Amyc. On to your recreations.-Now convey

me

Unto my bed-chamber; none on his forehead
Wear a distemper'd look.

All. The gods preserve you!

Cal. Sweet, be not from my sight.

Ith. My whole felicity!

[AMYCLAS is carried out.-Exeunt all but ITHOCLES, detained by ORGILUS.

Org. Shall I be bold, my lord?

Ith. Thou canst not, Orgilus.

Call me thine own; for Prophilus must henceforth Be all thy sister's; friendship, though it cease not In marriage, yet is oft at less command

Than when a single freedom can dispose it.

Org. Most right, my most good lord, my most great lord,

My gracious princely lord, I might add royal.
Ith. Royal! A subject royal?

Org. Why not, pray sir?

The sovereignty of kingdoms, in their nonage,
Stoop'd to desert, not birth; there's as much merit
In clearness of affection, as in puddle

Of generation; you have conquer'd love
Even in the loveliest: if I greatly err not,
The son of Venus hath bequeath'd his quiver
To Ithocles to manage, by whose arrows
Calantha's breast is open'd.

Ith. Can it be possible?

Org. I was myself a piece of suitor once, And forward in preferment too; so forward,

That, speaking truth, I may without offence, sir, Presume to whisper, that my hopes, and (hark ye!)

My certainty of marriage stood assured

With as firm footing (by your leave), as any's,
Now, at this very instant-but-

Ith. 'Tis granted:

And for a league of privacy between us,
Read o'er my bosom and partake a secret;
The princess is contracted mine.

Org. Still, why not?

I now applaud her wisdom: when your kingdom
Stands seated in your will, secure and settled,
I dare pronounce you will be a just monarch;
Greece must admire and tremble.

Ith. Then the sweetness

Of so imparadised a comfort, Orgilus !
It is to banquet with the gods.

Org. The glory

Of numerous children, potency of nobles,
Bent knees, hearts pav'd to tread on!

Ith. With a friendship

So dear, so fast as thine.
Org. I am unfitting

For office;. but for service

Ith. We'll distinguish

Our fortunes merely in the title; partners
In all respects else but the bed.--

Org. The bed?

Forefend it, Jove's own jealousy!--till lastly

We slip down in the common earth together,

And there our beds are equal; save some monu

ment

To shew this was the king, and this the subject[Soft sad Music. List, what sad sounds are these? extremely sad

ones.

Ith. Sure from Penthea's lodgings.

Org. Hark! a voice too.

A SONG within.

Oh, no more, no more, too late

Sighs are spent; the burning tapers

Of a life as chaste as fate,

Pure as are unwritten papers,

Are burnt out: no heat, no light
Now remains; 'tis ever night.
Love is dead; let lovers' eyes,
Lock'd in endless dreams,
Th extremes of all extremes,
Ope no more, for now Love dies,

Now Love dies,-implying

Love's martyrs must be ever, ever dying.

Ith. Oh my misgiving heart!

Org. A horrid stillness

Succeeds this deathful air; let's know the reason:

Tread softly; there is mystery in mourning.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Apartment of PENTHEA in the same.

PENTHEA discovered in a Chair, veiled; CHRISTALLA and PHILEMA at her feet, mourning. Enter two Servants, with two other Chairs, one with an Engine.+

Enter ITHOCLES and ORGIlus.

1. Serv. (Aside to ORG.) 'Tis done; that on her

right hand.

Org. Good! begone.

[Exeunt Servants.

Ith. Soft peace enrich this room!

Org. How fares the lady?

Phil. Dead.

Chris. Dead!

4 Enter two servants with two chairs, one with an engine.] This engine, as it is here called, in correspondence with the homely properties of our old theatres, was merely a couple of moveable arms added to the common chair. The contrivance itself is of early date, and, if Pausanias (c. 20.) is to be trusted, of celestial origin. Vulcan, he tells us, in order to be revenged of Juno for turning him out of heaven, insidiously presented her with a golden throne, with hidden springs, which prevented her, after being seated upon it, from rising up again. It appears that Bacchus alone, of all the gods, had influence enough with the sooty artist, to persuade him to liberate her:-the exquisite moral of which, I presume, is, that people are sometimes good humoured in their cups. Ford, however, brought no golden chair from Olympus: he found his simple contrivance not only on the stage, but (where his predecessors probably found it) in Bandello, (Nov. 27. part iv.) where it is described at length, and Deodati is entrapped by il Turchi, precisely as Ithocles is here by Orgilus, and then stabbed with a dagger.

The author of the Devil's Charter (1607), where this chair is also introduced, appears from the lines quoted (p. cxii.), to have been aware of the passage in Pausanias :—but he was evidently a scholar.

Phil. Starv'd.

Chris. Starv'd!

Ith. Me miserable!

Org. Tell us

How parted she from life?

Phil. She call'd for music,

And begg'd some gentle voice to tune a farewell
To life and griefs; Christalla touch'd the lute,
I wept the funeral song.

Chris. Which scarce was ended,

But her last breath seal'd up these hollow sounds: "Oh cruel Ithocles, and injured Orgilus!"

So down she drew her veil, so died.

Ith. So died!

Org. Up! you are messengers of death, go

from us;

[CHRIS. and PHIL. rise. Here's woe enough to court without a prompter. Away; and,-hark ye!-till you see us next, No syllable that she is dead.-Away,

Keep a smooth brow.-[Exeunt CHRIS, and PHIL. My lord.-

Ith. Mine only sister! Another is not left me.

Org. Take that chair,

I'll seat me here in this: between us sits
The object of our sorrows; some few tears
We'll part among us: I perhaps can mix
One lamentable story to prepare them.-
There, there! sit there, my lord.

Ith. Yes, as you please.

[Sits down, the chair closes upon him.

What means this treachery?