University of Virginia Library

ACT III.

SCENE I.

The Castle of Phasia.
Enter Homais alone.
Hom.
He Sleeps as sound, as if he never were
To wake again, now cou'd one ask him, what
Avails his Prisons, Spies, and Jealousies,
Wou'd he not say, a Woman's Wit
Had made them fruitless all—
Strickt silence fills the Lodgings, the Musick's placed,
The Banquet's ready, and I more so than all,
Will he not come, 'tis a long Parly:
Methinks on such a Summons, he shou'd grow
Fond of a Surrender; but hence be gone
These Melancholy Doubts that loads my Thoughts,
And turns them into Fears; the Fantoms
Cannot stand, the day break off my Eyes;
Ay, see they fly before this Lovely Face,
[Looks in her Glass.
My Hopes glow in my Cheeks and speak my Joy,
My Eyes take fire at their own Luster, and
All my Charms receive addition from themselves,
Pleas'd at their own Perfection.

Enter Acmat.
Acm.
The Prince is coming, he follows hard
Upon the Scent, and soon the Royal Hunter
Will press on to find your Charms at bay,
He seems disgusted at the Princess;
You have a Nobler Game to play,
Let him not find you Vicious, and his Throne
And Bed are surely yours for ever.

Hom.
[Musick flourish.
[Goes in.

Song and Musick, set by Mr. Eccles, and Sung by Mrs. Levercidge.

Enter Levan and Ismael.
Lev.
Since I have enter'd this Inchanted Palace,
And trod the ground where Homais dwells,
Methinks I walk in Clouds, and breath the Air of Love;
There's not a Strain the Musick gave,
But melted part of my Resolves.
Where's the Protector, my sinking Vertue
Needs a Prop, it staggers far, and much I
Doubt, will never recollect again.

Ism.
No matter, let the painted Idol fall,
A Tomb so rich, as Homais's Arms,
Wou'd make one fond of Fate—Look back to Ages
Past, and say what Heroe thought not Love his
Richest Purchase, that gave their Swords the
Keenest edge, and sent them round the Universe,
To hunt Applause from the fair Mouth of some
Exalted Charmer.

Lev.
You speak of lawful Loves, were mine but such,
I'de gladly lose the Rank of Kings, yet find
More Joys than ever circled in a Monarch's Crown;
But Incest shocks my Nature, blisters my
Tongue, and carries Venome in it—Avant,
Be gone, and do not crowd my Thoughts, I'de tear
My Reason from its center, e're that shou'd
Make it giddy; Divorce my Body from
Its Life, rather than wallow in such Mud;
And yet the gathering Cloud, looks monstrous black,
Shou'd it once burst, 'twou'd surely scatter Fate.

Ism.
For shame, bely not thus our Sexes Courage,
Forgive me, Sir, I'm zealous for your Joys,
I'le fetch the Princess's Eyes, and try, if they'l
Not make you blush your Cowardise away.

[Goes in, and returns with Homais.
Lev.
By Heav'n, a greater Miracle than Heav'n can show,
Not the bright Empress of the Sky
Can boast such Majesty, no Artist cou'd
Define such Beauty, see how the dazling
Form gives on, she cuts the yielding Air, and
Fills the space with Glory, Respect shou'd carry
Me to Hers, but Admiration here has
Fixt my Feet unable to remove.

Hom.
Where shall I turn my guilty Eyes—
O! I cou'd call on Mountains now to sink my Shame,
Or hide me in the clefts of untry'd Rocks,
Where roaring Billows shou'd outbeat Remembrance.
Love which gave Courage, till the Trial came,
That led me on to this Extravagance,
Proves much more Coward than the Heart he fills,
And like false Friends in this Extremity,
Thrusts me all Naked on to meet a Foe.
Whose sight I have not Courage to abide.

[Leans on Ismael, and bolds her Handkerchief to her Face.
Lev.
Permit me, take this envious Cloud away,
That I may gaze on all the Wonders there;
O do not close those Beautious Eyes, unless
Indeed you think, there's nothing here deserves
Their shining.

Hom.
The Light in yours, Eclipses mine,
See they wink, and cannot bear your luster;
O, cou'd I blush my Shame away, then I
Wou'd say your Charms out-go my Wishes,
And I'm undone by too much Excellence.

Lev.
As Strangers, a Salute is due, were the
Protector here, he'd not refuse it.
'Tis Extasie and more—What have I done!
Her Heart beats at her Lips, and mine flies up
To meet it; see the Roses fade, her swimming
Eyes give less'ning Light, and now they dart no more:
She faints, by Heav'n, I've caught the Poyson
Too, and grow unable to support her.

[She sinks down in a Chair, he falls at her Feet.
Acm.
He's caught, as surely as we Live,
Her Eyes have truer Magick, than a Phylter.
We'll not intrude into a Monarch's Secrets,
The God of Love himself is painted Blind;
To teach all other Eyes they shou'd be vail'd
Upon his Sacred Misteries.

[Shuts the Scene.
Ism.
Whilst we were gaining of the Castle gates,
He shew'd such fits and starts of Noble Temper,
So much his Vertue strove to mount desire,
That had I not bin there, the Holy Part
Had surely Conquer'd.

Acm.
The Musick speaks, the Princesses approach.

[Musick.
Ism.
Let us withdraw, and leave her to her Fate;
The Visier, taught by me, will on the first
Fair Minute, tempt her ruin; pity indeed,
Such Innocence shou'd fall, but Interest
Is a state much unacquainted with remorse.

[Ex. omnes.
Enter Selima alone.
Sel.
I have gain'd this place before them;
Now if the fatal Letter ben't a Lyar, the
Guilty Pair will take advantage of our
Absence, and here employ swift time to the
Worst Mischief, but shou'd I find it once,
(For on surmise I never will condemn him)
My Lord and I must part for evermore.
They come—here I'le abscond me for the time;
In Love all Stratagems are lawful,
That serves to show, if what we Love deserves it.

[Absconds.
Enter the Princess Bassima, led by the Visier.
Osm.
Yet e're your Majesty removes,
Be pleas'd to hear your wretched Lover speak,
O do not turn that gracious Form away.
There is no Spark of Ill attends my Flame,
Refin'd by you, it lives without desire;
Permission to explore my Wants, and tell
My ungiving Goddess, I adore her,
Cruel, discourteous, tho' she be, is the
Extent of my Petition.

Bass.
Do you not know that I am fond of Glory?
Am born a Noble, Vertuous Princess,
Just Married to a Royal-Husband,
Whose Love and yours admit of no compare;
His like a lawful Household Flame, design'd
For Use, not Mischief; gives moderate
Warmth, and wholsome Heat; yours scorns the narrow
Bounds, and soars aloft, where e're it touches
It Consumes; with sure Destruction seizes
All the Fabrick, lays waste the noble Pile,
And of a goodly Building, makes an Heap of Ashes.

Osm.
No, let the Urn be only fill'd with mine;
To those incendiary Eyes I'le offer
Up their long'd for Sacrifice:
No more will I offend your happy Lord,
Your Royal Birth—nor Idol Honour—
The Count's too large for my low state
To Reckon with—
This Hour I take me from your Eyes,
Never to see 'em more—
Nor will I ask the Tribute of your Tears,
Tho' so severe a Fate might well deserve it:
So true a Love, so Innocent a Flame;
A Heart, which scorn'd by you—
Disdains its Native Seat—
Loaths the Anxiety it finds within,
And tempts me beyond Life, to seek a better,
Where no remembrance of your Scorn intrudes;
For when the sick'ning Soul once takes her flight,
Once rests her Wings on that Eternal Night,
She bids an Everlasting, long adieu
To all the World, and all she valu'd too.

Bass.
First stay, and hear a Wretch, more such than you,
[Going.
Methinks thus taught, I grow in love with Fate,
And long to share in yours—But I shou'd speak
No more, since speaking is a Crime—Go then,
And leave me here to weep a Loss, that
Will be truly mine.

Osm.
Rich Tears! What Power lies in those falling drops?
They rivit me more fast than thousand Chains,
And makes that Fate, which now appear'd so fair,
Compar'd with that rich Life which you can give,
Horrid, Deform'd, and Shocant;
Such as my happier state would most avoid,
Fit only to deceive despairing Mortals;
Whose bitter Cups are brim full, running o're
With the soft flatt'ring Tale, of lasting Rest
From Pain, and thought of Pain.

Bass.
'Tis I then that should seek that Land of Ease,
For I am all which you have nam'd,
Wretched, Forlorn, and desperate: O thou
Eternal Power, that first made Fate;
If I have sin'd, 'twas by your own Decree:
Why send you Passions, of Desire and Joy,
And then Command those Passions to destroy;
When long foreseeing that we can't do so,
Doom us Rewards of everlasting Woe?
Where's then the kindness to their likeness shown,
Cast in a Form, they vainly call their own?
Fond Ignorance, for they are all Divine,
Exempt from what unhappy Mortals fear;
Nor can their Beings fail, like those who wander here:
Hence then, thou false receiv'd Belief, be gone,
And let us see, we're like our selves alone.

Osm.
Who gives my Princess Grief?

Bass.
You, only you.
The Earth's united Hatred could not harm
Me, equal to your Kindness; it strikes at
Innocense and Fame, and lays, my Vertue
Levels with the vilest,
Makes Marriage an uneasie Bondage,
And the Embraces of my Lord, a loathsom
Pennance; what wou'd you more, the time is come
That I must speak, to make my Ruin certain,
Like some Prophetick Priestess, full of the
God that rends her, must breath the baleful
Oracle, or burst: My crowding Stars just
Now appear to sight, and dart upon me
With malignant Influence; nor can my
Reason stop the dictates of my Heart;
They Eccho from my Mouth in sounds of Love,
But such a Love as never Woman knew:
'Twas sur'ly given by Fate, I would have said,
From Heaven, but that inspires but good,
And this is surely none.

Osm.
The good is all to come, the ill is past;
Believe me, Madam, I who feel the Change,
The Happy turn, your kind complaint has brought,
Tho' I before, thought Life a worthless Rag,
A Garment of too vile a price to wear,
Wou'd not now change it for a Monarch's state.

Bass.
You draw too nigh—
For fenc't about with Chastity and Glory,
Which like a Magick Circle shall enfold me:
You must not hope to pass the sacred round,
Lest sure Destruction prove our Lot for ever.

Osm.
One splendid Day o're-rates a scanty Age,
Who would not be ten Thousand Years a Wretch,
To be one Hour a God!—So great a Blessing
As your Love, was never meant a Curse;
Or if it were, who would not be for ever
Curst, to be but once so blest.

Bass.
You like a Lover entertain your Fancy;
But I have still the fatal Land in view,
Where Death of Honour waits on that of Life.
Now let us part, lest we should meet on that;
See, at your Feet I beg for Life and Fame:
Nay, do not interrupt me, I'le not rise,
Cou'd I have found Relief from Heaven, or hence,
[Pointing to her breast.
I had not kneel'd to you;
My inauspicious Fate comes fast upon me.
You, only you, can stop its headlong Course:
I charge you then, by Honour, Glory, Fame,
By Love, the mighty God that now torments me,
You yield me not, a sinful Slave, to Death;
Torn in my Conscience, mangled in my Vertue;
But fly from hence, never to see me more;
Or should you stay, dare not to meet my Eyes
With yours, those tell-tales of your Passion,
Lest I break rudely from my Husband's Arms,
And fly to Death in yours.

Osm.
Can that be Death to you, which gives me Life?
Now whilst I raise your Beauties from the Ground,
I feel such Joys as Life knew not before.
O! How can I, in one short moment,
Lavish the Treasure of my Life away,
At least allow me time for my undoing,
For Death or Life were a more equal Choice.
Permit me, to attend you to the Prince,
And in your Ev'ning Walk I'le wait you
With my last Resolves.

Bass.
See they agree with mine,
And then in spight of Love, or Stars, or Fate,
We will be guiltless, tho Unfortunate.

[Exeunt.
Re-enter Selima.
Sel.
Ah Syren, how she Sings my Lord to ruin;
Ah Visier, am I thus repaid, I made
Thy Fortune, but I cou'd not make thee Love:
But oh my wrongs shou'd not admit Reflection,
Revenge and Jealousie are enter'd here,
They spread their Sails, and must my Fortunes steer.

[Exit.
SCENE draws, and discovers Levan and Homais, Ismael and Acmat, in waiting.
Lev.
Where has this Moments transport led me,
To Joys untold, unprov'd, unthought till now?
Thou Goddess, who has taught me best to Love,
Receive my Thanks, for thy enlightning Power,
Nor is there any due to my past Vertue,
What Praise to stand, when no Temptation's near?
No sooner had this Sun shone with full force,
But that it burst the brittle Toy to pieces.
Honour and Justice are low sounds, can scarce
Be heard, when Love is named—
Where's the Protector? I'le wait him on my Knees,
And since he has not enjoy'd, urge him by all
The Love he bears me, by that he Swore, my
Dying Father, when to his Care he gave
The Royal Trust, to bless my Youth,
With what can never fit his Age.

Ism.
His Grant will in conjunction meet your
Other Stars, for e're swift time has slipt o're
Many Hours, you shall have Proof so plain.
Of Bassimas's Injustice, that you shall think
It none to part with her for ever,
And with this brighter Constellation fill her room.

Acm.
The Princess waits you at the Banquet,
When she returns, my Royal Mistress,
If she pleases, must attend her, and e're
Next rising Phœbus walks his Cirque,
Your Joys shall be as Lawful, as they're Great.

Hom.
Impossible, for I've Embrac'd a God,
No Mortal Sence can guess his Excellence,
Where the Divine Impress has bin,
A pleasing trickling cools through all my Veins,
And tempers into Love, what else would be
Distraction.

A Dance, Performed by Indians.
Lev.
I minded not the Sports, you only fill
My Sight, how cou'd I chuse but doat,
Where Gratitude and Merit meet, to Grace
Each other; one draws my Heart, the other
Charms my Reason.

Hom.
Shew to the Banquet.

Lev.
In vain I go,
Love has reduced my Senses all to one.
And I can feast, on nothing else but you.

[Exeunt Omnes.