Shall be my charge: remove the bloodless body.
The coronation must require attendance;
That past, my few days can be but one mourning.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

A Temple.

An Altar, covered with white; two lights of virgin wax upon it.-Recorders; during which enter Attendants, bearing ITHOCLES on a hearse, in a rich robe, with a crown on his head; and place him on the one side of the Altar. After which, enter CALANTHA, in white, crowned, attended by EUPHRANEA, PHILEMA, and CHRISTALLA, also in white; NEARCHUS, ARMOSTES, CROTOLON, PROPHILUS, AMELUS, BASSANES, HEMOPHIL, and GRONEAS.

CALANTHA kneels before the Altar, the Ladies kneeling behind her, the rest stand off. The Recorders cease during her devotions. Soft music. CALANTHA and the rest rise, doing obeisance to the Altar.

Cal. Our orisons are heard; the gods are merciful. Now tell me, you, whose loyalties pay tribute To us your lawful sovereign, how unskilful Your duties or obedience is, to render Subjection to the sceptre of a virgin, Who have been ever fortunate in princes Of masculine and stirring composition? A woman has enough to govern wisely Her own demeanours, passions, and divisions. A nation warlike, and inured to practice Of policy and labour, cannot brook

A feminate authority; we therefore

Command your counsel, how you may advise us
In choosing of a husband, whose abilities
Can better guide this kingdom.

Near. Royal lady,

Your law is in your will.

Arm. We have seen tokens

Of constancy too lately to mistrust it.

Crot. Yet, if your highness settle on a choice,
By your own judgment both allow'd and lik'd of,
Sparta may grow in power, and proceed
To an increasing height.

Cal. Hold you the same mind?

Bass. Alas, great mistress! reason is so clouded With the thick darkness of my infinite woes, That I forecast nor dangers, hopes, or safety. Give me some corner of the world to wear out The remnant of the minutes I must number, Where I may hear no sounds, but sad complaints Of virgins, who have lost contracted partners; Of husbands howling that their wives were ravish'd By some untimely fate; of friends divided By churlish opposition; or of fathers

Weeping upon their children's slaughtered car

casses;

Or daughters, groaning o'er their fathers' hearses.
And I can dwell there, and with these keep consort
As musical as theirs. What can you look for
From an old, foolish, peevish, doting man,
But craziness of age?

Cal. Cousin of Argos!
Near. Madam.

Cal. Were I presently

To choose you for my lord, I'll open freely
What articles I would propose to treat on,
Before our marriage.

Near. Name them, virtuous lady.

Cal. I would presume you would retain the royalty Of Sparta in her own bounds; then in Argos

Armostes might be viceroy; in Messene

Might Crotolon bear sway; and Bassanes-
Bass. I, queen? alas! what, I?

Cal. Be Sparta's marshal;

The multitudes of high employments could not
But set a peace to private griefs. These gentlemen,
Groneas and Hemophil, with worthy pensions,
Should wait upon your person, in your chamber;
I would bestow Christalla on Amelus,

She'll prove a constant wife; and Philema
Should into Vesta's temple.

Bass. This is a testament!

It sounds not like conditions on a marriage.
Near. All this should be perform'd.
Cal. Lastly, for Prophilus;

He should be, cousin, solemnly invested
In all those honours, titles, and preferments
Which his dear friend, and my neglected husband,
Too short a time enjoyed.

Pro. I am unworthy

To live in your remembrance.

Euph. Excellent lady!

Near. Madam, what means that word, "neglected husband ?"

Cal. Forgive me :-now I turn to thee' thou shadow Of my contracted lord! Bear witness all, I put my mother's wedding ring upon His finger; 'twas my father's last bequest.

[Places a ring on the finger of ITHOCLES. Thus I new-marry him, whose wife I am: Death shall not separate us. Oh, my lords, I but deceiv'd your eyes with antic gesture, When one news straight came huddling on another, Of death! and death! and death! still I danced forward!

But it struck home, and here, and in an instant.
Be such mere women, who, with shrieks and out-

cries,

Can vow a present end to all their sorrows,

Yet live to [court] new pleasures, and outlive them: They are the silent griefs which cut the heartstrings;

Let me die smiling.

Near. "T is a truth too ominous.

Cal. One kiss on these cold lips, my last!-(kisses
ITH.)-crack, crack-

Argos now 's Sparta's king. Command the voices
Which wait at th' altar, now to sing the song
I fitted for my end.

Near. Sirs, the song!

Cho.

DIRGE.

Glories, pleasures, pomps, delights, and

ease,

Can but please

[The] outward senses, when the mind
Is [or] untroubled, or by peace refined.

First Voice. Crowns may flourish and decay,

Second.

Third.

Cho.

Beauties shine, but fade away.
Youth may revel, yet it must
Lie down in a bed of dust.
Earthly honours flow and waste,
Time alone doth change and last.
Sorrows mingled with contents, prepare
Rest for care,

Love only reigns in death; thougn art
Can find no comfort for a BROKEN HEART.

Arm. Look to the queen!

Bass. Her" heart is broke" indeed.

Oh, royal maid, would thou hadst miss'd this part'
Yet 't was a brave one. I must weep to see
Her smile in death.

Arm. Wise Tecnicus! thus said he .

When youth is ripe, and age from time doin part,
The lifeless Trunk shall wed the Broken Heart
"T is here fulfilled.

Near. I am your king.

All. Long live

Nearchus, king of Sparta!
Near. Her last will

Shall never be digress'd from; wait in order
Upon these faithful lovers, as becomes us.—
The counsels of the gods are never known,
Till men can call the effects of them their own.'
[Exeunt.

1 "I do not know," says Mr. Lamb, who brings to the perusal of our o.d dramatists a sensibility almost painfully exquisite, "where to find, in any play, a catastrophe so grand, so solemn, and so surprising as this. This is indeed, according to Milton, to describe high passions and high actions. The fortitude of the Spartan Boy, who let a beast gnaw out his bowels till he died, without expressing a groan, is a faint bodily image of this dilaceration of the spirit, and exenteration of the inmost mind, which Calantha, with a holy violence against her nature, keeps closely covered till the last duties of a wife and a queen are fulfilled.-But Ford was of the first order of poets. He sought for sublimity, not by parcels in metaphors or visible images, but directly where she has full residence in the heart of man, in the actions and sufferings of the greatest minds."--LAMB's Specimens of Dramatic Poets.

EPILOGUE.

WHERE noble judgments and clear eyes are fix'd
To grace endeavour, there sits truth, not mix'd
With ignorance; those censures may command
Belief, which talk not, till they understand.
Let some say, This was flat; some, Here the scene
Fell from its height; another, That the mean
Was ill observed, in such a growing passion,
As it transcended either state or fashion.
Some few may cry,'T was pretty well, or so,
But and there shrug in silence: yet we know
Our writer's aim was, in the whole, address'd
Well to deserve of ALL, but please the BEST;
Which granted, by th' allowance of this strain,
The BROKEN HEART may be pieced up again.