University of Virginia Library

SCEN: 1s t.

App: A Royal Presence Chamber.
Enter Queen (from the right) & looks about; Anti. (from the left.)
Ant.
Your Majesty return'd safe to yr place!
Providence has in this so fully heard me,
'Twould seem presumption e're to ask for more.

Que.
How can this language suit with your Rebellion?

Ant.
That I, though hurry'd with the stream o'th'times,
[she casts up her eys.
Have honour'd you next heav'n, Heav'n it self can witness.
How have I melted off my Flesh in tears,
And blown away part of my soul in sighs,
[she weeps, sighs, & groans.
While what remain'd converted all to groans;
To see proud Vapours cloud yr light that rais'd 'em!
Yet those too show'd you greater by refraction.

Que.
Rise, Rise!

[Ant. kneels, offering to kiss the Queens feel, then rises.
Ant.
Unseasonable Tears, why do ye blind me,
When that's in Presence I most wish to look on?
But had your diffidence not forced these drops,
At your Appearance Joy had forced them faster.

Que.
Banish all sorrow, as I all suspicion.

Ant.
Madam, if these showers cannot, let my blood
Wash of[f] distrust, I then shall dy yr Martyr,
At once both courting and contemning Death.

[Anti. offers her naked cymitar: Queen puts it by.
Que.
Yr sword should more confirm me drawn against others.

Ant.
Then I'll ne're sheath it till my heart be known,
I'll open other breasts to show my own.

Enter Penth. and Eribea, with Guards behind the Queen, whom they bind, and disarm (from the right.)
Que.
Now shew that Fealty you boast of, now.

[To Ant., who sheaths her cymitar.
Ant.
What, when you're bound? I'm faithfull to yr Majesty;
But if you fall from that, you change, not I.

[Ant. smiles.
Que.
Thou scandal ev'n to Vice, base beyond name,
Shameless without, and yet within not fraught
So much as with one creditable fault.

Ant.
Slight our Imposture hallow'd by success,
And dub yr wretched Vertue Happyness.

[Ant. smiles again.
Que.
Oh! whether now shall my defiance climb!
I'll pardon you to Aggravate yr crime;
While my mere Patience all yr hate controuls,
Til conscience, if y'have any, mad yr souls;
Making you strive from every hand to run,
But more your selves, your worst persuers, shun;
Finding this only means to ease your woe,
If sin could, as 'tis nothing, make you so.

Ant.
We've born yr yoke too long, lead her away.

[To Erib., who is leading out the Queen (at the left); but all stop.
Enter Sagalus unarm'd (from the right.)
Sag.
Hold! if y'are not worse than Inhuman, stay,
Other offences only by the by
Slighting its laws, glance 'gainst Divinity;
But you with the first cause directly fight,
Who thus at his Vice-gerent vent yr spight.

Pen.
It were not worth the while our hands to rear
'Gainst any Power, but what all others fear.

Ant.
Sure the first mover's for us, who rise
'Gainst her who robs him of his sacrifice.

Que.
How doth my Private Act infringe yr Fredome?

Enter Eorpata with burning Pincers (from the left); Guards unbind the Queen, & exeunt there.
Ant.
Resign your Crown, or here you see your Torturer.

Sag.
O name such damnable designs no more,
Which would raise blushes in a Gorgons cheeks.

Ant.
What we shall do, you must ensure as Hostage.
[To Sag.
Set on the Pincers.

[Eorp. goes to Pinch the Queen, Sag. getts betwixt them.
Sag.
Freely on my skin,
'Tis there high treason, which is here no sin;
I'll thank ye, so my blood might here secure,
For since I may not act, I would endure.

Ant.
This Punishment's our favour, if the Pains
Make her desert the Throne, her life she gains.

Que.
For any Torture I'll not leave my right,
Tortures if great, are short; if long, are light.

Ant.
Lets try what this Mysterious strife does mean:
Apply yr Irons here.

[Eor. offers to pinch Sag., Queen steps between.
Que.
O Vent your spleen
Wholly on me; I who disdain'd before
To ask yr smiles, yr Fury now Implore.

Ant.
Then will you quit the Crown?

Que.
Can I betray
Heav'ns highest trust, & give its gift away?
Whatever's below that I'll gladly grant;
Yet if I part with any right, the want
Whereof disables me (while thus employ'd)
[Anti. beckons to Eor. to depart: who exit (at ye left.)
To execute my charge, the grant is void.

Pen.
Let me with her destroy that Idol Majesty.

Ant.
Stop, here's a poyson will steal subtly to her
[Pen. draws, & would run at the Queen, Ant. stops her, and shows her a glass.
Heart, & leave no print behind; Her death
May thus b'imputed to her grief or rage,
And we plead Innocence.—Here drink & dy.

[Ant. offers a glass to ye Queen: Pen. sheaths her Cymitar.
Sag.
Do not attempt a crime, might make the Sun
Stand still amaz'd before it were half done;
Or else start back from his disorder'd frame,
Consuming your whole Citty with his Flame;
And Acted would for a new Hell fire cry.

Que.
I dare not fear, thats harder than to dy.
And oft in streights, when human strength falls short,
Divine releives, that we thank that for't.

Sag.
Oh that my spirit first m[a]y reach Heav'ns gate,
[to Queen.
There it would hover, & yr coming wait,
Watching yr bright Ascension from afar,
Least you by th'way ly darken'd in a star,
And there I'd claim you, for if Angells knew
Your goodness first, they'd quickly seiz[e] my due.
Then side by side we might safe entrance make,
And I become more wellcome for yr sake,
None would of promis'd Joys less craving be,
For I should bring my heaven 'long with me;
My share of Glory I'd on you bestow,
And covet none unless yours should ore flow;
Making it my choice Blessing yours to veiw,
Mine were less bliss unless it came thrô you.

[Sag. snatches the Glass & drinks it off: Queen strives to hinder him.
Que.
Oh, Sr, what have you done? this, this has stole
All Life both from my body & my soul;
To dy's to live elsewhere, but now I shall,
Benumm'd with greif, enjoy no life at all.
Come slay me now, and I'll pronounce ye just,
[To Ant. & Pen.
That so I may preceed him in the dust;
I then in kindness too shall him outvie,
[Pen. offers to draw & stops.
He dying leaves me, I to meet him die.

Sag.
Hear her not! Know my Nation ne're will suffer
Our murders to pass unreveng'd: but spare
Her, & I'll lay my death to my own charge.

Ant.
Write this, and we'll not kill her.

[Ant. takes Pen & parchment from Erib., and delivers them to Sag., who writes this distich, then reads it aloud, and delivers it to Ant.
Sag.
Let none revenge my Fate, the hand that penn'd
This Declaration, did procure my end.
Sagalus Rex.

Que.
Greif and Amazement me to marble turn,
That to his Ashes I may be the Urn;
And cover'd over with cold drops contrive
To weep him dead, who cannot weep alive;
And may my Flame be, to compleat the doom,
An Unconsuming Lamp within his tomb.

Sag.
The Poys'nous Fire begins my blood to boil,
'Twill make by Body its own Funeral Pile:
Farewell, I'll stagger to some cave where I
Unseen may burn to embers as I die,
Praying that Heav'n to you my Years would give,
And make you to two happy Ages live.

Ant.
Bury him strait incognito: & since
Our camp is Pacify'd, cajole the Trojans.

[To Erib., who ex. with Sag. (at ye left.)
Queen.
Oh! oh!
[Queen sighes.
With him the best part of my soul is fled,
Who can survive by halves who's Friend is dead?
My Life henceforth of day will have no mark,
'Twill be but as a watching in th'dark.
Now I shall find whether my heart be right,
For if it be, 'twill be quite broke e're night.

Enter Eorpata (from the left.)
Eor.
By yea & nay, Sagalus's son leads An Army on our Frontiers.

Ant.
These are the Men your willfullness preserved.

[to Queen.
Pen.
We'll fight 'em strait by our late Victory, we will.

Ant.
You must march to countenance, not command us,
[To Queen.
And charge in the Forlorn.

Que.
I'll choose that place, where danger shall my country most annoy;
Only to fall for't now can be my joy.

[Exe. Queen, Ant., Pen. (at ye inner pt of ye left.)
Enter Erib. (from the outer pt of the left) dragging Jas., Eric., & Ilu. halter'd.
Erib.

Bring me an account of the Scythians.
[To Eor., who exit (at the left.)
Come, ye disaffected Varlets, you that stand to be
undone, I must bastinado the wind out of yr bodys, to keep my self
in breath.

Jas.

Yes, walking Bridewell, you that sell affliction, were our flesh
as hard as hartshorn, your recreation would turn 'em to a Jelly, and
soften our bones sooner than the new digester.

Erib.

Then (conscientious coxcombs) why don't ye bend your
wire sinew'd neck to the Yoke of Reformation, rather then thread 'em
into halters? and at last rott above ground, as unworthy to keep company
with carcasses.

Eric.

How! should we side with the Rump of Authority? The
Tail rampant of Goverment, which, like the Amphisbena, hath a head
at both ends.

Jas.

A Club of Republican Quacks, whose cure outkills any sickness;
who would cut the Patient in peices to find out the seat of the
Disease.

Ilu.

A paltry parcel of state demicastors, half witted mungrells,
whose megrim brains are at variance in their own heads.

Enter Eorpata (from the left.)
Eor.

The Scythians demanded their King, and thô they read his
own hand writing, were unsatisfied; but when they saw Orithya with us,
they all acquiesc'd, and now she comes this way to the steeple house.

[Exit Eorp. (at the left.)

Erib.

Crawl back, ye dull crabbs, that are all gutts instead of
Brains, and fit your selves for the high preferment.

Jas.

Of that Pillar of Justice, the gallows.

[Ironically.
Erib.

Ay (ye Persecution to cudgells, whips, and halters) that as
before ye were a burthen to the country—

Eric.

Ye may now be so to the Gibbete.

Ilu.

And more executing ballads.

Erib.

Yes (thirteen pence-half-penny rascalls) And then be mangled
by such bungling Anatomists, who dare not touch their own dead
Patients, least they should discover their Murderers by Bleeding.

[Erib. drags out Jas., Eric., & Ilu. (at the left.)