Calypso and Telemachus :: :: University of Virginia Library

A large Hall, adorn'd with Trophies, Suits of Armour, &c.
Eucharis and Telemachus.
Euch.
See the fair Palace built to entertain
Troy's greatest Foe, thy conqu'ring Sire!
Trophies of finish'd War behold
Thus plac'd around, to fill the Hero's Soul
With pleasing Visions of his Labours past!

Tel.
The Sight reproaches me—
Why do I languish here?
Is there no Troy for me to conquer?
To Arms to Arms!—Mentor, my Friend, where art thou?
Lead me to War, to Danger, and to Glory.

Euch.
What means Telemachus?

Tel.
Let me implore, fair Nymph, thy Aid
To hasten my Departure.

Euch.
Depart?—it must not, cannot be;
Alas! thou dost not know Calypso.
'Twas thus Ulysses perish'd by her Rage;
She, she destroy'd thy Father.

Tel.
So kind, and yet so cruel!—Let me fly
Far from her sight—

Euch.
Fly her Revenge you cannot, if you go;
But if you stay,
By me assisted to elude her Arts,
You here may live in Peace.

Tel.
Thy generous Pity moves me—

Euch.

Perhaphs there is a kinder Reason too—
O stay!

How shall I speak my secret Pain?
Yet how that Pain conceal?

Alas! ev'n Silence now is vain,
My Looks my Heart reveal.

How shall I speak my secret Pain?
Yet how that Pain conceal?

Tel.

What do I feel. [Aside]
—Turn not away those Eyes,
But look again—and fix me here for ever.

Ambition, cease t'alarm me!
Empire and Fame adieu!

Love only now can charm me;
And only Love from you.

Ambition cease t'alarm me!
Empire and Fame adieu!

[Towards the end of the Air, Mentor enters, and stands privately at a corner of the Stage.]
Euch.
Unhappy Eucharis!

Tel.
O why that Sigh?
Why those soft Eyes of Sorrow?

Euch.
I've heard too much—Farewel!

Tel.
You will not leave me?

Euch.
Mentor, thy Friend, will soon be here
And summon thee away.

Tel.
Thou seest I have no Pow'r to go,
Why dost thou then upbraid me?

Euch.
It was a sudden Fear
That chill'd my boading Heart.
But see!—the early Morning calls

To rural Sports, wilt thou with me
Go share the Pleasures of the sprightly Chase?

Tel.
With thee, those Pleasures will have double Charms.

Euch.

I'll hasten and prepare a Sylvan Train,
And e'er the Sun has drawn the Dews away,
I will attend thee to the Woods
To hunt the flying Prey.

In all her Charms Aurora gay,
Now smiling from the Sky appears.

Rejoycing Birds salute the Day,
And every Grove new Beauty wears.

In all her Charms Aurora gay
Now smiling from the Sky appears.

[Exit Euch.

SCENE II.

Mentor comes forward.
Mentor, Telemachus.
Ment.
Where is the Son of that Immortal Hero,
Wise, Valiant, great in Arms, that vanquish'd Troy?
Where is Telemachus, the Heir
Of all his Father's Virtue?

Tel.
Alas! my conscious Eyes betray me.

[Aside.
Ment.
If thou art he—Ah no!—Telemachus
Wou'd not thus coldly meet his Friend,
Who brings him news of Joy.

Tel.
My secret Woes—

Ment.
What secret Woe is that
Which Mentor may not share? I come to tell thee
The Gods have heard thy Pray'rs.

Tel.
Aside]
O too enchanting Beauty!

Ment.

I saw just now the Bird that bears the Thunder
From Heav'n descend, then tow'ring rise again,
And o'er th'adjacent Grove
Full to the Point of opening Day
I mark'd his steady flight.
That way great Jove provides
The Means for our Departure.

No longer let these Looks of Grief
Thy drooping Courage show!

Tel.
Aside.]
O cruel Heav'n!—by this Relief
I'm deeper plung'd in Woe.

To Mentor.]
But, since Ulysses is no more,
Why must we leave this Place?
Why court new Danger?

Ment.
Hast thou forgot thy Native Land,
The best of Mothers there,
And fair Antiope, that Royal Maid
That secret sighs for thee?
All these demand thee.

Tel.
After so many tedious Years
Who now expects Telemachus?
Perhaps e'er this some neighbouring Prince
Too potent to be long deny'd,
Usurps my Father's Bed and Throne.
How cou'd I bear that sight? yet how revenge
Where certain Death wou'd meet me?

Ment.
Vain Fears!—Imagin'd Danger!
Confess, inglorious Youth, the real Cause—

Tel.
Is Immortality then offer'd here
A Cause Inglorious?

Ment.

It is—Nor can you here obtain it:
Or if you cou'd—
What is it here but Life prolong'd in Shame?
Farewel!—

[Going he turns back several times.

Yet must I leave thee?
I must—the Gods will have it so—
I see thee lost, undone!
What can I do to save thee?

Fatal Change!—what do I see?
No more, alas! no more in thee
The Hero now I trace.

Where is now the sprightly Fire,
That did thy God-like Soul inspire,
And shew'd thy generous Race?

Fatal Change!—what do I see?
No more, alas! no more in thee
The Hero now I trace.

[Exit Mentor.

SCENE III.

Telemachus.

He's gone—and I—unhappy!
His parting Looks and Voice
Have struck a shiv'ring thro' my Veins,
As if with him my Guardian Genius
Were fled for ever from me.
I'll haste and follow him—Ah no!
What Magick holds me here?
O Mentor!—Eucharis!
O my divided Heart!
Thy Charms alone, victorious Beauty!
Can calm this Tempest of my Soul,
And sooth me into Peace.

O Cupid, gentle Boy,
Restore me to the Fair!

To Love's auspicious Joy
I'll fly from gloomy Care.

O Cupid, gentle Boy,
Restore me to the Fair!

[Exit.

SCENE IV.

The Grotto.
Calypso.

Shall Greece the beauteous Youth regain?
Shall he too, like Ulysses, leave me?
No—Here in soft endearing Chains
I'll hold him ever mine.
O mighty Love!
What is thy Flame in human Breasts,
When I a Goddess yield
To thy superior Sway.

All Hail, Imperial Love!
Not Jove himself, Immortal Jove,
From thy great Pow'r is free.

The spacious Realms of Earth and Sea,
And all the Azure Plains above,
All, all are full of thee.

All Hail, Imperial Love!
Not Jove himself, Immortal Jove,
From thy great Pow'r is free.

SCENE V.

Calypso, Mentor.
Cal.
Mentor alone! [Aside]
—Illustrious Greek,
Where is Telemachus?

Ment.
Does not Calypso know?
The Forrest now is all his Pleasure.
With Ardour yet unknown
His youthful Breast is fir'd;
Fair Eucharis—but sure by thy Command,
Invites him to the Chase.

Cal.
Invites him, when?

Ment.
Ev'n now.

Cal.
Didst thou say Eucharis?

Ment.
Bright Eucharis,
Thy loveliest Nymph, and, next thy self, divine.

Cal.
aside.]
It cannot be—with Eucharis!
And I unknowing?—

O! 'tis too plain—Haste, haste to Proteus,
Say, I must see him here.

[To one of her Attendants.
To Ment.]
But have you left your Friend?
Will you not follow him?
Or why, to share these Silvan Sports,
Why is not Mentor there?

Ment.

Why not Calypso?

From me, from thee he turns his Eyes;
To lonely Glades,
To distant Shades,
From me, from thee he flies.

He glows, he burns with new Delight;
What can inspire
This wondrous Fire?
What Charms, than thine more bright?

From me, from thee he turns his Eyes;
To lonely Glades,
To distant Shades,
From me, from thee he flies.

Exit Mentor.

SCENE VI.

Calypso.
Then let him fly—
Calypso scorns the Scorner.
Yet fly to whom?—To Eucharis?—
Rise, rise, ye Storms, the Forrest shake!
Fall Lightning on the kindling Groves,
And blast—Ah no!—yet spare Telemachus.
Perhaps belov'd, he loves her not again—
But sure I've seen their guilty Eyes
Meet in secret Looks of Passion.
Shall I then yield him?—No,
I'll yet secure the lovely Prize,
And yet he shall be mine.

SCENE VII.

Proteus, Calypso.
Prot.

See, Goddess of this happy Land!
Proteus is here at thy Command.

For thee I leave my oozy Caves
On the green Margin of the Waves.

See, Goddess of this happy Land!
Proteus is here at thy Command.

Cal.
Hear, Son of Neptune, hear
Why Calypso calls thee hither.
A beauteous Nymph adorns my Train,
Belov'd by thee—I know thy Passion.

Pro.
She flies my vain Pursuit,
Yet warms me more
Than the bright Sun, whose chearing Beams
Each Noon I seek, while my Sea-herds
Sleep on the weedy Shore around me.

Cal.
This Day shall see her thine.

Prot.
O mighty Bliss!

Cal.

But first attend what Love and I enjoin thee.
A Grecian Stranger is thy Rival.—
Hast to the Woods, and find these Lovers there.
Perplex their Way, disturb the Chase,
And Eucharis, by me bestow'd,
Shall be thy fair Reward.

Let Love inspire thee;
And more to fire thee,
Rage, Hope, and jealous Hate combine.

Haste, haste to gain her;
By Art obtain her,
And make th'inconstant Beauty thine.

Let Love inspire thee;
And more to fire thee,
Rage, Hope, and jealous Hate combine.

SCENE VIII.

The Woods.
Prelude of Instrumental Musick.
Telemachus, Eucharis, and Nymphs enter as to the Chase.
Euch.
The spacious Woods are all around us;
There lies our Way.

Tel.

All I see and hear delights me.
Sure these are great Diana's Train,
And thou the Goddess.

Hark! the hollow Groves resounding
Eccho to the Hunter's Cry!
Hark how all the Vales surrounding
To his cheering Voice reply!

Now so swift o'er Hills aspiring,
He pursues the Gay Delight,
Distant Woods and Plains retiring
Seem to vanish from his sight.

Hark! the hollow Groves resounding
Eccho to the Hunter's Cry!
Hark how all the Vales surrounding
To his cheering Voice reply!

Euch.
See, see!—near yonder Brake
Behold the listning Deer!

Tel.
Lead on; and, like thy conqu'ring Eyes,
Unerring be thy Hand.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IX.

After a Prelude of Instrumental Musick, Telemachus Re-enters.
Tel.
I've lost the Track—Sure there's Enchantment here.
A rising Vapour, like a Cloud,
This Moment stop'd my Pace,
And spread a sudden Night around me.
'Tis gone—Where's Eucharis?—
My Ear will Guide me;
This way I hear the Sound.
[Exit.

SCENE X.

Proteus following Telemachus.
Prot.
He's now alone,
Nor knows that artful Cloud was Proteus;
What Likeness cannot I assume?
I'll follow him,
And in the Form of Eucharis,
I'll more distract his Sight.

SCENE XI.

Proteus re-enters in the Shape of Eucharis, follow'd by Telemachus.
Tel.
To find thee here exceeds all other Pleasures,
But why dost thou retire?
Why with dejected Looks forbid my Joy?
O stay, thou brightest Fair!

[Proteus retires to the further part of the Scene, and as Telemachus advances towards him, sinks under the Stage: A Tree rises in his stead.]
Tel.

Amazing Change!—What do I see!
O fatal Loss! O wondrous Tree!
What envious Pow'r in this Disguise
Removes my Charmer from my Eyes?

Perhaps this Bark by Magick holds
Th'imprison'd strugling Beauty.
Assist me Gods to set her free!

[Telemachus goes to strike the Tree, which is suddenly chang'd into Fire, and vanishes.

SCENE XII.

Eucharis, Telemachus.
Euch.
Telemachus!—alas!—surprize
Sits on thy Brow.
What means this sudden Horror?

Tel.
O fair Delusion, stay!
Hover a while to bless my Eyes,
E'er thou again deceive me.

Euch.
Thy Words are wild! trembling thy Voice!
Thou dost not know me!

Tel.
'Tis she her self!—'tis Eucharis!
My joyful Heart assures me
'Tis she—vain Fears away.

Euch.
What Fear?—O say!

Tel.
Just now I saw thee here;
I saw thee, or some beauteous Phantom
Smil'd lovely in thy borrow'd Charms;
I gaz'd—but lost thy heav'nly Image—
Which now arose a Tree, but soon
In flashing Fire escap'd my wondring Sight.

Euch.

Wonder no more:
Proteus, that changeful Power, was here,
Who with unwelcome Passion wooes me,
And took these visionary Forms
To drive thee to Despair.

Two VOICES.
Tel.
My Charmer!—

Euch.
My Treasure!

Tel.
To meet thee

Euch.
To greet thee

Tel. and Euch.
Is Joy past expressing,
No more let us part.

Tel. and Euch.
With Transport confessing
I feel a new pleasure
That glides thro' my Heart.

Tel.
My Charmer!—

Euch.
My Treasure!

Tel.
To meet thee

Euch.
To greet thee

Tel. and Euch.
Is Joy past expressing,
No more let us part.

End of the second ACT.