pel. I this language?

Alas, sir, we that study words and forms
Of compliment, must fashion all discourse
According to the nature of the subject.
But I am silent :-now appears a sun,
Whose shadow I adore.

Enter AMETHUS, SOPHRONOS and Attendants.
Men. My honour'd father!

Soph. From mine eyes, son, son of my care, my love,

The joys that bid thee welcome, do too much
Speak me a child.

Men. O princely sir, your hand.

Amet. Perform your duties, where you owe them I dare not be so sudden in the pleasures

Thy presence hath brought home.

Soph. Here thou still find'st

A friend as noble, Menaphon, as when

Thou left'st at thy departure.

Men. Yes, I know it,

To him I owe more service

Amet. Pray give leave

He shall attend your entertainments soon,

[first;

Next day, and next day ;-for an hour or two I would engross him only.

Soph. Noble lord!

Amet. You are both dismiss'd.

Pel. Your creature and your servant.

[Exeunt all but AMETHUS and MENAPHON.

Amet. Give me thy hand. I will not say,
Thou'rt welcome;

That is the common road of common friends.
I'm glad I have thee here-Oh! I want words
To let thee know my heart.

Men. 'Tis pieced to mine.

Amet. Yes, 'tis; as firmly as that holy thing Call'd friendship can unite it. Menaphon, My Menaphon! now all the goodly blessings, That can create a heaven on earth, dwell with thee!

To see the other's funerals performed.
Let's now a while be free.-How have thy travels
Disburthen'd thee abroad of discontents?

Men. Such cure as sick men find in changing I found in change of airs; the fancy flatter'd [beds, My hopes with ease, as their's do; but the grief Is still the same.

Amet. Such is my case at home.
Cleophila, thy kinswoman, that maid
Of sweetness and humility, more pities
Her father's poor afflictions, than the tide
Of my complaints.

Men. Thamasta, my great mistress,
Your princely sister, hath, I hope, ere this
Confirm'd affection on some worthy choice.

Amet. Not any, Menaphon. Her bosom yet
Is intermured with ice; though by the truth
Of love, no day hath ever pass'd, wherein

I have not mentioned thy deserts, thy constancy,
Thy-Come! in troth, I dare not tell thee what,
Lest thou might'st think I fawn'd on [thee]-a sin
Friendship was never guilty of; for flattery
Is monstrous in a true friend.

Men. Does the court Wear the old looks too?

Amet. If thou mean'st the prince,

It does. He's the same melancholy man,
He was at's father's death; sometimes speaks sense,
But seldom mirth; will smile, but seldom laugh;
Will lend an ear to business, deal in none :
Gaze upon revels, antick fopperies,
But is not mov'd; will sparingly discourse,
Hear music; but what most he takes delight in,
Are handsome pictures. One so young, and goodly,
So sweet in his own nature, any story
Hath seldom mention'd.

Men. Why should such as I am,

Groan under the light burthens of small sorrows,
Whenas a prince, so potent, cannot shun
Motions of passion? To be man, my lord,
Is to be but the exercise of cares

In several shapes; as miseries do grow,
They alter as men's forms; but how none know.
Amet. This little isle of Cyprus sure abounds
In greater wonders, both for change and fortune,
Than any you have seen abroad.

Men. Than any

I have observed abroad! all countries else

To a free eye and mind yield something rare ; And I, for my part, have brought home one jewel Of admirable virtue.

Amet. Jewel, Menaphon?

Men. A jewel, my Âmethus, a fair youth ;
A youth, whom, if I were but superstitious,
I should repute an excellence more high,
Than mere creations are: to add delight,
I'll tell you how I found him.

Amet. Prithee do.

Men. Passing from Italy to Greece, the tales Which poets of an elder time have feign'd To glorify their Tempe, bred in me, Desire of visiting that paradise.

To Thessaly I came; and living private,

Without acquaintance of more sweet companions,
Than the old inmates to my love, my thoughts,
I day by day frequented silent groves,
And solitary walks. One morning early
This accident encounter'd me: I heard
The sweetest and most ravishing contention,
That art [and] nature ever were at strife in.
Amet. I cannot yet conceive, what you infer
By art and nature.

Men. I shall soon resolve you.

A sound of music touch'd mine ears, or rather
Indeed, entranced my soul: As I stole nearer,
Invited by the melody, I saw

This youth, this fair-faced youth, upon his lute,
With strains of strange variety and harmony,
Proclaiming, as it seem'd, so bold a challenge
To the clear choristers of the woods, the birds,
That, as they flock'd about him, all stood silent,
Wond'ring at what they heard. I wonder'd too.
Amet. And so do I; good! on-
Men. A nightingale,

[own;

Nature's best skill'd musician, undertakes
The challenge, and for every several strain
The well-shaped youth could touch, she sung her
He could not run division with more art
Upon his quaking instrument, than she,
The nightingale, did with her various notes
Reply to for a voice, and for a sound,
Amethus, 'tis much easier to believe

That such they were, than hope to hear again.
Amet. How did the rivals part?
Men. You term them rightly;

For they were rivals, and their mistress, harmony.-
Some time thus spent, the young man grew at last
Into a pretty anger, that a bird

Whom art had never taught cliffs, moods, or notes,
Should vie with him for mastery, whose study
Had busied many hours to perfect practice :
To end the controversy, in a rapture
Upon his instrument he plays so swiftly,
So many voluntaries, and so quick,
That there was curiosity and cunning,
Concord in discord, lines of differing method
Meeting in one full centre of delight.
Amet. Now for the bird.

Men. The bird, ordain'd to be
Music's first martyr, strove to imitate

These several sounds: which, when her warbling throat

Fail'd in, for grief, down dropp'd she on his lute,
And brake her heart! It was the quaintest sadness,
To see the conqueror upon her hearse,
To weep a funeral elegy of tears;
That, trust me, my Amethus, I could chide
Mine own unmanly weakness, that made me
A fellow-mourner with him.

Amet. I believe thee.

Men. He look'd upon the trophies of his art, Then sigh'd, then wiped his eyes, then sigh'd and "Alas, poor creature! I will soon revenge [cried : This cruelty upon the author of it;

Henceforth this lute, guilty of innocent blood,
Shall never more betray a harmless peace
To an untimely end:" and in that sorrow,

As he was pashing it against a tree,

I suddenly stept in.

Amet. Thou hast discours'd

A truth of mirth and pity.

Men. I repriev'd

The intended execution with intreaties,

And interruption.-But, my princely friend,
It was not strange the music of his hand
Did overmatch birds, when his voice and beauty,
Youth, carriage and discretion must, from men
Indued with reason, ravish admiration :
From me, they did.

Amet. But is this miracle
Not to be seen?

Men. I won him by degrees

To choose me his companion. Whence he is,
Or who, as I durst modestly inquire,
So gently he would woo not to make known;
Only (for reasons to himself reserv'd)
He told me, that some remnant of his life
Was to be spent in travel: for his fortunes,
They were nor mean, nor riotous; his friends
Not publish'd to the world, though not obscure;
His country Athens, and his name Parthenophill.
Amet. Came he with you to Cyprus ?

Men. Willingly.

Grow up, and make new laws to license folly;
Why should not I, a May-game, scorn the weight
Of my sunk fortunes? snarl at the vices
Which rot the land, and, without fear or wit,
Be mine own antick? 'Tis a sport to live
When life is irksome, if we will not hug
Prosperity in others, and contemn
Affliction in ourselves. This rule is certain :
"He that pursues his safety from the school
"Of state, must learn to be madman or fool."
Ambition, wealth, ease I renounce the devil
That damns you here on earth.-Or I will be
Mine own mirth, or mine own tormentor.-So!

Enter PELIAS.

Here comes intelligence; a buzz o' the court.

Pel. Rhetias, I sought thee out to tell thee news,
New, excellent new news. Cuculus, sirrah,
That gull, that young old gull, is coming this way.
Rhe. And thou art his forerunner!
Pel. Prithee, hear me.

Instead of a fine guarded page, we have got him
A boy trick'd up in neat and handsome fashion;
Persuaded him, that 'tis indeed a wench,
And he has entertain'd him; he does follow him,
Carries his sword and buckler, waits on's trencher,
Fills him his wine, tobacco; whets his knife,
Lackeys his letters, does what service else
He would employ his man in. Being ask'd
Why he is so irregular in courtship,
His answer is, that since great ladies use
Gentlemen-ushers, to go bare before them,
He knows no reason, but he may reduce
The courtiers to have women wait on them;
And he begins the fashion: he is laughed at
Most complimentally.-Thou'lt burst to see him.

Rhe. Agelastus, so surnamed for his gravity, was a very wise fellow, kept his countenance all days of his life as demurely as a judge that pronounceth sentence of death on a poor rogue, for stealing as much bacon as would serve at a meal with a calf's head. Yet he smiled once, and never but once ;-thou art no scholar?

Pel. I have read pamphlets dedicated to me.Dost call him Agelastus? Why did he laugh? Rhe. To see an ass eat thistles, puppy :-go, study to be a singular coxcomb. Cuculus is an ordinary ape; but thou art an ape of an ape.

Pel. Thou hast a patent to abuse thy friends.

Enter CUCULUS followed by GRILLA, both fantastically dressed.

Look, look he comes! observe him seriously.
Cuc. Reach me my sword and buckler.
Gril. They are here, forsooth.

Cuc. How now, minx, how now! where is your duty, your distance? Let me have service methodically tendered; you are now one of us. Your curtsy. [GRILLA curtsies.] Good! remember that you are to practise courtship. Was thy father a piper, say'st thou?

Gril. A sounder of some such wind-instrument, forsooth.

Cuc. Was he so?-hold up thy head. Be thou musical to me, and I will marry thee to a dancer; one that shall ride on his footcloth, and maintain thee in thy muff and hood.

Gril. That will be fine indeed.
Cuc. Thou art yet but simple.
Gril. Do you think so?

Cuc. I have a brain; I have a head-piece: o' my conscience, if I take pains with thee, I should raise thy understanding, girl, to the height of a nurse, or a court midwife at least; will make thee big in time, wench.

Gril. E'en do your pleasure with me, sir. Pel. [coming forward.] Noble, accomplished Cuculus!

Rhe. Give me thy fist, innocent.

Cuc. 'Would 'twere in thy belly! there 'tis. Pel. That's well; he's an honest blade, though he be blunt.

Cuc. Who cares! We can be as blunt as he, for his life.

Rhe. Cuculus, there is, within a mile or two, a sow-pig hath suck'd a brach, and now hunts the

deer, the hare, nay, most unnaturally, the wild boar, as well as any hound in Cyprus.

Cuc. Monstrous sow-pig! is't true?

Pel. I'll be at charge of a banquet on thee for a sight of her.

Rhe. Every thing takes after the dam that gave it suck. Where hadst thou thy milk?

Cuc. I? Why, my nurse's husband was a most excellent maker of shittlecocks.

Pel. My nurse was a woman-surgeon. Rhe. And who gave thee pap, mouse? Gril. I never suck'd, that I remember. Rhe. La now! a shittlecock maker; all thy brains are stuck with cork and feather, Cuculus. This learned courtier takes after the nurse too; a she-surgeon; which is, in effect, a mere matcher of colours. Go, learn to paint and daub compli ments, 'tis the next step to run into a new suit. My lady Periwinkle here, never suck'd: suck thy master, and bring forth moon-calves, fop, do! This is good philosophy, sirs; make use on't.

Gril. Bless us, what a strange creature this is ! Cuc. A gull, an arrant gull by proclamation. CORAX passes over the Stage.

Pel. Corax, the prince's chief physician! What business speeds his haste?-Are all things Cor. Yes, yes, yes. [well, sir?

Rhe. Phew! you may wheel about, man; we know you are proud of your slovenry and practice; 'tis your virtue. The prince's melancholy fit, I presume, holds still.

Cor. So do thy knavery and desperate beggary.
Cuc. Aha! here's one will tickle the ban-dog.
Rhe. You must not go yet.

Cor. I'll stay in spite of thy teeth. There lies my gravity. [Throws off his gown.] Do what thou dar'st; I stand thee.

Rhe. Mountebanks, empirics, quack-salvers, mineralists, wizards, alchemists, cast apothecaries, old wives and barbers, are all suppositors to the right worshipful doctor, as I take it. Some of you are the head of your art, and the horns too-but they come by nature. Thou livest single for no other end, but that thou fearest to be a cuckold.

Cor. Have at thee! Thou affectest railing only for thy health; thy miseries are so thick and lasting, that thou hast not one poor denier to bestow on opening a vein: wherefore, to avoid a pleurisy thou'lt be sure to prate thyself once a month into a whipping, and bleed in the breech instead of the

arm.

Rhe. Have at thee again!
Cor. Come!

Cuc. There, there, there! O brave doctor!
Pel. Let them alone.

Rhe. Thou art in thy religion an atheist, in thy condition a cur, in thy diet an epicure, in thy lust a goat, in thy sleep a hog; thou tak'st upon thee the habit of a grave physician, but art indeed an impostorous empiric. Physicians are the coblers, rather the botchers, of men's bodies; as the one patches our tattered clothes, so the other solders our diseased flesh.-Come on!

Cuc. To't, to't! hold him to't! hold him to't! to't, to't, to't!

Cor. The best worth in thee is the corruption of thy mind, for that only entitles thee to the dignity of a louse: a thing bred out of the filth and superfluity of ill humours. Thou bitest anywhere, and

any man who defends not himself with the clean linen of secure honesty,―him thou darest not come

near.

Thou art fortune's idiot, virtue's bankrupt, time's dunghill, manhood's scandal, and thine own scourge. Thou would'st hang thyself, so wretchedly miserable thou art, but that no man will trust thee with as much money as will buy a halter; and all thy stock to be sold is not worth half as much as may procure it.

Rhe. Ha, ha, ha! this is flattery, gross flattery. Cor. I have employment for thee, and for ye all. Tut these are but good morrows between us. Rhe. Are thy bottles full?

Cor. Of rich wine; let's all suck together. Rhe. Like so many swine in a trough. Cor. I'll shape ye all for a device before the prince; we'll try how that can move him. Rhe. He shall fret or laugh.

Cuc. Must I make one?

Cor. Yes, and your feminine page too.
Gril. Thanks, most egregiously.
Pel. I will not slack my part.
Cuc. Wench, take my buckler.

Cor. Come all unto my chamber; the project is cast; the time only we must attend.

Rhe. The melody must agree well and yield sport,

When such as these are, knaves and fools, consort. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.-An Apartment in the House of

THAMASTA.

Enter AMETHUS, THAMASTA, and KALA.

Amet. Does this show well?

Tha. What would you have me do?
Amet. Not like a lady of the trim, new crept
Out of the shell of sluttish sweat and labour
Into the glitt'ring pomp of ease and wantonness,
Embroideries, and all these antick fashions,
That shape a woman monstrous; to transform
Your education, and a noble birth
Into contempt and laughter. Sister! sister!
She who derives her blood from princes, ought
To glorify her greatness by humility.

Tha. Then you conclude me proud?
Amet. Young Menaphon,

My worthy friend, has loved you long and truly :
To witness his obedience to your scorn,
Twelve months, wrong'd gentleman, he undertook
A voluntary exile. Wherefore, sister,
In this time of his absence, have you not
Dispos'd of your affections to some monarch?
Or sent ambassadors to some neighb'ring king
With fawning protestations of your graces,
Your rare perfections, admirable beauty?
This had been a new piece of modesty,
Would have deserv'd a chronicle !

Tha. You are bitter;

And brother, by your leave, not kindly wise.
My freedom is my birth; I am not bound
To fancy your approvements, but my own.
Indeed, you are an humble youth! I hear of
Your visits, and your loving commendation
To your heart's saint, Cleophila, a virgin
Of a rare excellence: What though she want
A portion to maintain a portly greatness!
Yet 'tis your gracious sweetness to descend
So low; the meekness of your pity leads you!

May I fall

To see a

Men. 'Tis my first step to honour.
Lower than shame, when I neglect all service
That may confirm this favour!
Tha. Are you well, sir?
Par. Great princess, I am well.
league
Between an humble love, such as my friend's is,
And a commanding virtue, such as your's is,
Are sure restoratives.

Tha. You speak ingeniously.
Brother, be pleas'd to shew the gallery
To this young stranger. Use the time a while,
And we will all together to the court:

I will present you, sir, unto the prince.
Par. You are all compos'd of fairness and true
bounty.

Amet. Come, come: we'll wait you, sister. This Doth relish happy process. {beginning

Men. You have bless'd me.

[Exeunt MEN. AMET. and PAR.

Tha. Kala! O, Kala!
Kala. Lady.

Tha. We are private ;

Thou art my closet.

Kala. Lock your secrets close then :

I am not to be forced.

than time

That we should wake the head thereof, who sleeps
In the dull lethargy of lost security.

The commons murmur, and the nobles grieve;
The court is now turn'd antick, and grows wild,
Whilst all the neighbouring nations stand at gaze,
And watch fit opportunity to wreak
Their just conceived fury on such injuries
As the late prince, our living master's father,
Committed against laws of truth or honour.
Intelligence comes flying in on all sides;
Whilst the unsteady multitude presume
How that you, Aretus, and I engross,
Out of particular ambition,

The affairs of government; which I, for my part,
Groan under, and am weary of.

Are. Sophronos,

I am as zealous too of shaking off

My gay state-fetters, that I have bethought
Of speedy remedy; and to that end,
As I have told you, have concluded with
Corax, the prince's chief physician.-

Soph. You should have done this sooner, Aretus;
You were his tutor, and could best discern
His dispositions, to inform them rightly.

Are. Passions of violent nature, by degrees Are easiliest reclaim'd. There's something hid Of his distemper, which we'll now find out.

Enter CORAX, Rhetias, PeliAS, CUCULUS, and GRILLA. You come on just appointment. Welcome, genHave you won Rhetias, Corax?

Cor. Most sincerely.

[tlemen!

II.

Cuc. Devil take thee! I say nothing to thee now; canst let me be quiet?

Gril. You are too perstreperous, sauce-box.
Cuc. Good girl! if we begin to puff once-
Pel. Prithee, hold thy tongue; the lords are in

the presence.

Rhe. Mum, butterfly!

Your balloon ball, the practice of your dancing,
Your casting of the sledge, or learning how
To toss a pike? all chang'd into a sonnet !
Pray, sir, grant me free liberty to leave
The court; it does infect me with the sloth
Of sleep and surfeit: in the university

I have employments, which to my profession
Add profit and report; here I am lost,
And, in your wilful dulness, held a man
Of neither art nor honesty. You may
Command my head:-pray, take it, do! 'twere
For me to lose it, than to lose my wits,
And live in Bedlam; you will force me to't;
I am almost mad already.

Pal. I believe it.

[better

Soph. Letters are come from Crete, which do A speedy restitution of such ships, [require As by your father were long since detain'd; If not, defiance threaten'd.

Are. These near parts

Of Syria that adjoin, muster their friends; And by intelligence we learn for certain, The Syrian will pretend an ancient interest Of tribute intermitted.

Soph. Through your land

Your subjects mutter strangely, and imagine More than they dare speak publicly.

Cor. And yet

They talk but oddly of you.

Cuc. Hang 'em, mongrels!

Pal. Of me? my subjects talk of me!