Double Falshood; or, The Distrest Lovers

Front matter

Double Falshood;

OR,

The Distrest Lovers.

Dedication

To the Right Honourable

George Dodington, Esq;

SIR,

Preface

PREFACE

OF THE

EDITOR.

T Success, which this Play has met with from the Town in the Representation, (to say nothing of the Reception it found from those Great Judges, to whom I have had the Honour of communicating it in Manuscript;) has almost made the Purpose of a Preface unnecessary: And therefore what I have to say, is design'd rather to wipe out a flying Objection to two, than to labour at proving it the Production of Shakespeare. It has been alledg'd as incredible, that such a Curiosity should be stifled and lost to the World for above a Century. To This my Answer is short; that tho' it never till now made its Appearance on the Stage, yet one of the Manuscript Copies, which I have, is of above Sixty Years Standing, in the Handwriting of Mr. Downes, the famous Old Prompter; and, as I am credibly inform'd, was early in the Possession of the celebrated Mr. Betterton, and by Him design'd to have been usher'd into the World. What Accident prevented This Purpose of his, I do not pretend to know: Or thro' what hands it had successively pass'd before that Period of Time. There is a Tradition (which I have from the Noble Person, who supply'd me with One of my Copies) that it was given by our Author, as a Present of Value, to a Natural Daughter of his, for whose Sake he wrote it, in the Time of his Retirement from the Stage. Two other Copies I have, (one of which I was glad to pur- chase at a very good Rate,) which may not, perhaps, be quite so Old as the Former; but One of Them is much more perfect, and has fewer Flaws and Interruptions in the Sense.

Another Objection has been started, (which would carry much more Weight with it, were it Fact;) that the Tale of this Play, being built upon a Novel in Don Quixot, Chronology is against Us, and Shakespeare could not be the Author. But it happens, that Don Quixot was publish'd in the Year 1611, and Shakespeare did not dye till April 1616, a sufficient Interval of Time for All that We want granted.

Others again, to depreciate the Affair, as they thought, have been pleased to urge, that tho' the Play may have some Resemblances of Shakespeare, yet the Colouring, Diction, and Characters, come nearer to the Style and Manner of Fletcher. This, I think, is far from deserving any Answer; I submit it to the Determination of better Judgments; tho' my Partiality for Shakespeare makes me wish, that Every Thing which is good, or pleasing, in our Tongue, had been owing to his Pen.

As to the Performance of the respective Actors concern'd in this Play, my applauding It here would be altogether superfluous. The Publick has distinguish'd and given them a Praise, much beyond Any that can flow from my Pen. But I have some particular Acknowledgments to make to the Managers of this Company, for which I am glad to embrace so fair an Opportunity.

I came to Them at this Juncture as an Editor, not an Author, and have met with so much Candour, and handsome Treatment from Them, that I am willing to believe, the Complaint, which has so commonly obtain'd, of their Disregard and ill Behaviour to Writers, has been more severely urg'd, than it is justly grounded. They must certainly be too good Judges of their own Interest, not to know that a Theatre cannot always subsist on old Stock, but that the Town requires Novelty at their Hands. On the other Hand, they must be so far Judges of their own Art and Profession, as to know that all the Compositions, which are offer'd them, would never go down with Audiences of so nice and delicate a Taste, as in this Age frequent the Theatres. It would be very hard upon such a Community, where so many Interests are concern'd, and so much Merit in their Business allow'd, if they had not a Priviledge of refusing some crude Pieces, too imperfect for the Entertainment of the Publick I would not be thought to inferr, that they have never discourag'd what They might, perhaps, afterwards wish they had receiv'd. They do not, I believe, set up for such a Con- stant Infallibility. But if We do but fairly consider out of above Four Thousand Plays extant, how small a Number will now stand the Test: if We do but consider too, how often a raw Performance has been extoll'd by the Partiality of private Friendship; and what a Clamour of Injury has been rais'd from that Quarter, upon such Performance meeting a Repulse; we may pretty easily account for the Grounds upon which they proceeded in discountenancing some Plays, and the harsh Things that are thrown out upon their giving a Repulse to others.

But I should beg Pardon for interfering in this Question, in which I am properly neither Party, nor Judge. I am only throwing out a private Opinion, without Interest or Prejudice, and if I am right in the Notion, Valeat quantum valere potest.

Prologue

PROLOGUE.

Written by PHILIP FROWDE, Esq;

And Spoken by Mr. Wilks.

As in some Region, where indulgent Skies Enrich the Soil, a thousand Plants arise Frequent and bold; a thousand Landskips meet Our ravisht View, irregularly sweet: We gaze, divided, now on These, now Those; While All one beauteous Wilderness compose. Such Shakespeare's Genius was:——Let Bri­tons boast The glorious Birth, and, eager, strive who most Shall celebrate his Verse; for while we raise Trophies of Fame to him, ourselves we praise: Display the Talents of a British Mind, Where All is great, free, open, unconfin'd. Be it our Pride, to reach his daring Flight; And relish Beauties, he alone could write. Most modern Authors, fearful to aspire, With Imitation cramp their genial Fire; The well-schemed Plan keep strict before their Eyes, >>> Dwell on Proportions, trifling Decencies; While noble Nature all neglected lies. Nature, that claims Precedency of Place, Perfection's Basis, and essential Grace!

Nature so intimately Shakespeare knew, >>> From her first Springs his Sentiments he drew; Most greatly wild they flow; and, when most wild, yet true. While These, secure in what the Criticks teach, Of servile Laws still dread the dangerous Breach; His vast, unbounded, Soul disdain'd their Rule, Above the Precepts of the Pedant School! Oh! could the Bard, revisiting our Light, Receive these Honours done his Shade To-night, How would he bless the Scene this Age displays, Transcending his Eliza's golden Days! When great Augustus fills the British Throne, And his lov'd Consort makes the Muse her own. How would he joy, to see fair Merit's Claim Thus answer'd in his own reviving Fame! How cry with Pride——"Oblivion I forgive; "This my last Child to latest Times shall live: "Lost to the World, well for the Birth it stay'd; "To this auspicious Æra well delay'd.

Epilogue

EPILOGUE.

Written by a Friend.

Spoken by Mrs. OLDFIELD.

Well, Heaven defend us from these ancient Plays, These Moral Bards of good Queen Bess's Days! They write from Virtue's Laws, and think no further; But draw a Rape as dreadful as a Murther. You modern Wits, more deeply vers'd in Nature, >>> Can tip the wink, to tell us, you know better; As who shou'd say—Tis no such killing Matter—— "We've heard old Stories told, and yet ne'er wonder'd, "Of many a Prude, that has endur'd a Hundred: "And Violante grieves, or we're mistaken, "Not, because ravisht; but because—forsaken.— Had this been written to the modern Stage, Her Manners had been copy'd from the Age. Then, tho' she had been once a little wrong, She still had had the Grace to've held her Tongue; And after all, with downcast Looks, been led Like any Virgin to the Bridal Bed. There, if the good Man question'd her Mis-doing, She'd stop him short—"Pray, who made you so knowing? "What, doubt my Virtue!—What's your base Intention? "Sir, that's a Point above your Comprehension.——

Well, Heav'n be prais'd, the Virtue of our Times Secures us from our Gothick Grandsires Crimes. Rapes, Magick, new Opinions, which before Have fill'd our Chronicles, are now no more: And this reforming Age may justly boast, That dreadful Sin Polygamy is lost. So far from multiplying Wives, 'tis known Our Husbands find, they've Work enough with one.— Then, as for Rapes, those dangerous days are past; Our Dapper Sparks are seldom in such haste. In Shakespeare's Age the English Youth inspir'd, Lov'd, as they fought, by him and Beauty fir'd. 'Tis yours to crown the Bard, whose Magick Strain >>> Cou'd charm the Heroes of that glorious Reign, Which humbled to the Dust the Pride of Spain.

Dramatis Personæ

Dramatis Personæ.

SCENE, the Province of Andalusia in Spain.

Act I, Scene I.

DOUBLE FALSHOOD;

OR,

The DISTREST LOVERS.

ACT I. SCENE I.

SCENE, A Royal Palace.

Duke Angelo, Roderick, and Courtiers.

<>Roderick. M gracious Father, this unwonted Strain Visits my Heart with Sadness.

Duke. —— Why, my Son? Making my Death familiar to my Tongue Digs not my Grave one Jot before the Date. I've worn the Garland of my Honours long, And would not leave it wither'd to thy Brow, But flourishing and green; worthy the Man,

Who, with my Dukedoms, heirs my better Glories.

Roder. This Praise, which is my Pride, spreads me with Blushes.

Duke. Think not, that I can flatter thee, my Roderick; Or let the Scale of Love o'er-poize my Judgment. Like a fair Glass of Retrospection, Thou Reflect'st the Virtues of my early Youth; Making my old Blood mend its Pace with Transport: While fond Henriquez, thy irregular Brother, Sets the large Credit of his Name at Stake, A Truant to my Wishes, and his Birth. His Taints of Wildness hurt our nicer Honour, And call for swift Reclaim.

Roder. 8I trust, my Brother Will, by the Vantage of his cooler Wisdom, E'er-while redeem the hot Escapes of Youth, And court Opinion with a golden Conduct.

Duke. Be Thou a Prophet in that kind Suggestion! But I, by Fears weighing his unweigh'd Course, Interpret for the Future from the Past. And strange Misgivings, why he hath of late By Importunity, and strain'd Petition, Wrested our Leave of Absence from the Court, Awake Suspicion. Thou art inward with him; And, haply, from the bosom'd Trust can'st shape Some formal Cause to qualify my Doubts.

Roder. Why he hath press'd this Absence, Sir, I know not; But have his Letters of a modern Date, Wherein by Julio, good Camillos Son, (Who, as he says, shall follow hard upon; And whom I with the growing Hour expect:) He doth sollicit the Return of Gold To purchase certain Horse, that like him well. This Julio he encounter'd first in France, And lovingly commends him to my Favour; Wishing, I would detain him some few Days, To know the Value of his well-placed Trust.

Duke. O, do it, Roderick; and assay to mould him An honest Spy upon thy Brother's Riots. Make us acquainted when the Youth arrives; We'll see this Julio, and he shall from Us Receive the secret Loan his Friend requires. Bring him to Court.

Act I, Scene II.

SCENE II. Prospect of a Village at a Distance.

Enters Camillo with a Letter.

Cam. How comes the Duke to take such Notice of my Son, that he must needs have him in Court, and I must send him upon the View of his Letter?—Horsemanship! What Horsemanship has Julio? I think, he can no more but gallop a Hackney, unless he practised Riding in France. It may be, he did so; for he was there a good Continuance. But I have not heard him speak much of his Horsemanship. That's no Matter: if he be not a good Horseman, all's one in such a Case, he must bear. Princes are absolute; they may do what they will in any Thing, save what they cannot do.

Enters Julio.

O, come on, Sir; read this Paper: no more Ado, but read it: It must not be answer'd by my Hand, nor yours, but, in Gross, by your Person; your sole Person. Read aloud.

Jul. 'Please you, to let me first o'erlook it, Sir.

Cam. I was this other day in a Spleen against your new Suits: I do now think, some Fate was the Taylour that hath fitted them: for, this Hour, they are for the Palace of the Duke.—Your Father's House is too dusty.

Jul. Hem!—to Court? Which is the better, to serve a Mistress, or a Duke? I am sued to be his Slave, and I sue to be Leonoras.

Cam. You shall find your Horsemanship much praised there; Are you so good a Horseman?

Jul. I have been, E'er now, commended for my Seat, or mock'd.

Cam. Take one Commendation with another, every Third's a Mock.—Affect not therefore to be praised. Here's a deal of Command and Entreaty mixt; there's no denying; you must go, peremptorily he inforces That.

Jul. What Fortune soever my Going shall encounter, cannot be good Fortune; What I part withal unseasons any other Goodness.

Cam. You must needs go; he rather conjures, than importunes.

Jul. No moving of my Love-Suit to him now?—

Cam. Great Fortunes have grown out of less Grounds.

Jul. What may her Father think of me, who expects to be sollicited this very Night?

Cam. Those scatter'd Pieces of Virtue, which are in him, the Court will solder together, varnish, and rectify.

Jul. He will surely think I deal too slightly, or unmannerly, or foolishly, indeed; nay, dishonestly; to bear him in hand with my Father's Consent, who yet hath not been touch'd with so much as a Request to it.

Cam. Well, Sir, have you read it over?

Jul. Yes, Sir.

Cam. And consider'd it?

Jul. As I can.

Cam. If you are courted by good Fortune, you must go.

Jul. So it please You, Sir.

Cam. By any Means, and to morrow: Is it not there the Limit of his Request?

Jul. It is, Sir.

Cam. I must bethink me of some Necessaries, without which you might be unfurnish'd: And my Supplies shall at all Convenience follow You. Come to my Closet by and by; I would there speak with You.

Manet Julio solus.

Jul. I do not see that Fervour in the Maid, Which Youth and Love should kindle. She consents, As 'twere to feed without an Appetite; Tells me, She is content; and plays the Coy one, Like Those that subtly make their Words their Ward, Keeping Address at Distance. This Affection Is such a feign'd One, as will break untouch'd; Dye frosty, e'er it can be thaw'd; while mine, Like to a Clime beneath Hyperions Eye, Burns with one constant Heat. I'll strait go to her; Pray her to regard my Honour: but She greets me.—

Enter Leonora, and Maid.

See, how her Beauty doth inrich the Place! O, add the Musick of thy charming Tongue, Sweet as the Lark that wakens up the Morn, And make me think it Paradise indeed. I was about to seek thee, Leonora, And chide thy Coldness, Love.

Leon. 8What says your Father?

Jul. I have not mov'd him yet.

Leon. 8Then do not, Julio.

Jul. Not move him? Was it not your own Command, That his Consent should ratify our Loves?

Leon. Perhaps, it was: but now I've chang'd my Mind. You purchase at too dear a Rate, that puts You To wooe me and your Father too: Besides, As He, perchance, may say, you shall not have me; You, who are so obedient, must discharge me Out of your Fancy: Then, you know, 'twill prove My Shame and Sorrow, meeting such Repulse, To wear the Willow in my Prime of Youth.

Jul. Oh! do not rack me with these ill-placed Doubts; Nor think, tho' Age has in my Father's Breast Put out Love's Flame, he therefore has not Eyes, Or is in Judgment blind. You wrong your Beauties, Venus will frown if you disprize her Gifts, That have a Face would make a frozen Hermit Leap from his Cell, and burn his Beads to kiss it; Eyes, that are nothing but continual Births Of new Desires in Those that view their Beams. You cannot have a Cause to doubt.

Leon. 12Why, Julio? When you that dare not chuse without your Father, And, where you love, you dare not vouch it; must not, Though you have Eyes, see with 'em;—can I, think you, Somewhat, perhaps, infected with your Suit, Sit down content to say, You would, but dare not?

Jul. Urge not Suspicions of what cannot be; You deal unkindly; mis-becomingly, I'm loth to say: For All that waits on you, Is graced, and graces.——No Impediment Shall bar my Wishes, but such grave Delays As Reason presses Patience with; which blunt not, But rather whet our Loves. Be patient, Sweet.

Leon Patient! What else? My Flames are in the Flint. Haply, to lose a Husband I may weep; Never, to get One: When I cry for Bondage, Let Freedom quit me.

Jul. 8From what a Spirit comes This? I now perceive too plain, you care not for me. Duke, I obey thy Summons, be its Tenour Whate'er it will: If War, I come thy Souldier: Or if to waste my silken Hours at Court, The Slave of Fashion, I with willing Soul Embrace the lazy Banishment for Life; Since Leonora has pronounc'd my Doom.

Leon. What do you mean? Why talk you of the Duke? Wherefore of War, or Court, or Banishment?

Jul. How this new Note is grown of me, I know not; But the Duke writes for Me. Coming to move My Father in our Bus'ness, I did find him Reading this Letter; whose Contents require My instant Service, and Repair to Court.

Leon. Now I perceive the Birth of these Delays; Why Leonora was not worth your Suit. Repair to Court? Ay, there you shall, perhaps, (Rather, past Doubt;) behold some choicer Beauty, Rich in her Charms, train'd to the Arts of Soothing, Shall prompt you to a Spirit of Hardiness, To say, So please you, Father, I have chosen This Mistress for my own.——

Jul. 10Still you mistake me: Ever your Servant I profess my self; And will not blot me with a Change, for all That Sea and Land inherit.

Leon. But when go you?

Jul. To morrow, Love; so runs the Duke's Command; Stinting our Farewell-kisses, cutting off The Forms of Parting, and the Interchange Of thousand precious Vows, with Haste too rude. Lovers have Things of Moment to debate, More than a Prince, or dreaming Statesman, know: Such Ceremonies wait on Cupids Throne. Why heav'd that Sigh?

Leon. O Julio, let me whisper What, but for Parting, I should blush to tell thee: My Heart beats thick with Fears, lest the gay Scene, The Splendors of a Court, should from thy Breast Banish my Image, kill my Int'rest in thee, And I be left, the Scoff of Maids, to drop A Widow's Tear for thy departed Faith.

Jul. O let Assurance, strong as Words can bind, Tell thy pleas'd Soul, I will be wond'rous faithful; True, as the Sun is to his Race of Light, As Shade to Darkness, as Desire to Beauty: And when I swerve, let Wretchedness o'ertake me, Great as e'er Falshood met, or Change can merit.

Leon. Enough; I'm satisfied: and will remain Yours, with a firm and untir'd Constancy. Make not your Absence long: Old Men are wav'ring; And sway'd by Int'rest more than Promise giv'n. Should some fresh Offer start, when you're away, I may be prest to Something, which must put My Faith, or my Obedience, to the Rack.

Jul. Fear not, but I with swiftest Wing of Time Will labour my Return. And in my Absence, My noble Friend, and now our honour'd Guest, The Lord Henriquez, will in my behalf Hang at your Father's Ear, and with kind Hints, Pour'd from a friendly Tongue, secure my Claim; And play the Lover for thy absent Julio.

Leon. Is there no Instance of a Friend turn'd false? Take Heed of That: No Love by Proxy, Julio. My Father——

Enters Don Bernard.

D. Bern. What, Julio, in publick? This Wooeing is too urgent. Is your Father yet moved in the Suit, who must be the prime Unfolder of this Business?

Jul. I have not yet, indeed, at full possess'd My Father, whom it is my Service follows; But only that I have a Wife in Chase.

D. Bern. Chase!——Let Chase alone: No Matter for That.——You may halt after her, whom you profess to pursue, and catch her too; Marry, not unless your Father let you slip.——Briefly, I desire you, (for she tells me, my Instructions shall be both Eyes and Feet to her;) no farther to insist in your Requiring, 'till, as I have formerly said, Camillo make known to Me, that his good Liking goes along with Us; which but once breath'd, all is done; 'till when, the Business has no Life, and cannot find a Beginning.

Jul. Sir, I will know his Mind, e'er I taste Sleep: At Morn, you shall be learn'd in his Desire. I take my Leave.——O virtuous Leonora, Repose, sweet as thy Beauties, seal thy Eyes; Once more, adieu. I have thy Promise, Love; Remember, and be faithful.

D. Bern. His Father is as unsettled, as he is wayward, in his Disposition. If I thought young Julios Temper were not mended by the Mettal of his Mother, I should be something crazy in giving my Consent to this Match: And, to tell you true, if my Eyes might be the Directors to your Mind, I could in this Town look upon Twenty Men of more delicate Choice. I speak not This altogether to unbend your Affections to him: But the Meaning of what I say is, that you set such Price upon yourself to him, as Many, and much his Betters, would buy you at; (and reckon those Virtues in you at the rate of their Scarcity;) to which if he come not up, you remain for a better Mart.

Leon. My Obedience, Sir, is chain'd to your Advice.

D. Bern. 'Tis well said, and wisely. I fear, your Lover is a little Folly-tainted; which, shortly after it proves so, you will repent.

Leon. Sir, I confess, I approve him of all the Men I know; but that Approbation is nothing, 'till season'd by your Consent.

D. Bern. We shall hear soon what his Father will do, and so proceed accordingly. I have no great Heart to the Business, neither will I with any Violence op- pose it: But leave it to that Power which rules in these Conjunctions, and there's an End. Come; haste We homeward, Girl.

Act I, Scene III.

SCENE III.

Enter Henriquez, and Servants with Lights.

Henr. Bear the Lights close:——Where is the Musick, Sirs?

Serv. Coming, my Lord.

Henr. Let 'em not come too near. This Maid, For whom my Sighs ride on the Night's chill Vapour, Is born most humbly, tho' she be as fair As Nature's richest Mould and Skill can make her, Mended with strong Imagination. But what of That? Th' Obscureness of her Birth Cannot eclipse the Lustre of her Eyes, Which make her all One Light.——Strike up, my Masters; But touch the Strings with a religious Softness; Teach Sound to languish thro' the Night's dull Ear, 'Till Melancholy start from her lazy Couch, And Carelessness grow Convert to Attention.

She drives me into Wonder, when I sometimes Hear her discourse; The Court, whereof Report, And Guess alone inform her, she will rave at, As if she there sev'n Reigns had slander'd Time. Then, when she reasons on her Country State, Health, Virtue, Plainness, and Simplicity, On Beauties true in Title, scorning Art, Freedom as well to do, as think, what's good; My Heart grows sick of Birth and empty Rank, And I become a Villager in Wish. Play on;——She sleeps too sound:——Be still, and vanish:

A Gleam of Day breaks sudden from her Window: O Taper, graced by that midnight Hand!

<>Violante appears above at her Window.

Viol. Who is't, that wooes at this late Hour? What are you?

Henr. One, who for your dear Sake——

Viol. Watches the starless Night! My Lord Henriquez, or my Ear deceives me. You've had my Answer, and 'tis more than strange You'll combat these Repulses. Good my Lord, Be Friend to your own Health; and give me Leave, Securing my poor Fame, nothing to pity What Pangs you swear you suffer. 'Tis impossible To plant your choice Affections in my Shade, At least, for them to grow there.

Henr. 10Why, Violante?

Viol. Alas! Sir, there are Reasons numberless To bar your Aims. Be warn'd to Hours more wholesom; For, These you watch in vain. I have read Stories, (I fear, too true ones;) how young Lords, like you, Have thus besung mean Windows, rhymed their Sufferings Ev'n to th'Abuse of Things Divine, set up Plain Girls, like me, the Idols of their Worship, Then left them to bewail their easie Faith, And stand the World's Contempt.

Henr. 10Your Memory, Too faithful to the Wrongs of few lost Maids, Makes Fear too general.

Viol. 8Let us be homely, And let us too be chast, doing you Lords no Wrong; But crediting your Oaths with such a Spirit, As you profess them: so no Party trusted Shall make a losing Bargain. Home, my Lord, What you can say, is most unseasonable; what sing, Most absonant and harsh: Nay, your Perfume, Which I smell hither, cheers not my Sense Like our Field-violet's Breath.

Henr. 10Why, this Dismission Does more invite my Staying.

Viol. 10Men of your Temper Make ev'ry Thing their Bramble. But I wrong That which I am preserving, my Maid's Name, To hold so long Discourse. Your Virtues guide you T'effect some nobler Purpose!

Henr. Stay, bright Maid! Come back, and leave me with a fairer Hope. She's gone:——Who am I, that am thus contemn'd? The second Son to a Prince?——Yes; well; What then? Why, your great Birth forbids you to descend To a low Alliance:——Her's is the self-same Stuff, Whereof we Dukes are made; but Clay more pure! And take away my Title, which is acquir'd Not by my self, but thrown by Fortune on Me, Or by the Merit of some Ancestour Of singular Quality, She doth inherit Deserts t'outweigh me.—I must stoop to gain her; Throw all my gay Comparisons aside, And turn my proud Additions out of Service, Rather than keep them to become my Masters.

The Dignities we wear, are Gifts of Pride; And laugh'd at by the Wise, as meer Outside.

End of the First Act.

Act II, Scene I.

ACT II. SCENE I.

SCENE, The Prospect of a Village.

Enter Fabian and Lopez; Henriquez on the Opposite Side.

S soft you, Neighbour; who comes here? Pray you, slink aside.

Henr. Ha! Is it come to this? Oh the Devil, the Devil, the Devil!

Fab. Lo you now! for Want of the discreet Ladle of a cool Understanding, will this Fellow's Brains boil over.

Henr. To have enjoy'd her, I would have given—What? All that at present I could boast my own, And the Reversion of the World to boot, Had the Inheritance been mine:——And now, (Just Doom of guilty Joys!) I grieve as much That I have rifled all the Stores of Beauty, Those Charms of Innocence and artless Love, As just before I was devour'd with Sorrow, That she refus'd my Vows, and shut the Door Upon my ardent Longings.

Lop. Love! Love!——Downright Love! I see by the Foolishness of it.

Henr. Now then to Recollection——Was't not so? A Promise first of Marriage——Not a Promise only, for 'twas bound with Surety of a thousand Oaths;——and those not light ones neither.——Yet I remember too, those Oaths could not prevail; th' unpractis'd Maid trembled to meet my Love: By Force alone I snatch'd th' imperfect Joy, which now torments my Memory. Not Love, but brutal Violence prevail'd; to which the Time, and Place, and Opportunity, were Accessaries most dishonourable. Shame, Shame upon it!

Fab. What a Heap of Stuff's this—I fancy, this Fellow's Head would make a good Pedlar's Pack, Neighbour.

Henr. Hold, let me be severe to my Self, but not unjust.——Was it a Rape then? No. Her Shrieks, her Exclamations then had drove me from her. True, she did not consent; as true, she did resist; but still in Silence all.——'Twas but the Coyness of a modest Bride, not the Resentment of a ravisht Maid. And is the Man yet born, who would not risque the Guilt, to meet the Joy?——The Guilt! that's true——but then the Danger; the Tears, the Clamours of the ruin'd Maid, pursuing me to Court. That, that, I fear will (as it already does my Conscience) something shatter my Honour. What's to be done? But now I have no Choice. Fair Leonora reigns confest the Tyrant Queen of my revolted Heart, and Violante seems a short Usurper there.——Julios already by my Arts remov'd.——O Friendship, how wilt thou answer That? Oh, that a Man could reason down this Feaver of the Blood, or sooth with Words the Tumult in his Heart! Then, Julio, I might be, indeed, thy Friend. They, they only should condemn me, who born devoid of Passion ne'er have prov'd the fierce Disputes 'twixt Virtue and Desire. While they, who have, like me, The loose Escapes of youthful Nature known. Must wink at mine, indulgent to their own.

Lop. This Man is certainly mad, and may be mischievous. Pr'ythee, Neighbour, let's follow him; but at some Distance, for fear of the worst.

Act II, Scene II.

SCENE II. An Apartment.

Enters Violante alone.

Viol. Whom shall I look upon without a Blush? There's not a Maid, whose Eye with Virgin Gaze Pierces not to my Guilt. What will't avail me, To say I was not willing; Nothing; but that I publish my Dishonour, And wound my Fame anew.——O Misery, To seem to all one's Neighbours rich, yet know One's Self necessitous and wretched.