not your passions vent nor let blind fury Precipitate your thoughts nor set 'em working Till time shall lend 'em better means and instruments Than lost complaints Where 's pretty Fatyma She must forgive my rash ungentle passion Princess What do you mean Sir Prince I am asham'd to tell you I prethee call her Princess I will Sir I pray try If sleep will ease your torments and repair Your wasted spirits Prince Sleep to those empty lids Is grown a stranger and the day and night As undistinguisht by my sleep as sight O happiness of poverty that rests Securely on a bed of living turfe While we with waking cares and restless thoughts Lye tumbling on our downe courting the blessing Of a short minutes slumber which the Ploughman Shakes from him as a ransom'd slave his fetters Call in some Musick I have heard soft airs Can charm our senses and expel our cares Is Erythaea gone Serv. Yes Sir Prince 'T is well I would not have her present at my death Enter Musick SOmnus the humble God that dwells In cottages and smoakie cells Hates gilded roofs and beds of down And though he fears no Princes frown Flies from the circle of a Crown Come I say thou powerful God And thy Leaden charming Rod Dipt in the Lethaean Lake O're his wakeful temples shake Lest he should sleep and never wake Nature alas why art thou so Obliged to thy greatest Foe Sleep that is thy best repast Yet of death it bears a taste And both are the same thing at last Serv. So now he sleeps let 's leave him To his repose Enter King King The horrour of this place presents The horrour of my crimes I fain would ask What I am loth to hear but I am well prepar'd They that are past all hope of good are past All fear of ill and yet if he be dead Speak softly or uncertainly Phy. Sir he sleeps King O that 's too plain I know thou mean'st his last His long his endless sleep Phy. No Sir he lives but yet I fear the sleep you speak of will be his next For nature like a weak and weary traveller Tir'd with a tedious and rugged way Not by desire provokt but even betray'd By weariness and want of spirits Gives up her self to this unwilling slumber King Thou hast it Haly 't is indeed a sad And sober truth though the first And only truth thou ever told'st me And 't is a fatal sign when Kings hear truth Especially when flatterers dare speak it Prince I thought I heard my Father does he think the poyson Too slow and comes to see the operation Prince Awakes Or does he think his engine dull or honest Less apt to execute than he to bid him He needs not 't is enough it will succeed To his expectation King 'T is indeed thy Father Thy wretched Father but so far from acting New cruelties that if those already past Acknowledg'd and repented of can yet Receive a pardon by those mutual bonds Nature has seal'd between us which though I Have cancell'd thou hast still preserv'd inviolate I beg thy pardon Prince Death in it self appears Lovely and sweet not only to be pardoned But wisht for had it come from any other hand But from a Father a Father A name so full of life of love of pity Death from a Fathers hand from whom I first Receiv'd a being 't is a preposterous gift An act at which inverted Nature starts And blushes to behold her self so cruel King Take thou that comfort with thee and be not deaf to truth By all that 's holy by the dying accents Of thine and my last breath I never meant I never wisht it sorrow has so over-fraught This sinking bark I shall not live to shew How I abhor or how I would repent My first rash crime but he that now Has poyson'd thee first poyson'd me with jealousie A foolish causless jealousie Prince Since you believe my innocence I cannot but believe your sorrow But does the villain live A just revenge Would more become the sorrows of a King Than womanish complaints King O Mirza Mirza I have no more the power to do it Than thou to see it done My Empire Mirza My Empire 's lost thy vertue was the rock On which it firmly stood that being undermin'd It sunk with its own weight the villain whom my breath created Now braves it in my Throne Prince O for an hour of life but 't will not be Revenge and justice we must leave to Heaven I would say more but death has taken in the out-works And now assails the fort I feel I feel him Gnawing my heart-strings Farewel and yet I would Dies King O stay stay but a while and take me with thee Come Death let me embrace thee thou that wert The worst of all my fears art now the best Of all my hopes But Fate why hast thou added This curse to all the rest the love of life We love it and yet hate it death we loath And still desire flye to it and yet fear it Enter Princess and Soffy Princess He 's gone he 's gone for ever O that the poyson had mistaken his And met this hated life but cruel Fate Envyed so great a happiness Fate that still Flies from the wretched and pursues the blest Ye Heaven's But why should I complain to them That hear me not or bow to those that hate me Why should your curses so out-weigh your blessings They come but single and long expectation Takes from their value but these fall upon us Double and sudden Sees the King Yet more of horrour then farewel my tears And my just anger be no more confin'd To vain complaints or self-devouring silence But break break forth upon him like a deluge And the great spirit of my injur'd Lord Possess me and inspire me with a rage Great as thy wrongs and let me call together All my Souls powers to throw a curse upon him Black as his crimes King O spare your anger 't is lost For he whom thou accusest has already Condemn'd himself and is as miserable As thou canst think or wish him spit upon me Cast all reproaches on me womans wit Or malice can invent I 'le thank thee for them What e're can give me a more lively sence Of my own crimes that so I may repent ' em Princess O cruel Tyrant couldst thou be so barbarous To a Son as noble as thy self art vile That knew no other crime but too much vertue Nor could deserve so great a punishment For any fault but that he was thy Son Now not content to exceed all other Tyrants Exceed'st thy self first robbing him of sight Then seeming by a fain'd and forc'd repentance To expiate that crime didst win him to A false security and now by poyson Hast rob'd him of his life King Were but my soul as pure From other guilts as that Heaven did not hold One more immaculate Yet what I have done He dying did forgive me
POEMS AND TRANSLATIONS WITH THE SOPHY Written by the Honourable Sir IOHN DENHAM Knight of the Bath LONDON Printed for H. Herringman at the Sign of the Blew-Anchor in the Lower-Walk of the New-Exchange 1668. To the King Sir AFter the delivery of your Royal Father's Person into the hands of the Army I undertaking to the Queen Mother that I would find some means to get access to him she was pleased to send me and by the help of Hugh Peters I got my admittance and coming well instructed from the Queen his Majesty having been long kept in the dark he was pleased to discourse very freely with me of the whole state of his Affairs But Sir I will not lanch into a History instead of an Epistle One morning waiting on him at Causham smiling upon me he said he could tell me some news of my self which was that he had seen some Verses of mine the evening before being those to Sir R. Fanshaw and asking me when I made them I told him two or three years since he was pleased to say that having never seen them before He was afraid I had written them since my return into England and though he liked them well he would advise me to write no more alleging that when men are young and have little else to do they might vent the overflowings of their Fancy that way but when they were thought fit for more serious Employments if they still persisted in that course it would look as if they minded not the way to any better Whereupon I stood corrected as long as I had the honour to wait upon him and at his departure from Hampton Court he was pleased to command me to stay privately at London to send to him and receive from him all his Letters from and to all his Correspondents at home and abroad and I was furnisht with nine several Cyphers in order to it Which trust I performed with great safety to the persons with whom we corresponded but about nine months after being discovered by their knowledge of Mr. Cowleys hand I happily escaped both for my self and those that held correspondence with me that time was too hot and busie for such idle speculations but after I had the good fortune to wait upon your Majesty in Holland and France you were pleased sometimes to give me arguments to divert and put off the evil hours of our banishment which now and then fell not short of your Majesties expectation After when your Majesty departing from St. Germayns to Jersey was pleased freely without my asking to confer upon me that place wherein I have now the honour to serve you I then gave over Poetical lines and made it my business to draw such others às might be more serviceable to your Majesty and I hope more lasting Since that time I never disobeyed my old Masters commands till this Summer at the Wells my retirement there tempting me to divert those melancholy thoughts which the new apparitions of Forreign invasion and domestick discontent gave us But these clouds being now happily blown over and our Sun cleerly shining out again I have recovered the relapse it being suspected that it would have proved the Epidemical disease of age which is apt to fall back into the follies in youth yet Socrates Aristotle and Cato did the same and Scaliger saith that Fragment of Aristotle was beyond any thing that Pindar or Homer ever wrote I will not call this a Dedication for those Epistles are commonly greater absurdities than any that come after for what Author can reasonably believe that fixing the great name of some eminent Patron in the forehead of his book can charm away censure and that the first leafe should be a curtain to draw over and hide all the deformities that stand behind it neither have I any need of such shifts for most of the parts of this body have already had Your Majesties view and having past the Test of so cleer and sharp-sighted a Iudgment which has as good a Title to give Law in Matters of this Nature as in any other they who shall presume to dissent from Your Majesty will do more wrong to their own Iudgment then their Iudgment can do to me And for those latter Parts which have not yet received Your Majesties favourable Aspect if they who have seen them do not flatter me for I dare not trust my own Iudgment they will make it appear that it is not with me as with most of mankind who never forsake their darling vices till their vices forsake them and that this Divorce was not Frigiditatis causâ but an Act of Choice and not of Necessity Therefore Sir I shall only call it an humble Petition that Your Majesty will please to pardon this new amour to my old Mistress and my disobedience to his Commands to whose memory I look up with great Reverence and Devotion and making a serious reflection upon that wise Advice it carries much greater weight with it now than when it was given for when age and experience has so ripened mans discretion as to make it fit for use either in private or publick Affairs nothing blasts and corrupts the fruit of it so much as the empty airy reputation of being Nimis Poeta and therefore I shall take my leave of the Muses as two of my Predecessors did saying Splendidis longum vale dico nugis Hic versus caetera ludicra pono Your Majesties most faithful and loyal Subject and most dutiful and devoted servant Io. Denham THE TABLE COopers Hill 1 The Destruction of Troy an Essay on the second Book of Virgil's Aeneis 31 On the Earl of Strafford's Tryal and Death 65 On my Lord Crost's and my Iourney into Poland from whence we brought 10000l for his Majesty by the Decimation of his Scottish Subjects there 67 On Mr. Tho. Killigrew ' s return from his Embassie from Venice and Mr. Murry's from Scotland 70 To Sir John Mennis being invited from Calice to Bologne to eat a Pig 73 Natura Naturata 76 Sarpedon's Speech to Glaucus in the 12. of Homer 78 Martial Epigram Out of an Epigram of Martial 80 Friendship and single life against Love and Marriage 82 On Mr. Abraham Cowley his death and burial amongst the Ancient Poets 89 A Speech against Peace at the Close Committee 95 To the five Members of the honourable House of Commons The Humble Petition of the Poets 101 A Western Wonder 105 A second Western Wonder 107 News from Colchester or A proper new Ballad of certain Carnal passages betwixt a Quaker and a Colt at Horsly near Colchester in Essex 109 A Song 115 On Mr. John Fletchers Works 116 To Sir Richard Fanshaw upon his Translation of Pastor Fido. 119 A Dialogue between Sir John Pooley and Mr. Thomas Killigrew 122 An occasional imitation of a modern Author upon the Game of Chess 126 The Passion of Dido for Aeneas 128 Of Prudence 147 Of Iustice. 163 The Progress of Learning 172 The Sophy
think our Sacriledge would spare When such th' effects of our devotions are Parting from thence 'twixt anger shame fear Those for what 's past this for what 's too near My eye descending from the Hill surveys Where Thames amongst the wanton vallies strays Thames the most lov'd of all the Oceans sons By his old Sire to his embraces runs Hasting to pay his tribute to the Sea Like mortal life to meet Eternity Though with those streams he no resemblance hold Whose foam is Amber and their Gravel Gold His genuine and less guilty wealth t' explore Search not his bottom but survey his shore Ore which he kindly spreads his spacious wing And hatches plenty for th' ensuing Spring Nor then destroys it with too fond a stay Like Mothers which their Infants overlay Nor with a sudden and impetuous wave Like profuse Kings resumes the wealth he gave No unexpected inundations spoyl The mowers hopes nor mock the plowmans toyl But God-like his unwearied Bounty flows First loves to do then loves the Good he does Nor are his Blessings to his banks confin'd But free and common as the Sea or Wind When he to boast or to disperse his stores Full of the tributes of his grateful shores Visits the world and in his flying towers Brings home to us and makes both Indies ours Finds wealth where 't is bestows it where it wants Cities in deserts woods in Cities plants So that to us no thing no place is strange While his fair bosom is the worlds exchange O could I flow like thee and make thy stream My great example as it is my theme Though deep yet clear though gentle yet not dull Strong without rage without ore-flowing full Heaven her Eridanus no more shall boast Whose Fame in thine like lesser Currents lost Thy Nobler streams shall visit Iove's aboads To shine amongst the Stars and bath the Gods Here Nature whether more intent to please Us or her self with strange varieties For things of wonder give no less delight To the wise Maker's than beholders sight Though these delights from several causes move For so our children thus our friends we love Wisely she knew the harmony of things As well as that of sounds from discords springs Such was the discord which did first disperse Form order beauty through the Universe While driness moysture coldness heat resists All that we have and that we are subsists While the steep horrid roughness of the Wood Strives with the gentle calmness of the flood Such huge extreams when Nature doth unite Wonder from thence results from thence delight The stream is so transparent pure and clear That had the self-enamour'd youth gaz'd here So fatally deceiv'd he had not been While he the bottom not his face had seen But his proud head the aery Mountain hides Among the Clouds his shoulders and his sides A shady mantle cloaths his curled brows Frown on the gentle stream which calmly flows While winds and storms his lofty forehead beat The common fate of all that 's high or great Low at his foot a spacious plain is plac't Between the mountain and the stream embrac't Which shade and shelter from the Hill derives While the kind river wealth and beauty gives And in the mixture of all these appears Variety which all the rest indears This scene had some bold Greek or Brittish Bard Beheld of old what stories had we heard Of Fairies Satyrs and the Nymphs their Dames Their feasts their revels their amorous flames 'T is still the same although their aery shape All but a quick Poetick sight escape There Faunus and Sylvanus keep their Courts And thither all the horned hoast resorts To graze the ranker mead that noble heard On whose sublime and shady fronts is rear'd Natures great Master-piece to shew how soon Great things are made but sooner are undone Here have I seen the King when great affairs Give leave to slacken and unbend his cares Attended to the Chase by all the flower Of youth whose hopes a Nobler prey devour Pleasure with Praise danger they would buy And wish a foe that would not only fly The stagg now conscious of his fatal Growth At once indulgent to his fear and sloth To some dark covert his retreat had made Where nor mans eye nor heavens should invade His soft repose when th' unexpected sound Of dogs and men his wakeful ear doth wound Rouz'd with the noise he scarce believes his ear Willing to think th' illusions of his fear Had given this false Alarm but straight his view Confirme that more than all he fears is true Betray'd in all his strengths the wood beset All instruments all Arts of ruine met He calls to mind his strength and then his speed His winged heels and then his armed head With these t' avoid with that his Fate to meet But fear prevails and bids him trust his feet So fast he flyes that his reviewing eye Has lost the chasers and his ear the cry Exulting till he finds their Nobler sense Their disproportion'd speed does recompense Then curses his conspiring feet whose scent Betrays that safety which their swiftness lent Then tries his friends among the baser herd Where he so lately was obey'd and fear'd His safety seeks the herd unkindly wise Or chases him from thence or from him flies Like a declining States-man left forlorn To his friends pity and pursuers scorn With shame remembers while himself was one Of the same herd himself the same had done Thence to the coverts the conscious Groves The scenes of his past triumphs and his loves Sadly surveying where he rang'd alone Prince of the soyl and all the herd his own And like a bold Knight Errant did proclaim Combat to all and bore away the Dame And taught the woods to eccho to the stream His dreadful challenge and his clashing beam Yet faintly now declines the fatal strife So much his love was dearer than his life Now every leaf and every moving breath Presents a foe and every foe a death Wearied forsaken and pursu'd at last All safety in despair of safety plac'd Courage he thence resumes resolv'd to bear All their assaults since 't is in vain to fear And now too late he wishes for the fight That strength he wasted in Ignoble flight But when he sees the eager chase renew'd Himself by dogs the dogs by men pursu'd He straight revokes his bold resolve and more Repents his courage than his fear before Finds that uncertain waies unsafest are And Doubt a greater mischief than Despair Then to the stream when neither friends nor force Nor speed nor Art avail he shapes his course Thinks not their rage so desperate t' assay An Element more merciless than they But fearless they pursue nor can the floud Quench their dire thirst alas they thirst for bloud So towards a Ship the oarefin'd Gallies ply Which wanting Sea to ride or wind to fly Stands but to fall reveng'd on those that dare
neither Men nor Walls His force sustain the torn Port-cullis falls Then from the hinge their strokes the Gates divorce And where the way they cannot find they force Not with such rage a Swelling Torrent flows Above his banks th' opposing Dams orethrows Depopulates the Fields the Cattel Sheep Shepherds and folds the foaming Surges sweep And now between two sad extreams I stood Here Pyrrhus and th' Atridae drunk with blood There th' hapless Queen amongst an hundred Dames And Priam quenching from his wounds those flames Which his own hands had on the Altar laid Then they the secret Cabinets invade Where stood the Fifty Nuptial Beds the hopes Of that great Race the Golden Posts whose tops Old hostile spoils adorn'd demolisht lay Or to the foe or to the fire a Prey Now Priams fate perhaps you may enquire Seeing his Empire lost his Troy on fire And his own Palace by the Greeks possest Arms long disus'd his trembling limbs invest Thus on his foes he throws himself alone Not for their Fate but to provoke his own There stood an Altar open to the view Of Heaven near which an aged Lawrel grew Whose shady arms the houshold Gods embrac'd Before whose feet the Queen her self had cast With all her daughters and the Trojan wives As Doves whom an approaching tempest drives And frights into one flock But having spy'd Old Priam clad in youthful Arms she cry'd Alas my wretched husband what pretence To bear those Arms and in them what defence Such aid such times require not when again If Hector were alive he liv'd in vain Or here We shall a Sanctuary find Or as in life we shall in death be joyn'd Then weeping with kind force held embrac'd And on the sacred seat the King she plac'd Mean while Polites one of Priams sons Flying the rage of bloudy Pyrrhus runs Through foes swords ranges all the Court And empty Galleries amaz'd and hurt Pyrrhus pursues him now oretakes now kills And his last blood in Priams presence spills The King though him so many deaths inclose Nor fear nor grief but Indignation shows The Gods requite thee if within the care Of those alone th' affairs of mortals are Whose fury on the son but lost had been Had not his Parents Eyes his murder seen Not That Achilles whom thou feign'st to be Thy Father so inhumane was to me He blusht when I the rights of Arms implor'd To me my Hector me to Troy restor'd This said his feeble Arm a Javelin flung Which on the sounding shield scarce entring rung Then Pyrrhus go a messenger to Hell Of my black deeds and to my Father tell The Acts of his degenerate Race So through His Sons warm bloud the trembling King he drew To th' Altar in his hair one hand he wreaths His sword the other in his bosom sheaths Thus fell the King who yet surviv'd the State With such a signal and peculiar Fate Under so vast a ruine not a Grave Nor in such flames a funeral fire to have He whom such Titles swell'd such Power made proud To whom the Scepters of all Asia bow'd On the cold earth lies th' unregarded King A headless Carkass and a nameless Thing FINIS On the Earl of Strafford's Tryal and Death GReat Strafford worthy of that Name though all Of thee could be forgotten but thy fall Crusht by Imaginary Treasons weight Which too much Merit did accumulate As Chymists Gold from Brass by fire would draw Pretexts are into Treason forg'd by Law His Wisdom such at once it did appear Three Kingdoms wonder and three Kingdoms fear Whilst single he stood forth and seem'd although Each had an Army as an equal Foe Such was his force of Eloquence to make The Hearers more concern'd than he that spake Each seem'd to act that part he came to see And none was more a looker on than he So did he move our passion some were known To wish for the defence the Crime their own Now private pity strove with publick hate Reason with Rage and Eloquence with Fate Now they could him if he could them forgive He 's not too guilty but too wise to live Less seem those Facts which Treasons Nick-name bore Than such a fear'd ability for more They after death their fears of him express His Innocence and their own guilt confess Their Legislative Frenzy they repent Enacting it should make no President This Fate he could have scap'd but would not lose Honour for Life but rather nobly chose Death from their fears then safety from his own That his last Action all the rest might crown On my Lord Croft's and my Iourney into Poland from whence we brought 10000 l. for his Majesty by the Decimation of his Scottish Subjects there 1. TOle tole Gentle Bell for the Soul Of the pure ones in Pole Which are damned in our Scroul 2. Who having felt a touch Of Cockram's greedy Clutch Which though it was not much Yet their stubbornness was such 3. That when we did arrive 'Gainst the stream we did strive They would neither lead nor drive 4. Nor lend An Ear to a Friend Nor an answer would send To our Letter so well penn'd 5. Nor assist our affairs With their Monies nor their Wares As their answer now declares But only with their Prayers 6. Thus they did persist Did and said what they list Till the Dyet was dismist But then our Breech they kist 7. For when It was mov'd there and then They should pay one in ten The Dyet said Amen 8. And because they are loth To discover the troth They must give word and Oath Though they will forfeit both 9. Thus the Constitution Condemns them every one From the Father to the Son 10. But Iohn Our Friend Mollesson Thought us to have out-gone With a quaint Invention 11. Like the Prophets of yore He complain'd long before Of the Mischiefs in store I and thrice as much more 12. And with that wicked Lye A Letter they came by From our Kings Majesty 13. But Fate Brought the Letter too late 'T was of too old a date To relieve their damned State 14. The Letter 's to be seen With seal of Wax so green At Dantzige where t' as been Turn'd into good Latin 15. But he that gave the hint This Letter for to Print Must also pay his stint 16. That trick Had it come in the Nick Had touch'd us to the quick But the Messenger fell sick 17 Had it later been wrought And sooner been brought They had got what they sought But now it serves for nought 18. On Sandys they ran aground And our return was crown'd With full ten thousand pound On Mr. Tho. Killigrew's Return from his Embassie from Venice and Mr. William Murry's from Scotland 1. OUr Resident Tom From Venice is come And hath left the Statesman behind him Talks at the same pitch Is as wise is as rich And just where you left him you find him 2. But who says he was not A man
13. But Death in all her forms appears From every thing he sees and hears For whom he leads and whom he bears 14. Love making all things else his Foes Like a fierce torrent overflows Whatever doth his course oppose 15. This was the cause the Poets sung Thy Mother from the Sea was sprung But they were mad to make thee young 16. Her Father not her Son art thou From our desires our actions grow And from the Cause the Effect must flow 17. Love is as old as place or time 'T was he the fatal Tree did climb Grandsire of Father Adam's crime 18. Well mayst thou keep this world in awe Religion Wisdom Honour Law The tyrant in his triumph draw 19. 'T is he commands the Powers above Phoebus resigns his Darts and Iove His Thunder to the God of Love 20. To him doth his feign'd Mother yield Nor Mars her Champions flaming shield Guards him when Cupid takes the Field 21. He clips hopes wings whose aery bliss Much higher than fruition is But less than nothing if it miss 22. When matches Love alone projects The Cause transcending the Effects That wild-fire's quencht in cold neglects 23. Whilst those Conjunctions prove the best Where Love 's of blindness dispossest By perspectives of Interest 24. Though Solomon with a thousand wives To get a wise Successor strives But one and he a Fool survives 25. Old Rome of Children took no care They with their Friends their beds did share Secure t'adopt a hopeful Heir 26. Love drowsie days and stormy nights Makes and breaks Friendship whose delights Feed but not glut our Appetites 27. Well chosen Friendship the most noble Of Vertues all our joys makes double And into halves divides our trouble 28. But when the unlucky knot we tye Care Avarice Fear and Jealousie Make Friendship languish till it dye 29. The Wolf the Lyon and the Bear When they their prey in pieces tear To quarrel with themselves forbear 30. Yet timerous Deer and harmless Sheep When Love into their veins doth creep That law of Nature cease to keep 31. Who then can blame the Amorous Boy Who the Fair Helen to enjoy To quench his own set fire on Troy 32. Such is the worlds preposterous fate Amongst all Creatures mortal hate Love though immortal doth Create 33. But Love may Beasts excuse for they Their actions not by Reason sway But their brute appetites obey 34. But Man 's that Savage Beast whose mind From Reason to self-Love declin'd Delights to prey upon his Kind ON Mr ABRAHAM COWLEY His Death and Burial amongst the Ancient Poets OLd Chaucer like the morning Star To us discovers day from far His light those Mists and Clouds dissolv'd Which our dark Nation long involv'd But he descending to the shades Darkness again the Age invades Next like Aurora Spencer rose Whose purple blush the day foreshows The other three with his own fires Phoebus the Poets God inspires By Shakespear ' s Iohnson ' s Fletcher ' s lines Our Stages lustre Romes's outshines These Poets neer our Princes sleep And in one Grave their Mansion keep They liv'd to see so many days Till time had blasted all their Bays But cursed be the fatal hour That pluckt the fairest sweetest flower That in the Muses Garden grew And amongst wither'd Lawrels threw Time which made them their Fame outlive To Cowly scarce did ripeness give Old Mother Wit and Nature gave Shakespear and Fletcher all they have In Spencer and in Iohnson Art Of flower Nature got the start But both in him so equal are None knows which bears the happy'st share To him no Author was unknown Yet what he wrote was all his own He melted not the ancient Gold Nor with Ben Iohnson did make bold To plunder all the Roman stores Of Poets and of Orators Horace his wit and Virgil's state He did not steal but emulate And when he would like them appear Their Garb but not their Cloaths did wear He not from Rome alone but Greece Like Iason brought the Golden Fleece To him that Language though to none Of th' others as his own was known On a stiff gale as Flaccus sings The Theban Swan extends his wings When through th' aetherial Clouds he flies To the same pitch our Swan doth rise Old Pindar's flights by him are reacht When on that gale his wings are stretcht His fancy and his judgment such Each to the other seem'd too much His severe judgment giving Law His modest fancy kept in awe As rigid Husbands jealous are When they believe their Wives too fair His English stream so pure did flow As all that saw and tasted know But for his Latin vein so clear Strong full and high it doth appear That were immortal Virgil here Him for his judge he would not fear Of that great Portraicture so true A Copy Pencil never drew My Muse her Song had ended here But both their Genii strait appear Joy and amazement her did strike Two Twins she never saw so like T was taught by wise Pythagoras One Soul might through more Bodies pass Seeing such Transmigration here She thought it not a Fable there Such a resemblance of all parts Life Death Age Fortune Nature Arts Then lights her Torch at theirs to tell And shew the world this Parallel Fixt and contemplative their looks Still turning over Natures Books Their works chast moral and divine Where profit and delight combine They guilding dirt in noble verse Rustick Philosophy rehearse When Heroes Gods or God-like Kings They praise on their exalted wings To the Celestial orbs they climb And with the Harmonious sphears keep time Nor did their actions fall behind Their words but with like candour shin'd Each drew fair Characters yet none Of these they feign'd excels their own Both by two generous Princes lov'd Who knew and judg'd what they approv'd Yet having each the same desire Both from the busie throng retire Their Bodies to their Minds resign'd Car'd not to propagate their Kind Yet though both fell before their hour Time on their off-spring hath no power Nor fire nor fate their Bays shall blast Nor Death's dark vail their day o'recast A Speech against Peace at the close Committee To the Tune of I went from England BUt will you now to Peace incline And languish in the main design And leave us in the lurch I would not Monarchy destroy But only as the way to enjoy The ruine of the Church Is not the Bishops Bill deny'd And we still threatned to be try'd You see the Kings embraces Those Councels he approv'd before Nor doth he promise which is more That we shall have their Places Did I for this bring in the Scot For 't is no Secret now the Plot Was Sayes and mine together Did I for this return again And spend a Winter there in vain Once more to invite them hither Though more our Money than our Cause Their Brotherly assistance draws My labour was not lost At my return I brought you thence
lays Her self and softly thus lamenting prays Dear Reliques whilst that Gods and Fates gave leave Free me from care and my glad soul receive That date which fortune gave I now must end And to the shades a noble Ghost descend Sichaeus blood by his false Brother spilt I have reveng'd and a proud City built Happy alas too happy I had liv'd Had not the Trojan on my Coast arriv'd But shall I dye without revenge yet dye Thus thus with joy to thy Sichaeus flye My conscious Foe my Funeral fire shall view From Sea and may that Omen him pursue Her fainting hand let fall the Sword besmear'd With blood and then the Mortal wound appear'd Through all the Court the fright and clamours rise Which the whole City fills with fears and cries As loud as if her Carthage or old Tyre The Foe had entred and had set on Fire Amazed Anne with speed ascends the stairs And in her arms her dying Sister rears Did you for this your self and me beguile For such an end did I erect this Pile Did you so much despise me in this Fate My self with you not to associate Your self and me alas this fatal wound The Senate and the People doth confound I 'le wash her Wound with Tears and at her Death My Lips from hers shall draw her parting Breath Then with her Vest the Wound she wipes and dries Thrice with her Arm the Queen attempts to rise But her strength failing falls into a swound Life's last efforts yet striving with her Wound Thrice on her Bed she turns with wandring sight Seeking she groans when she beheld the light Then Iuno pitying her disastrous Fate Sends Iris down her Pangs to Mitigate Since if we fall before th' appointed day Nature and Death continue long their Fray Iris Descends This Fatal lock says she To Pluto I bequeath and set thee free Then clips her Hair cold Numness strait bereaves Her Corps of sense and th' Ayrs her Soul receives A Preface to the following Translation GOing this last Summer to visit the Wells I took an occasion by the way to wait upon an Ancient and Honourable Friend of mine whom I found diverting his then solitary retirement with the Latin Original of this Translation which being out of Print I had never seen before when I looked upon it I saw that it had formerly passed through two Learned hands not without approbation which were Ben Johnson and Sir Kenelme Digby but I found it where I shall never find my self in the service of a better Master the Earl of Bristol of whom I shall say no more for I love not to improve the Honour of the Living by impairing that of the Dead and my own Profession hath taught me not to erect new Superstructions upon an old Ruine He was pleased to recommend it to me for my companion at the Wells where I lik'd the entertainment it gave me so well that I undertook to redeem it from an obsolete English disguise wherein an old Monk had cloathed it and to make as becoming a new Vest for it as I could The Author was a Person of Quality in Italy his name Mancini which Family matched since with the Sister of Cardinal Mazarine he was co-temporary to Petrarch and Mantuan and not long before Torquato Tasso which shews that the Age they lived in was not so unlearned as that which preceded or that which followed The Author writ upon the four Cardinal Vertues but I have Translated only the two first not to turn the kindness I intended to him into an injury for the two last are little more then repetitions and recitals of the first and to make a just excuse for him they could not well be otherwise since the two last Vertues are but descendants from the first Prudence being the true Mother of Temperance and true Fortitude the Child of Iustice. Of Prudence WIsdoms first Progress is to take a View What 's decent or un-decent false or true Hee 's truly Prudent who can separate Honest from Vile and still adhere to that Their difference to measure and to reach Reason well rectify'd must Nature teach And these high Scrutinies are subjects fit For Man's all-searching and enquiring wit That search of Knowledge did from Adam flow Who wants it yet abhors his wants to show Wisdom of what her self approves makes choice Nor is led Captive by the Common voice Clear-sighted Reason Wisdoms Judgment leads And Sense her Vassal in her footsteps treads That thou to Truth the perfect way may'st know To thee all her specifick forms I 'le show He that the way to Honesty will learn First what 's to be avoided must discern Thy self from flattering self-conceit defend Nor what thou dost not know to know pretend Some secrets deep in abstruse Darkness lye To search them thou wilt need a piercing Eye Not rashly therefore to such things assent Which undeceiv'd thou after may'st repent Study and Time in these must thee instruct And others old experience may conduct Wisdom her self her Ear doth often lend To Counsel offer'd by a faithful Friend In equal Scales two doubtful matters lay Thou may'st chuse safely that which most doth weigh 'T is not secure this place or that to guard If any other entrance stand unbarr'd He that escapes the Serpents Teeth may fail If he himself secure not from his Tayl. Who saith who could such ill events expect With shame on his own Counsels doth reflect Most in the World doth self-conceit deceive Who just and good what e're they act believe To their Wills wedded to their Errours slaves No man like them they think himself behaves This stiff-neckt Pride nor Art nor Force can bend Nor high-flown hopes to Reasons Lure descend Fathers sometimes their Childrens Faults regard With Pleasure and their Crimes with gifts reward Ill Painters when they draw and Poets write Virgil and Titian self admiring slight Then all they do like Gold and Pearl appears And others actions are but Dirt to theirs They that so highly think themselves above All other Men themselves can only Love Reason and Vertue all that Man can boast O're other Creatures in those Brutes are lost Observe if thee this Fatal Errour touch Thou to thy self contributing too much Those who are generous humble just and wise Who nor their Gold nor themselves Idolize To form thy self by their Example learn For many Eyes can more then one discern But yet beware of Councels when too full Number makes long disputes and graveness dull Though their Advice be good their Counsel wise Yet Length still loses Opportunities Debate destroys dispatch as Fruits we see Rot when they hang too long upon the Tree In vain that Husbandman his Seed doth sow If he his Crop not in due season mow A General sets his Army in Array In vain unless he Fight and win the day 'T is Vertuous Action that must Praise bring forth Without which slow advice is little worth Yet they who give good Counsel Praise deserve
Though in the active part they cannot serve In action Learned Counsellours their Age Profession or Disease forbids t' ingage Nor to Philosophers is praise deny'd Whose wise Instructions After-ages guide Yet vainly most their Age in study spend No end of writing Books and to no end Beating their brains for strange and hidded things Whose Knowledge nor Delight nor Profit brings Themselves with doubts both day and night perplex Nor Gentle Reader please or teach but vex Books should to one of these four ends conduce For Wisdom Piety Delight or Use. What need we gaze upon the spangled Sky Or into Matters hidden Causes pry To describe every City Stream or Hill I' th World our fancy with vain Arts to fill What is 't to hear a Sophister that pleads Who by the Ears the deceiv'd Audience leads If we were wise these things we should not mind But more delight in easie matters find Learn to live well that thou may'st dye so too To live and dye is all we have to do The way if no Digression's made is even And free access if we but ask is given Then seek to know those things which make us blest And having found them lock them in thy Breast Enquiring then the way go on nor slack But mend thy pace nor think of going back Some their whole Age in these enquiries wast And dye like Fools before one step they past 'T is strange to know the way and not t' advance That Knowledge is far worse then Ignorance The Learned teach but what they teach not do And standing still themselves make others go In vain on Study time away we throw When we forbear to act the things we know The Souldier that Philosopher well blam'd Who long and loudly in the Schools declaim'd Tell said the Souldier venerable Sir Why all these Words this Clamour and this stir Why do disputes in wrangling spend the day Whilst one says only yea and t' other nay Oh said the Doctor we for Wisdom toyl'd For which none toyls too much the Souldier smil'd Y' are gray and old and to some pious use This mass of Treasure you should now reduce But you your store have hoarded in some bank For which th' Infernal Spirits shall you thank Let what thou learnest be by practise shown 'T is said that Wisdoms Children make her known What 's good doth open to th' enquirer stand And it self offers to th' accepting hand All things by Order and true Measures done Wisdom will end as well as she begun Let early care thy main Concerns secure Things of less moment may delays endure Men do not for their Servants first prepare And of their Wives and Children quit the care Yet when we 're sick the Doctor 's fetch 't in haste Leaving our great concernment to the last When we are well our hearts are only set Which way we care not to be Rich or Great What shall become of all that we have got We only know that us it follows not And what a trifle is a moments Breath Laid in the Scale with everlasting Death What 's Time when on Eternity we think A thousand Ages in that Sea must sink Time 's nothing but a word a million Is full as far from Infinite as one To whom thou much dost owe thou much must pay Think on the Debt against th' accompting-day God who to thee Reason and Knowledge lent Will ask how these two Talents have been spent Let not low Pleasures thy high Reason blind He 's mad that seeks what no man e're could find Why should we fondly please our Sense wherein Beasts us exceed nor feel the stings of sin What thoughts Man 's Reason better can become Then th' expectation of his welcom home Lords of the World have but for Life their Lease And that too if the Lessor please must cease Death cancels Natures Bonds but for our Deeds That Debt first paid a strict account succeeds If here not clear'd no Surety-ship can Bail Condemned Debtors from th' Eternal Goal Christ's Blood 's our Balsom if that cures us here Him when our Judge we shall not find severe His yoke is easie when by us embrac'd But loads and galls if on our Necks 't is cast Be just in all thy actions and if joyn'd With those that are not never change thy mind If ought obstruct thy course yet stand not still But wind about till thou have topp'd the Hill To the same end Men several Paths may tread As many Doors into one Temple lead And the same hand into a fist may close Which instantly a Palm expanded shows Justice and Faith never forsake the Wise Yet may occasion put him in Disguise Not turning like the wind but if the state Of things must change he is not obstinate Things past and future with the present weighs Nor credulous of what vain rumour says Few things by Wisdom are at first believ'd An easie Ear deceives and is deceiv'd For many Truths have often past for Lies And Lies as often put on Truths Disguise As Flattery too oft like Friendship shows So them who speak plain Truth we think our Foes No quick reply to dubious questions make Suspence and caution still prevent mistake When any great design thou dost intend Think on the means the manner and the end All great Concernments must delays endure Rashness and haste make all things unsecure And if uncertain thy Pretensions be Stay till fit time wear out uncertainty But if to unjust things thou dost pretend E're they begin let thy Pretensions end Let thy Discourse be such that thou may'st give Profit to others or from them receive Instruct the Ignorant to those that live Under thy care good rules and patterns give Nor is 't the least of Vertues to relieve Those whom afflictions or oppressions grieve Commend but sparingly whom thou dost love But less condemn whom thou dost not approve Thy Friend like Flattery too much Praise doth wrong And too sharp censure shews an evil tongue But let inviolate Truth be always dear To thee even before Friendship Truth prefer Then what thou mean'st to give still promise less Hold fast the Power thy Promise to increase Look forward what 's to come and back what 's past Thy life will be with Praise and Prudence grac'd What loss or gain may follow thou may'st guess Thou then wilt be secure of the success Yet be not always on affairs intent But let thy thoughts be easie and unbent When our Minds Eyes are dis-ingag'd and free They clearer farther and distinctly see They quicken sloth perplexities untye Make roughness smooth and hardness mollifie And though our hands from labour are releast Yet our minds find even when we sleep no rest Search not to find how other Men offend But by that Glass thy own offences mend Still seek to learn yet care not much from whom So it be Learning or from whence it come Of thy own actions others judgments learn Often by small great matters we discern
through the eies And ears of other men it takes a tincture From every channel and still bears a relish Of Flattery or private ends Mor. But danger and necessity Dare speak the truth Abd. But commonly They speak not till it is too late And for Haly He that shall tell him of the Princes danger But tells him that himself is safe Scena Secunda Enter King Princess and Solyman King Clear up clear up sweet Erythaea That cloud that hangs upon thy brow presages A greater storm than all the Turkish power Can throw upon us me-thinks I see my fortune Setling her looks by thine and in thy smile Sits victory and in thy frown our ruine Why should not hope As much erect our thoughts as fear deject them Why should we Anticipate our sorrows 'T is like those That die for fear of death What is 't you doubt his courage or his fortune Princess Envy it self could never doubt his courage King Then let not love do worse by doubting that Which is but valours slave a wise well-temper'd valour For such is his those Giants death and danger Are but his Ministers and serve a Master More to be fear'd than they the blind Goddess Is led amongst the Captives in his triumph Princess I had rather she had eyes for if she saw him Sure she would love him better but admit She were at once a Goddess and his slave Yet fortune valour all is overborn By numbers as the long resisting Bank By the impetuous Torrent King That 's but rumour Ne're did the Turk invade our Territory But Fame and Terrour doubled still their files But when our Troops encountred then we found Scarce a sufficient matter for our fury One brings word of a Messenger Solyman conduct him in 'T is surely from the Prince Enter Post and delivers a Letter King Give it our Secretaries I hope the Prince is well Post. The Letter will inform you Enter a Mess. Mess. Sir the Lords attend you Ex. Princess Enter Lords King What news from the Army Lord. Please you to hear the Letter King Read it Lord. The Turk enraged with his last years overthrow Hath re-enforc't his Army with the choice of all his Janizars And the flow'r of his whole Empire we Understand by some fugitives that he hath commanded The Generals to return with victory or expect A shameful death what I shall further do Their numbers five times exceeding ours I desire to receive directions from your Majesties command King Send away all our Guards Let fresh supplies of victuals and of money Lord. Your Treasures Are quite exhausted the Exchequer 's empty King Send to the Bankers Ab. Sir upon your late demands They answered they were poor King Sure the Villains hold a correspondence With the enemy and thus they would betray us First give us up to want then to contempt And then to ruine but tell those sons of earth I 'le have their money or their heads Wind a horn 'T is my command when such occasions are No Plea must serve 't is cruelty to spare Another Messenger Exeunt Lords King The Prince transported with his youthful heat I fear hath gon too far 'T is some disaster Or else he would not send so thick well bring him in I am prepar'd to hear the worst of evils Enter Solyman and two Captains Cap. kisses his hand King What is the Prince besieged in his Trenches And must have speedy aid or die by famine Or hath he rashly tri'd the chance of War And lost his Army and his Liberty Tell me what Province they demand for ransom Or if the worst of all mishaps hath fallen Speak for he could not die unlike himself Speak freely and yet me-thinks I read Something of better fortune in thy looks But dare not hope it Capt. Sir the Prince lives King And hath not lost his honour Cap. As safe in honour as in life King Nor liberty Cap. Free as the air he breaths King Return with speed Tell him he shall have money victuals men With all the haste they can be levied Farewel Offers to go Cap. But Sir I have one word more King Then be brief Cap. So now you are prepar'd and I may venture King What is 't Cap. Sir a Fathers love mixt with a Fathers care This shewing dangers greater and that nearer Have rais'd your fears too high and those remov'd Too suddenly would let in such a deluge Of joy as might oppress your aged spirits Which made me gently first remove your fears That so you might have room to entertain Your fill of joy Your Son 's a Conquerour King Delude me not with fained hopes false joys It cannot be And if he can but make A fair Retreat I shall account it more Than all his former conquests those huge numbers Arm'd with despair the flow'r of all the Empire Cap. Sir I have not us'd to tell you tales or fables And why should you suspect your happiness Being so constant On my life 't is true Sir King Well I 'le no more suspect My fortune nor thy faith Thou and thy news most welcom Solyman Go call the Princess and the Lords they shall Participate our joyes as well as cares Enter Princess and Lords King Fair daughter blow away those mists clouds And let thy eyes shine forth in their full lustre Invest them with thy loveliest smiles put on Thy choycest looks his coming will deserve them Princess What is the Prince return'd with safety 'T is beyond belief or hope King I sweet Erythaea Laden with spoyls and honour all thy fears Thy wakeful terrors and affrighting dreams Thy morning sighs and evening tears have now Their full rewards And you my Lords Prepare for Masques Triumphs Let no circumstance Be wanting that becomes The greatness of our State or Joy Behold he comes Enter Prince with Captains and two Captive Bashawes King Welcom brave son as welcom to thy father As Phoebus was to Iove when he had slain Th' ambitious Giants that assail'd the sky And as my power resembles that of Ioves So shall thy glory like high Phoebus shine As bright and as immortal Prince Great Sir all acquisition Of Glory as of Empire here I lay before Your Royal feet happy to be the Instrument To advance either Sir I challenge nothing But am an humble suitor for these prisoners The late Commanders of the Turkish powers Whose valours have deserv'd a better fortune King Then what hath thine deserv'd th' are thine brave Mirzah Worthy of all thy Royal Ancestors And all those many Kingdoms which their vertue Or got or kept though thou hadst not been born to 't But daughter still your looks are sad No longer I 'le defer your joys go take him Into thy chast embrace and whisper to him That welcom which those blushes promise Exit King Prince My Erythaea why entertain'st thou with so sad a brow My long desir'd return thou wast wont With kisses and sweet smiles to welcom home My victories
Letter Post. Sir upon your late command To guard the passages and search all packets This to the Prince was intercepted King opens it and reads it to him self King Here Abdal read it Abdal reads The Letter Ab. reads Sir we are assured how unnaturally your fathers intentions Are towards you and how cruel towards us we have Made an escape not so much to seek our own As to be instruments of your safety We will be In arms upon the borders upon your command Either to seek danger with you or to receive you If you please to seek safety with us King Now my Lords Alas my fears are causless and ungrounded Fantastick dreams and melancholick fumes Of crazy stomacks and distempered brains Has this convinc'd you Mor. Sir we see Some reason you should fear but whom we know not 'T is possible these Turks may play the Villains Knowing the Prince the life of all our hopes Staff of our Age and pillar of our Empire And having fail'd by force may use this Art To ruine him and by their treason here To make their peace at home Now should this prove a truth when he ha's suffered Death or disgrace which are to him the same 'T will be too late to say you were mistaken And then to cry him mercy Sir we beseech you A while suspend your doom till time produce Her wonted off-spring Truth King And so expecting The event of what you think shall prove the experiment Of what I fear but since he is my son I cannot have such violent thoughts toward him As his towards me he only shall remain A prisoner till his death or mine enlarge him Ex. Lords Man Haly. Solyman peeps in King Away away we 're serious Sol. But not so serious to neglect your safety King Art thou in earnest Sol. Nay Sir I can be serious as well as my betters King What 's the matter Sol. No I am an inconsiderable fellow and know nothing King Let 's hear that nothing then Sol. The Turks Sir King What of them Sol. When they could not overcome you by force they 'll Do it by treachery King As how Sol. Nay I can see as far into a milstone as another man They have corrupted some ill-affected persons King What to do Sol. To nourish Jealousies 'twixt you and your Son King My son Where is he Sol. They say he 's posting hither King Haly we are betrayed prevented look to the Ports and let The Guards be doubled how far 's his Army hence Is the City in arms to joyn with him Sol. Arms and joyn with him I understand you not King Didst thou not say the Prince was coming Sol. I heard some foolish people say you had sent for Him as a Traytor which to my apprehension was on Purpose spoken to make you odious and him desperate And so divide the people into faction A Plot of Dangerous consequence as I take it Sir King And is this all thou sawcy trifling fool Haly. Sir this seeming fool is a concealed dangerous knave Under that safe disguise he thinks he may say or do Any thing you 'll little think him the chief conspirator The only spy t' inform the Prince of all is done in Court King Let him be rack't till he confess The whole conspiracy Sol. Rackt I have told you all I know and more There 's nothing more in me Sir but may be squeezed Out without racking only a stoop or two of Wine And if there had not been too much of that you had Not had so much of the other King That 's your cunning sirrah Sol. Cunning Sir I am no Polititian and was ever thought to have Too little wit and too much plain dealing for a States-man Exit King Away with him Ha. But somthing must be done Sir to satisfie the people 'T is not enough to say he did design Or plot or think but did attempt some violence And then some strange miraculous escape For which our Prophet must have publick thanks And this false colour shall delude the eyes Of the amazed vulgar King 'T is well advis'd Enter Mess. Mess. Sir His Highness is return'd King And unconstrain'd But with what change of countenance Did he receive the message Mess. With some amazement But such as sprung from wonder not from fear It was so unexpected King Leave us Haly I ever found thee honest truer to me Than mine own bloud and now 's the time to shew it For thou art he my love and trust hath chosen To put in action my design surprize him As he shall pass the Galleries I 'le place A guard behind the Arras when thou hast him Since blinded with ambition he did soar Like a seel'd Dove his crime shall be his punishment To be depriv'd of sight which see perform'd With a hot steel Now as thou lov'st my safety Be resolute and sudden Ha. 'T is severe But yet I dare not intercede it shall be done But is that word irrevocable King I as years or ages past relent not if thou do'st Exit King Enter Mirvan Mir. Why so melancholy is the design discovered Ha. No but I am made the instrument That still endeavoured to disguise my plots With borrowed looks and make 'em walk in darkness To act 'em now my self be made the mark For all the peoples hate the Princess curses And his sons rage or the old Kings inconstancy For this to Tyranny belongs To forget service but remember wrongs Mir. But could not you contrive Some fine pretence to cast it on some other Ha. No he dare trust no other had I given But the least touch of any private quarrel My malice to his son not care of him Had then begot this service Mir. 'T is but t'other plot my Lord you know The King by other wives had many sons Soffy is but a Child and you already Command the Emperours Guard procure for me The Government o' th' City when he dies Urge how unfortunate those States have been Whose Princes are but children then set the Crown Upon some others head that may acknowledge And owe the Empire to your gift Ha. It shall be done Abdal who commands The City is the Princes friend and therefore Must be displac'd and thou shalt straight succeed him Thou art my better Genius honest Mirvan Greatness we owe to Fortune or to Fate But wisdom only can secure that state Ex. Enter Prince at one door and Princess at another Princess You 're double welcom now my Lord your coming Was so unlookt for Prince To me I 'me sure it was Know'st thou the cause for sure it was important That calls me back so suddenly Princess I am so ignorant I knew not you were sent for Waking I know no cause but in my sleep My fancy still presents such dreams and terrors As did Andromache's the night before Her Hector fell but sure 't is more than fancy Either our Guardian Angels or the Gods Inspire us or some natural instinct Fore-tells approaching dangers
have appear'd Friends to that son Mor. Well thought on and in time Farewel unhappy Prince while we thy friends As strangers to our Countrey and our selves Seek out our safety and expect with patience Heavens Justice Ab. Let 's rather act it than expect it The Princes injuries at our hands require More than our tears and patience His Army is not yet disbanded And only wants a head thither we 'll fly And all who love the Prince or hate the Tyrant Will follow us Mor. Nobly resolv'd and either we 'll restore The Prince or perish in the brave attempt Ye Gods since what we mean to execute Is your high office to avenge the innocent Assist us with a fortune equal to The justice of our action lest the world Should think it self deluded and mistrust That you want will or power to be just Ex. Enter Haly. Ha. 'T is done and 't was my master-piece to work My safety 'twixt two dangerous extreams Now like a skilful sayler have I past Scylla and Charybdis I have scap't the rock Of steep Ambition and the gulf of Jealousie A danger less avoyded 'cause less fear'd Enter Mirvan Mir. What 's done my Lord Ha. Enough I warrant you imprison'd and depriv'd of sight Mir. No more This but provokes him Can you think Your self secure and he alive Ha. The rest o' th' business will do it self He can as well endure a prison as a wild Bull the net There let him struggle and toyl himself to death And save us so much envy Mir. But if his Father should relent such injuries Can receive no excuse or colour but to be Transfer'd upon his Counsellours and then The forfeiture of them redeems his errour Ha. We must set a mark upon his passion And as we find it running low What ebbs from his into our rage shall flow Why should we be more wicked Than we must needs Mir. Nay if you stick at Conscience More gallant actions have been lost for want of being Compleatly wicked than have been perform'd By being exactly vertuous 'T is hard to be Exact in good or excellent in ill Our will wants power or else our power wants skill Ex. Enter Solyman and Tormentors Sol. But Gentlemen was the King in earnest I can scarce believe it Tor. You will when you feel it Sol. I pray have any of you felt it to tell me what it is Tor. No Sir but Some of your fellow Courtiers can tell you That use something like it to mend their shapes 'T will make you so straight and slender Sol. Slender because I was slender in my wits must I be drawn Slender in my waste I 'de rather grow wise And corpulent like him they call Abdomen Tor. Come Sir 't is but a little stretching Sol. No no more 's hanging and sure this will be the death of me I remember my Grandmother died of Convulsion fits Tor. Come Sir prepare prepare Sol. I for another world I must repent firk Tor. Quickly then Sol. Then first I repent that sin of being a Courtier And secondly the greatest sin one can commit in that place the speaking of truth Tor. Have you no more sins Sol. Some few trifles more not worth the remembring Drinking and whoring and swearing and such like But for those let 'em pass Tor. Have you done now Sol. Only some good counsel to the standers by Tor. We thank you for that Sir Sol. Nay Gentlemen mistake me not 'T is not that I love you but because 't is a thing of course For dying men Tor. Let 's have it then Sol. First then if any of you are fools as I think that But a needless question be fools still and labour still In that vocation then the worst will be but whipping Where but for seeming wise the best is racking But if you have the luck to be Court-fools those that have Either wit or honesty you may fool withal and spare not But for those that want either You 'll find it rather dangerous than otherwise I could give you a modern Instance or two but let that pass but if you happen to be State-fools then 't is But fooling on the right side and all 's well then you shall at least be Wise mens fellows if not wise mens masters But of all things take heed of giving any man good counsel You see what I have got by it and yet like a foo must I be doing on 't again Tor. Is this all Sol. All but a little in my own behalf Remember Gentlemen I am at full growth and my joynts are knit and yet My sinews are not Cables Tor. Well we 'll remember 't Sol. But stay Gentlemen what think you of a bottle now Tor. I hope you are more serious Sol. If you knew but how dry a thing this sorrow is Especially meeting with my constitution which is As thirsty as any Serving-mans Tor. Let him have it it may be 't will make him confess Sol. Yes I shall I shall lay before you all that 's within me And with most fluent utterance Here 's to you all Gentlemen and let him that 's good Natur'd in his drink pledge me Drinks So me-thinks I feel it in my joynts already It makes 'em supple Drinks again Now I feel it in my brains it makes 'em swim Tor. Hold Sir you have no measure of your self Sol. What do you talk of measure you 'll take Measure of me with a vengeance Tor. You are witty Sir Sol. Nothing but a poor clinch I have a thousand of them a trick I learn't amongst the States-men Drinks again Well rack I defie thee do thy worst I would thou wer't Man Gyant or Monster Gentlemen now if I happen to fall asleep Upon this Engine pray wake me not too suddenly You see here 's good store of wine and if it be Over-rackt 't will come up with lees and all There I was with you again and now I am for you Exeunt Enter Prince being blind solus Prince Nature How didst thou mock mankind to make him free And yet to make him fear or when he lost That freedom why did he not lose his fear That fear of fears the fear of what we know not While yet we know it is in vain to fear it Death and what follows death 't was that that stamp't A terrour on the brow of Kings that gave Fortune her Deity and Iove his thunder Banish but fear of death those Giant names Of Majesty Power Empire finding nothing To be their object will be nothing too Then he dares yet be free that dares to die May laugh at the grim face of Law and scorn The cruel wrinkle of a Tyrants brow But yet to die so tamely O'recome by passion and misfortune And still unconquer'd by my foes sounds ill Below the temper of my spirit Yet to embrace a life so poor so wretched So full of deaths argues a greater dulness But I am dead already nor can suffer More in the other world For what is
Hell But a long sleepless night and what 's their torment But to compare past joyes with present sorrows And what can death deprive me of the sight Of day of children friends and hope of Empire And whatsoever others lose in death In life I am depriv'd of then I will live Only to die reveng'd nor will I go Down to the shades alone Prompt me some witty some revengeful Devil His Devil that could make a bloudy feast Of his own son and call the gods his guests Her 's that could kill her aged Sire and cast Her Brothers scatter'd limbs to Wolves and Vultures Or his that slew his Father to enjoy His mothers bed and greater than all those My fathers Devil Come mischief I embrace thee fill my soul And thou Revenge ascend and bear the Scepter O're all my passions banish thence All that are cool and tame Know old Tyrant My heart 's too big to break I know thy fears Exceed my sufferings and my revenge Though but in hope is much a greater pleasure Than thou canst take in punishing Then my anger Sink to the Center of my heart and there Lie close in ambush till my seeming patience Hath made the cruel Tyrant as secure Though with as little cause as now he 's jealous Whose there Enter two or three I find my nature would return To her old course I feel an inclination To some repose welcome thou pleasing slumber A while embrace me in thy leaden arms And charm my careful thoughts Conduct me to my bed Exit Enter King Haly and Caliph King How do's the Prince how bears he his restraint Ha. Why Sir as all great spirits Bear great and sudden changes with such impatience As a Numidian Lion when first caught Endures the toyl that holds him He would think of nothing But present death and sought all violent means To compass it But time hath mitigated Those furious heats he now returns to food And sleep admits the conversation Of those that are about him King I would I had not So easily believ'd my fears I was too sudden I would it were undone Cal. If you lament it That which now looks like Justice will be thought An inconsiderate rashness King But there are in nature Such strong returns That I punisht him I do not grieve but that he was my Son Ha. But it concerns you to bear up your passion And make it good for if the people know That you have cause to grieve for what is done They 'll think you had no cause at first to do it King to the Ca. Go visit him from me and teach him patience Since neither all his fury nor my sorrow Can help what 's past tell him my severity To him shall in some measure be requited By my indulgence to his children And if he desire it Let them have access to him endeavour to take off His thoughts from revenge by telling him of Paradise and I know not what pleasures In the other world Cal. I shall Sir Ex. King and C. Ma. Haly. Enter Mirvan Ha. Mirvan The King relents and now there 's left No refuge but the last he must be poysoned And suddenly lest he survive his Father Mir. But handsomly lest it appear Ha. Appear To whom you know there 's none about him But such as I have plac't and they shall say 'T was discontent or abstinence Mir. But at the best 'T will be suspected Ha. Why though 't be known We 'll say he poysoned himself Mir. But the curious will pry further Than bare report and the old King's suspitions Have piercing eyes Ha. But those nature Will shortly close you see his old disease Grows strong upon him Mir. But if he should recover Ha. But I have cast his Nativity he cannot he must not I' th' mean time I have so besieg'd him So blockt up all the passages and plac'd So many Centinels and Guards upon him That no intelligence can be convey'd But by my instruments But this business will require More heads and hands than ours Go you to the prison And bring the Keeper privately to me To give him his instructions Ex. several ways Enter Prince and Caliph Cal. Sir I am commanded by the King To visit you Prince What to give a period to my life And to his fears You 're welcome here 's a throat A heart or any other part ready to let In death and receive his commands Ca. My Lord I am no messenger nor minister of death 'T is not my function Prince I should know that voice Ca. I am the Caliph and am come to tell you your Father Is now return'd to himself Nature ha's got The victory o're passion all his rigour Is turn'd to grief and pity Prince Alas good man I pity him and his infirmities His doubts and fears and accidents of age Which first provok'd his cruelty Ca. He bid me tell you His love to yours should amply recompence His cruelty to you And I dare say 't is real For all his thoughts his pleasures and delights Are fixt on Fatyma when he is sad She comforts him when sick she 's his Physitian And were it not for the delight he takes In her I think hee 'd die with sorrow Prince But how are his affections fixt so strangely On her alone sure 't is not in his nature For then he had lov'd me or hated her Because she came from me Ca. 'T is her desert She 's fair beyond comparison and witty Above her age and bears a manly spirit Above her sex Prince But may not I admire her Is that too great a happiness pray let her make it Her next suit to be permitted to visit me her self Ca. She shall Sir I joy to see your mind So well compos'd I fear'd I should have found A tempest in your soul and came to lay it I 'le to the King I know to him that news will be Most acceptable Prince Pray do and tell him I have cast off all my passions and am now A man again fit for society And conversation Ca. I will Sir Exit Prince I never knew my self till now how on the sudden I 'me grown an excellent dissembler to out-do One at the first that has practiz'd it all his life So now I am my self again what is 't I feel within Me thinks some vast design Now takes possession of my heart and swells My labouring thoughts above the common bounds Of humane actions something full of horror My soul hath now decreed my heart does beat As if 't were forging thunder-bolts for Iove To strike the Tyrant dead So now I have it I have it 't is a gallant mischief Worthy my Father or my Fathers Son All his delight 's in Fatyma poor innocent But not more innocent than I and yet My Father loves thee and that 's crime enough By this act old Tyrant I shall be quit with thee while I was virtuous I was a stranger to thy bloud but now Sure thou wilt love
a gallant boldness If 't were thine Thou could'st not hear 't with such a silent scorn I am amaz'd Ha. Sir perplex your thoughts no further They have truth to make 'em bold And I have power to scorn it 't was I Sir That betray'd him and you and them King Is this impudence or madness Ha. Neither A very sober and sad truth to you Sir King A Guard there Enter Mirvan and others King Seize him Ha. Seize them now Though 't is too late to learn yet know 'Gainst you are King again what 't is to let your Subjects Dispose all offices of trust and power The beast obeys his keeper and looks up Not to his masters but his feeders hand And when you gave me power to dispense And make your favours mine in the same hour You made your self my shadow and 't was my courtesie To let you live and raign so long King Without there Enter two or three and joyn with the others What none but Traytors Has this Villain Breath'd treason into all and with that breath Like a contagious vapour blasted Loyalty Sure Hell it self hath sent forth all her Furies T' inhabit and possess this place Ha. Sir passions without power Like seas against a rock but lose their fury Mirvan Take these Villains and see 'em strangled 1. Bash. Farewell Sir commend us to your son let him know That since we cannot die his servants We 'll die his Martyrs King Farewell unhappy friends A long farewell and may you find rewards Great as your Innocence or which is more Great as your wrongs 2 Bash. Come thou art troubled Thou dost not fear to dye 1 Bash. No but to lose my death To sell my life so cheap while this proud villain That takes it must survive 2 Bash. We shall not lose our deaths If Heaven can hear the cries of guiltless blood Which sure it must for I have heard th' are loud ones Vengeance shall overtake thee Ha. Away with ' em King Stay Haly they are innocent yet life when 't is thy gift Is worse than death I disdain to ask it 1 Bash. And we to take it Ha. Do not ask it Sir For them to whom you owe your ruine they have undone you Had not they told you this you had liv'd secure And happy in your ignorance but this injury Since 't is not in your nature to forgive it I must not leave it in your power to punish it King Heaven though from thee I have deserv'd this plague Be thou my Judge and Witness from this villain 'T is undeserv'd Had I but felt your vengeance from some hand That first had suffer'd mine it had been justice But have you sent this sad return of all My love my trust my favours Ha. Sir there 's a great resemblance Between your favours and my injuries Those are too great to be requited these Too great to be forgiven and therefore 'T is but in vain to mention either King Mirza Mirza How art thou lost by my deceiv'd credulity I 'le beg thy pardon Ha. Stay Sir not without my leave Go some of you and let the people know The King keeps state and will not come in publick If any great affairs or State addresses Bring 'em to me King How have I taught the villain To act my part but oh my son my son Shall I not see thee Ha. For once you shall Sir But you must grant me one thing King Traytor dost thou mock my miseries What can I give but this unhappy life Ha. Alas Sir it is but that I ask and 't is my modesty To ask it it being in my power to take it When you shall see him Sir to dye for pity 'T were such a thing 't would so deceive the world And make the people think you were good natur'd 'T will look so well in story and become The stage so handsomly King I ne're deny'd thee any thing and shall not now Deny thee this though I could stand upright Under the tyranny of age and fortune Yet the sad weight of such ingratitude Will crush me into earth Ha. Lose not your tears but keep Your lamentations for your son or sins For both deserve 'em but you must make haste Sir Or he 'l not stay your coming He looks upon a watch 'T is now about the hour the poyson Must take effect King Poyson'd oh Heaven Ha. Nay Sir lose no time in wonder both of us Have much to do if you will see your Son Here 's one shall bring you to him Exit King Some unskilful Pylot had shipwrackt here But I not only against sure And likely ills have made my self secure But so confirm'd and fortify'd my state To set it safe above the reach of Fate Exit Haly. Enter Prince led Servant at the other door Princess and Soffy Serv. Sir the Princess and your Son Prince Soffy thou com'st to wonder at Thy wretched father why dost thou interrupt Thy happiness by looking on an object So miserable Princess My Lord methinks there is not in your voice The vigour that was wont nor in your look The wonted chearfulness Are you well my Lord Prince No but I shall be I feel my health a coming Princess What 's your disease my Lord Prince Nothing but I have tane a Cordial Sent by the King or Haly in requital Of all my miseries to make me happy The pillars of this frame grow weak As if the weight of many years oppress 'em My sinews slacken and an Icy stiffness Benums my blood Princess Alas I fear he 's poysoned Call all the help that Art or Herbs or Minerals Can minister Prince No 't is too late And they that gave me this are too well practis'd In such an Art to attempt and not perform Princess Yet try my Lord revive your thoughts the Empire Expects you your Father 's dying Prince So when the ship is sinking The winds that wrackt it cease Princess Will you be the scorn of fortune To come near a Crown and only near it Prince I am not fortunes scorn but she is mine More blind than I. Princess O tyranny of Fate to bring Death in one hand and Empire in the other Only to shew us happiness and then To snatch us from it Prince They snatch me to it My soul is on her journey do not now Divert or lead her back to lose her self I' th' amaze and winding labyrinths o' th' world I preethee do not weep thy love is that I part with most unwillingly or otherwise I had not staid till rude necessity Had forc'd me hence Soffy be not a man too soon And when thou art take heed of too much vertue It was thy Fathers and his only crime 'T will make the King suspitious yet ere time By natures course has ripened thee to man 'T will mellow him to dust till then forget I was thy Father yet forget it not My great example shall excite thy thoughts To noble actions And you dear Erythaea Give