Have warmed this old man's bosom, we might construe

His words to fatal sense.

Ith.

Leave to the powers 145

Above us the effects of their decrees;

My burthen lies within me : servile fears
Prevent no great effects.-Divine Calantha !
Arm. The gods be still propitious!

Org.

[Exeunt ITHOCLES and ARMOSTES.

Something oddly

The book-man prated, yet he talked it weeping
"Let craft with courtesy a while confer,
Revenge proves its own executioner."
Con it again;-for what? It shall not puzzle me;
'Tis dotage of a withered brain.-Penthea
Forbade me not her presence; I may see her,
And gaze my fill. Why see her, then, I may,
When, if I faint to speak-I must be silent.

SCENE II. A Room in BASSANES' House.

Enter BASSANES, Grausis, and PHULAS.

150

155

[Exit.

Bass. Pray, use your recreations, all the service I will expect is quietness amongst ye;

Take liberty at home, abroad, at all times,
And in your charities appease the gods,
Whom I, with my distractions, have offended.

Grau. Fair blessings on thy heart!

Phu. [aside]

5

Here's a rare change!

My lord, to cure the itch, is surely gelded;
The cuckold in conceit hath cast his horns.

Bass. Betake ye to your several occasions ;
And wherein I have heretofore been faulty,
Let your constructions mildly pass it over;
Henceforth I'll study reformation,—more
I have not for employment.

Grau.

O, sweet man!

Thou art the very "Honeycomb of Honesty."

10

Phu. The "Garland of Good-will."-Old lady,

hold up

Thy reverend snout, and trot behind me softly,
As it becomes a moil of ancient carriage.

15

[Exeunt GRAUSIS and PHULAS.

Bass. Beasts, only capable of sense, enjoy
The benefit of food and ease with thankfulness ;
Such silly creatures, with a grudging, kick not
Against the portion nature hath bestowed :
But men, endowed with reason and the use
Of reason, to distinguish from the chaff
Of abject scarcity the quintessence,
Soul, and elixir of the earth's abundance,
The treasures of the sea, the air, nay, heaven,
Repining at these glories of creation

20

25

Are verier beasts than beasts; and of those beasts
The worst am I: I, who was made a monarch
Of what a heart could wish for,-a chaste wife,- 30
Endeavoured what in me lay to pull down

That temple built for adoration only,
And level't in the dust of causeless scandal.
But, to redeem a sacrilege so impious,
Humility shall pour, before the deities

I have incensed, a largess of more patience

35

Than their displeasèd altars can require :
No tempests of commotion shall disquiet

The calms of my composure.

Org.

Enter ORGILUS.

I have found thee,

40

Thou patron of more horrors than the bulk

Of manhood, hooped about with ribs of iron,
Can cram within thy breast; Penthea, Bassanes,
Cursed by jealousies,-more, by the dotage,—
Is left a prey to words.

Past cure some angry minister of fate hath
Deposed the empress of her soul, her reason,

From its most proper throne; but, what's the miracle
More new, I, I have seen it, and yet live!

50

Bass. You may delude my senses, not my judg

ment;

'Tis anchored into a firm resolution;

Dalliance of mirth or wit can ne'er unfix it :

Practice yet further.

Org.

May thy death of love to her

Damn all thy comforts to a lasting fast

From every joy of life! Thou barren rock,
By thee we have been split in ken of harbour.

Enter PENTHEA with her hair loose, ITHOCLES,
ARMOSTES, PHILEMA, and CHRISTALLA.

55

Ith. Sister, look up; your Ithocles, your brother,

Speaks t'ye; why do you weep? dear, turn not from

me.

Here is a killing sight; lo, Bassanes,

A lamentable object !

Org.

Man, does see't?

60

Sports are more gamesome; am I yet in merriment ? Why dost not laugh?

Bass.

Divine and best of ladies,

65

Please to forget my outrage; mercy ever

Cannot but lodge under a roof so excellent :

I have cast off that cruelty of frenzy

Which once appeared imposture, and then juggled
To cheat my sleeps of rest.

Org.

Was I in earnest ?

Pen. Sure, if we were all Sirens, we should sing pitifully,

And 'twere a comely music, when in parts

One sung another's knell: the turtle sighs

70

When he hath lost his mate; and yet some say

He must be dead first: 'tis a fine deceit
To pass away in a dream! indeed, I've slept
With mine eyes open a great while. No falsehood
Equals a broken faith; there's not a hair
Sticks on my head but, like a leaden plummet,
It sinks me to the grave: I must creep thither;
The journey is not long.

Ith.

Hast many years, I hope, to number yet,
Ere thou canst travel that way.

Bass.

76

But thou, Penthea,

80

Let the sun first

Be wrapped up in an everlasting darkness,

Before the light of nature, chiefly formed

For the whole world's delight, feel an eclipse

So universal!

Org.

Wisdom, look ye, begins

To rave!-art thou mad too, antiquity?

Pen. Since I was first a wife, I might have been Mother to many pretty prattling babes ;

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91

They would have smiled when I smiled, and for certain
I should have cried when they cried :-truly, brother,
My father would have picked me out a husband,
And then my little ones had been no bastards;
But 'tis too late for me to marry now,

I am past child-bearing; 'tis not my fault.

Bass. Fall on me, if there be a burning Ætna, 95 And bury me in flames! sweats hot as sulphur

Boil through my pores!

affliction hath in store

No torture like to this.

Org.

Behold a patience!
Lay-by thy whining gray dissimulation,

Do something worth a chronicle; show justice
Upon the author of this mischief; dig out
The jealousies that hatched this thraldom first
With thine own poniard every antic rapture
Can roar as thine does.

Orgilus, forbear.

Ith.

Bass.

Disturb him not;

Provided for my torment.

To bandy passion! ere I'll speak a word,

I will look on and burst.

Pen.

I loved you once.

[To ORGILUS.