 | The Enchanted Lovers |  |
SCENA IV.
PARTHENIA, ISMENIA, DIANA, THERSANDER, THIMANTES.PARTHENIA.
Ismenia,
I would speak one word with thee but a moment.
Ismenia.
Immediately when you have born a part
In the contentment of this pair; Diana
Hath for the future no more cause to weep
Heaven hath been pleas'd that she hath found her brother,
It is this happy Shepheard, they acknowledge
Each other.
PARTHENIA.
This event, J must confess
Confounds my spirit; Thersander found her brother?
Diana.
Yes Nymph, it is the same,
For whom my grief was hitherto extream.
38
THERSANDER.
Yes, Madam they have granted our desires.
Parthenia.
J'm very glad on't, and my soul is ravish'd
With this good fortune of our friends, which makes
Our lives content, Diana will oblige me
If she please at her leisure to inform me
with the discovery; but acquaint the Nymph
Therewith, and to that purpose go to see her.
THERSANDER.
We ow that duty to our Soveraign.
Exeunt Thers. and Diana.
PARTHENIA.
In the mean time Ismenia and my self
May entertain each other in discourse,
Thimantes, J believe, will not be jealous.
THIMANTES.
Let not a third come, Madam, and J fear
Nothing from you.—
Exit Thimantes.
PARTHENIA.
Ismenia, J know not,
If J may safely tell a secret to thee,
Alas!
Ismenia.
J know it well, since the heart sighs;
When one would say J love, and dares not speake it,
The heart at the nam'd point gives an Alas.
Have not J well divin'd?
PARTHENIA.
Ismenia,
I do confess it, see too, if thou canst
Divine the object that procures my grief
Let me not speak him, spare my cheeks those blushes.
40
I cannot, a sigh carries not so far;
You love; but what more, is beyond my skil
To understand, unless your self unfold
That sigh unto me by its cause.
Parthenia.
'Tis true
I love.
ISMENIA.
But whom?
PARTHENIA.
'Tis—
ISMENIA.
Outwith't.
PARTHENIA.
Clidamant.
ISMENIA,
Behold a handsom way to name a Lover;
Ha! how you fear your lips should touch upon it!
One must draw 't word by word out of your mouth;
You have then but one lover; really
'Tis well as't happens; had you lists of them
As I have, which I name, and reckon over
Every hour of the day, your bashfullness
Would well become you; love is a fair fruit,
But then it must be gathered, modesty
Leaves it to fall and wither, but I pray you
What will Melissa say to't, who intends
To match her Neece to Thirsis?
PARTHENIA.
Oh! I hate
That Thirsis, and shall be even in despair,
If the Nymph force me to observe my duty
In that particular; yet I would keep it
41
To Clidamant should not return me his;
For to speak truly I am violent
Where honour doth ingage me, therefore would I
Have his heart to be sounded, and as I
Find it dispos'd, I should pursue my love,
Or quench my flame.
ISMENIA.
Speak unto him your self,
Nothing's more easie.
PARTHENIA.
But, Ismenia,
Thou hast a wit would help me; if I should
Speak to him, he hath little understanding
If he should not know that I first was taken,
And I should sin against the rule of maids
To make such a confession.
ISMENIA.
You may write then,
PARTHENIA.
That is all one, still the same point of honour
Forbids it me; my Letter would discover
My love, and make him boast thereof, perhaps,
To my dishonour, if he might have once
That mark on't in his hand.
ISMENIA.
Let him then
Divine it, if he be Astrologer.
PARTHENIA.
Treat not my passion thus with railery.
ISMENIA.
I must then serve you in it, I perceive;
Well I'l about it with my best invention;
I'l write a Letter to him, and invite him
By a feign'd love, as soon as it is night,
42
To entertain us there.
PARTHENIA.
So in my absence
Thou shalt discern his thought.
ISMENIA.
This business
Concerns you, Madam, and requires your presence.
You shall speak softly to him, and in those
Sweet moments, you shall understand much better
What his thoughts are, and thus you may your self,
To find out if he loves, speak of your self.
PARTHENIA.
Thou wilt be present too?
ISMENIA.
Yes, J'l so well
Contrive it, that he shal believe undoubtedly
That it is I that speak.
PARTHENIA.
But how can we
Speak to the Eccho, for thou know'st the Nymph,
As soon as it is night, retires her self,
And then we cannot come there, what devise now
Hast thou that we may speak to him?
ISMENIA.
Cannot we
Speak to him from the terrass which joins close
Unto the Garden; you know that you can
Conveniently come there at any hour
From your apartment; 'tis upon this ground,
And these conjunctures, that I've ta'n the plot
For my invention.
PARTHENIA.
I admire thy wit,
43
Ismenia.
I'l write the Letter here before your eyes,
Behold the paper for it.
PARTHENIA.
How, these are
Thy writing Tables!
ISMENIA.
They can speak of Passions
Discreet and secret; J'l about my business,
And use my smoothest stile.
PARTHENIA.
Especially
Appoint him wel the hour and place of meeting
How redevable am J to thy wit
For this great favour? what do J not ow thee
For this good office, thou giv'st me again.
Life, and repose.
ISMENIA.
See what J write unto him
In two words for you, they are very pressing,
And will ingage him to betake himself
Unto the place appointed to know more.
PARTHENIA.
'Tis very well; it rests now how to giv' 't him.
ISMENIA.
Leave me the care of that; but here he comes.
| The Enchanted Lovers | |