University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

RHODOLINDA, LAURA.
Rhodolinda.
He's gone: nor wou'd He listen to my Love.
Patience direct me! to be left so coldly!
Left, when I just was pouring out my Heart
In Words which might have been Ambrosia to Him:
For which ev'n Kings had laid there Scepters by,
And thought themselves more blest to drink them in,
Than if the Queen of Beauty had caress'd them,
Unloos'd her Charms, and giv'n up all her Sweetness.
What can He mean? some other Virgin charms Him:
It must be so?—

Laura.
Some other Virgin charm Him?
What radiant Image can employ his Heart,
When once your Eyes have let out Day upon Him?
Impossible: She shou'd be all a Goddess:
Her Cheeks shou'd glow with Roses, deep as those
Which glister in the Eastern Fields of Heav'n,
And shed the purple Morning from their Blushes:
Her Lips shou'd breath Delight.

Rhodolinda.
I pray thee hold,
Nor praise thy Mistress' Beauty, but assist Her.
I think myself as fair as any She
That ever held the captive World in Chains:
And shou'd another—poison to my Thoughts—
But sure He cannot be so dull, so senseless,
As thus neglect a Crown and Rhodolinda,
To languish in another's humble Arms:—
Yet shou'd He, by the Anguish of my Soul
Which bleeds with Indignation and with Love,
Her Life shall forfeit, what Her Beauty gain'd.
But how to find the Secret: there's the Question.

Laura.
The only Way, my Thoughts present, is this.
My Husband, and the Duke's Companion, Ulfinore,
Were born together and together bred,
In early Friendship and most strict Alliance.
The Duke reposes all his Bosom in Him,
And shou'd He love, which I can scarce believe,
Yet shou'd He, Ulfinore must know his Passion,
The Progress of it and the fatal Object.
Tybalt, no doubt, may wind into his Heart;
And then the Secret's ours. But I'll instruct Him.

Rhodolinda.
Let me embrace thee, Laura; dear, dear Laura!
Thy Words are balm, and Comfort dawns upon me.
But I'll retire, and with Impatience wait
Till Time unbosom this mysterious Turn.
Seek Tybalt, and discover what thou can
To ease thy Mistress, and restore her Peace.
Distracted with Variety of Pain,
Love, Rage and Madness fire my tortur'd Brain.