Innocence Betray'd : or, the Royal Impostor A Dramatic Entertainment, of two acts |
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| 2. | SCENE II. |
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 | Innocence Betray'd : or, the Royal Impostor |  |
SCENE II.
Scene draws, and discovers Eudosia sitting at a Table, with a Book in her Hand, and Lucia attending by her. She reads part of a Poem against Sensual Pleasures.
Mistaken
Man! Is this the fansy'd all,
The tinsell'd Nothing, that we Pleasure call?
Oh shameful Barbarism! No Figure can excuse
The vile Absurdity, the gross Abuse.
Pleasure is only proper to the Soul,
That can our misled Faculties controul.
Ah! Could we but with searching Knowledge come
Into some quiet Soul's Withdrawing-Room!
Content, hem'd round with Joys, we there might find:
Content, the celebrated Sabbath of the Mind.
[Eudosia shuts the Book, and rises.
The tinsell'd Nothing, that we Pleasure call?
Oh shameful Barbarism! No Figure can excuse
The vile Absurdity, the gross Abuse.
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That can our misled Faculties controul.
Ah! Could we but with searching Knowledge come
Into some quiet Soul's Withdrawing-Room!
Content, hem'd round with Joys, we there might find:
Content, the celebrated Sabbath of the Mind.
With what a Lustre must that Virgin shine,
The Objects of whose Thoughts are all divine!
Whose free-born Soul does like the Eagle rise,
And whilst on Earth converses with the Skies.
The Objects of whose Thoughts are all divine!
Whose free-born Soul does like the Eagle rise,
And whilst on Earth converses with the Skies.
Luc.
Madam, to Heav'n I own Devotion's due;
But no cold Vestal ever liv'd like you.
In Contemplation your whole Time is spent:
The Bow, methinks, should sometimes be unbent.
Some little Pleasures the kind Gods approve,
And Heav'n's great Queen obeys the Calls of Love.
Venus would court Adonis to her Arms,
And the chast Moon confess Endymion's Charms.
Why then should you such licens'd Joys despise,
And look on Manlius with such scornful Eyes?
Eud.
Lucia, thy ill-tim'd Arguments forbear;
Thou know'st his Name's ungrateful to my Ear.
Sure thou'rt instructed, hast receiv'd a Fee,
To prove an Advocate for him with me.
But all in vain; for I shall ever prove
Cold as a Statue to his ardent Love,
Luc.
Pardon me, Madam, I'd no other View
In the Proposal, but my Zeal for you.
His Wealth and Grandeur would melt me, I own:
I couldn't scorn a Lover with a Crown.
Eud.
Scepters and Crowns, 'tis true, are dazzling Things!
But anxious Cares attend the best of Kings.
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Nor can a Monarch call one Day his own.
In my Opinion, happier is the Swain,
That daily labours on the verdant Plain,
Where Nature's Landscapes only charm his Sight.
With all her unexpensive, green Delight.
As for my Part, tho' Fate has rais'd me high,
In pleasing Solitude I'll live and die:
To Heav'n alone devote my future Days;
And sing, whilst I have Life, Diana's Praise.
[Eudosia sits down to her Book again. Clodio knocks at the outward Door.
Eud.
Lucia, step down, and see who knocks below.
[Lucia goes out. And returns again.
Luc.
'Tis Clodio, Madam, come to wait on you.
Eud.
Well, let him up. (Lucia goes out.)
What would the Prattler have?
The Play-Things which I promis'd him, I gave.
| Innocence Betray'd : or, the Royal Impostor | |