University of Virginia Library

ACT II.

The Scene is a Poetical Hell. The Change is Total. The Upper part of the House, as well as the Side Scenes. There is the Figure of Prometheus chain'd to a Rock, the Vulture gnawing his Liver. Sisiphus rowling the Stone, the Belides, &c. beyond, abundance of Figures in various Torments. Then a great Arch of Fire. Behind this Three Pyramids of Flames in perpetual agitation. Beyond this, glowing Fire which terminates the Prospect.
Pluto, the Furies, with Alecto, Democracy and Zelota.
Plut.
Infernal Offspring of the Night,
Debarr'd of Heav'n your Native right,
And from the glorious Fields of Light,
Condemn'd in shades to dragg the Chain,
And fill with groans the gloomy Plain;
Since Pleasures here are none below,
Be ill our good, our joy be Woe;
Our Work t'embroil the Worlds above,
Disturb their Union, disunite their Love,
And blast the Beautious frame of our Victorious Foe.

Democ. and Zelot.
together.
Oh thou for whom those Worlds are made,
Thou Sire of all things and their end,
From hence they spring, and when they fade
In Shuffled Heaps they hither tend;
Here Humane Souls receive their Breath,
And wait for Bodies after Death.

Democ.
Hear our Complaint and grant our Pray'r.

Pluto.
Speak what you are,
And whence you fell?

Democ.
I am thy first begotten care,
Conceiv'd in Heav'n; but born in Hell,
When Thou didst bravely undertake in fight
Yon Arbitrary Pow'r,
That rules by Soveraign might,
To set thy Heav'n-born fellows free
And leave no difference in Degree,
In that Auspicious Hour
Was I begot by Thee.

Zelota.
One Mother bore us at a Birth,
Her Name was Zeal before she fell;
No fairer Nymph in Heav'n or Earth
Till Saintship taught her to rebel:
But loosing Fame
And changing Name
She's now the Good Old Cause in Hell.

Plut.
Dear Pledges of a Flame not yet forgot,
Say, what on Earth has been your lot?

Dem. and Zel.
The Wealth of Albion's Isle was ours,
Augusta stoopt with all her stately Towr's!

Dem.
Democracy kept Nobles under.

Zel.
Zeal from the Pulpit roar'd like Thunder.

Dem.
I trampled on the State.

Zel.
I lorded o're the Gown.

Dem. and Zel.
We both in Triumph sate
Usurpers of the Crown.
But oh Prodigious turn of Fate!
Heaven controuling,
Sent us rowling, rowling, down.

Plut.
I wonder'd how of late our Acherontique shore
Grew thin, and Hell unpeople'd of her Store;
Charon for want of Use forgot his Oar.
The Souls of Bodies Dead flew all Sublime,
And hither none return'd to purge a Crime:
But now I see since Albion is restor'd,
Death has no Bus'ness, nor the vengeful Sword.
'Tis too too much that here I ly
From glorious Empire hurl'd;
By Jove excluded from the Sky,
By Albion from the World.

Dem.
Were Common-Wealth restor'd again,
Thou should'st have Millions of the slain
To fill thy dark abode.

Zel.
For He a Race of Rebels sends,
And Zeal the Path of Heav'n pretends;
But still mistakes the rode.

Pluto.
My lab'ring thought
At length hath wrought
A bravely bold design,
In which you both shall joyn;
In borrow'd shapes to Earth return;
Thou Common-wealth, a Patriot seem,
Thou Zeal, like true Religion burn,
To gain the giddy Crowds Esteem.
Alecto, thou to fair Augusta go,
And all thy Snakes into her Bosom throw.

Dem.
Spare some to fling
Where they may sting
The Breast of Albion's King.

Zel.
Let Jealousies so well be mixt,
That great Albanius be unfixt!

Pluto.
Forbear your vain Attempts, forbear;
Hell can have no admittance there:
The Peoples fear will serve as well,
Make him suspected, them Rebel.

Zel.
Y'have all forgot
To forge a Plot
In seeming Care of Albion's Life;
Inspire the Crowd
With Clamours loud
T'involve his Brother and his Wife.

Alecto.
Take of a Thousand Souls at thy Command,
The basest, blackest of the Stygian band:
One that will Swear to all they can invent,
So throughly Damn'd that he can n'er repent:
One often sent to Earth,
And still at every Birth
He took a deeper stain:
One that in Adam's time was Cain:
One that was burnt in Sodom's flame,
For Crimes ev'n here too black to name:
One, who through every form of ill has run:
One who in Naboth's days was Belial's Son:
One who has gain'd a Body fit for Sin;
Where all his Crimes
Of former Times
Lie Crowded in a Skin.

Pluto.
Take him;
Make him
What you please;
For He
Can be
A Rogue with ease.
One for mighty Mischief Born:
He can Swear and be Forsworn.

Pluto and Alecto
take him, &c.
Take him, make him what you please;
For He can be a Rogue with ease.

Pluto.
Let us laugh, let us laugh, let us laugh at our Woes,
The Wretch that is damn'd has nothing to lose.
Yee Furies advance
With the Ghosts in a Dance,
'Tis a Jubilee here when the World is in trouble:
When People rebel
VVee frolick in Hell;
A single Entry of a Devil follow'd by an Entry of 12 Devils.
But when the King falls, the pleasure is double:

Chorus.
Let us laugh, let us laugh, let us laugh at our VVoes,
The VVretch that is damn'd hath nothing to lose.

The Scene changes to a Prospect taken from the middle of the Thames; one side of it begins at York-Stairs, thence to VVhite-Hall, and the Mill-Bank, &c. The other from the Saw-Mill, thence to the Bishop's Palace, and on as far as can be seen in a clear Day.
Enter Augusta; She has a Snake in her Bosom, hanging down.
Aug.
O jealousy, Thou raging ill,
Why hast thou found a Room in Lovers Hearts,
Afflicting what thou can'st not kill,
And Poysoning Love himself, with his own Darts?
I find my Albion's Heart is gone,
My first offences yet remain,
Nor can repentance Love regain;
One writ in Sand, alas, in Marble one.
I rave, I rave, my Spirits boyl
Like flames encreas'd and mounting high with pou'ring Oyl:
Disdain and Love succeed by turns;
One freezes me, and t'other burns; It burns.
Away soft Love, Thou Foe to rest,
Give Hate the full possession of my Breast.
Hate is the nobler passion far
VVhen Love is ill repay'd;
For at one blow it ends the VVar,
And Cures the Love-sick Maid.

Enter Democracy and Zelota; one represents a Patriot, the other Religion.
Dem.
Let not thy generous passion wast its rage,
But once again restore our golden Age;
Still to weep and to complain,
Does but more provoke disdain.
Let publick good,
Inflame thy Blood;
VVith Crowds of VVarlike People thou art stor'd,
And heaps of Gold;
Reject thy old,
And to thy Bed receive another Lord.

Zel.
Religion shall thy Bonds release,
For Heav'n can loose, as well as tie all;
And when 'tis for the Nations peace
A King is but a King on Tryal;
VVhen Love is lost, let Marriage end,
And leave a Husband for a Friend.

Dem.
VVith Jealousy swarming
The People are Arming
And frights of oppression invade 'em.

Zelot.
If they fall to relenting,
For fear of repenting,
Religion shall help to perswade 'em.

Aug.
No more, no more Temptations use
To bend my VVill;
How hard a task 'tis to refuse
A pleasing ill?

Dem.
Maintain the seeming duty of a VVife,
A modest show will jealous Eyes deceive,
Affect a fear for hated Albion's Life,
And for imaginary Dangers grieve.

Zelot.
His Foes already stand protected,
His Friends by publick Fame suspected,
Albanius must forsake his Isle:
A Plot Contriv'd in happy hour
Bereaves him of his Royal Pow'r,
For Heav'n to mourn and Hell to smile.

The former Scene continues.
Enter Albion and Albanius with a Train.

Mercury descends.
Merc.
With pity Jove beholds thy State,
But Jove is circumscrib'd by Fate;
Th'o'erwhelming Tide rowls on so fast,
It gains upon this Islands wast:
And is oppos'd too late! too late!

Albion.
What then must helpless Albion do?

Merc.
Delude the fury of the Foe,
And to preserve Albanius, let him go;
For 'tis decreed,
Thy Land must bleed,
For Crimes not thine, by wrathful Jove;
A Sacred Flood
of Royal Blood,
Cries Vengeance, Vengeance lowd above.

Mercury ascends.
Albion.
Shall I, t'asswage
Their Brutal rage,
The Regal stem destroy;
Or must I lose,
(To please my Foes,)
My sole remaining joy?
Yee God's what worse,
What greater Curse,
Can all your Wrath employ?

Alban.
Oh Albion! hear the Gods and me!
Well, am I lost in saving Thee.
Not exile or danger can fright a brave Spirit
With Innocence guarded,
With Vertue rewarded;
I make of my sufferings a Merit.

Albion.
Since then the Gods, and Thou wilt have it so;
Go: (can I live once more to bid Thee?) go,
Where thy Misfortunes call Thee and thy Fate:
Go, guiltless Victim of a guilty State,
In War my Champion to defend,
In peaceful Hours, when Souls unbend,
My Brother, and what's more my Friend!
Born where the Foamy Billows roar,
On Seas less Dang'rous than the Shoar:
Go, where the Gods thy Refuge have assign'd:
Go from my sight; but never from my Mind.

Alban.
Whatever Hospitable ground
shall be for me, unhappy Exile, found,
Till Heav'n vouchsafe to smile;
What Land so e're,
Tho' none so dear,
As this ungrateful Isle;
O think! O think! no distance can remove
My vow'd Allegiance, and my Loyal Love.

Albion. and Alban.
The Rosy finger'd Morn appears,
And from her Mantle shakes her Tears,
In promise of a glorious Day:
The Sun, returning, Mortals chears,
And drives the Rising Mists away,
In promise of a glorious Day.

[Ritornelle.
The farther part of the Heaven opens and discovers a Machine; as it moves forwards the Clouds which are before it divide, and shew the Person of Apollo, holding the Reins in his hand. As they fall lower, the Horses appear with the Rays and a great glory about Apollo.
Apoll.

Neptune rises out of the Water, and a Train of Rivers, Tritons, and Sea Nymphs attend him.
Thames,

Chacon.
Two Nymphs and Triton
Sing.
The Chacon continues. The Chorus of Nymphs and Tritons repeat the same Verses. The Chacon continues. Two Nymphs and Tritons.
The Chacon continues. The Chorus repeat the same Verses, Sports and Pleasure. &c. The Chacon continues. The two Nymphs and Triton Sing.

The Chacon continues. The Chorus of Nymphs and Triton repeat the same Verses, See at your blest returning, &c. The Chacon continues. Then the Chorus repeat, See the God of Seas, &c. And this Chorus concludes the Act.