University of Virginia Library

SCÆNA III.

To them Lyncestes, Polydamas.
Archid:
—My Lord Lyncestes,
Polydamas. How doe the Ladies brooke
Their Solitude? Have they not yet created
One of themselves Preist to the Company,
To say prayers twice a day for their releasement?

Lync:
Sure Sir, They were not Ladies, but a Crew
Of Spirits; who appear'd like women, and
A while wore humane faces made of lips,
And eyes, and cheekes, & dimples, to delude
The easy sight of the beholders, and
Then vanisht backe into themselves againe.

Arch:
They are not growne invisible. I hope;
They've no enchanted Rings among 'em?

Lync:
Sir,
I have sailed round your Coast, as farre as Water
Would give me leaze; Have ransackt every Creeke,
Examined every hole which would but lodge
A Conger, or a Poore-John; And can finde
No more print of them then Ships leave ith' Sea.
Unlesse I should have hir'd your Negro's, Sir,
Which I met here at doore to dive for 'em,
As Indians do for pearle, in hope to finde 'em,
Some forty Fathome deepe in Oyster shels,
I know not where to seeke 'em.

Arch:
Are they lost then?

Lync:
Eurymedon in person with his Fleete
Concealed, Sir, seized them in their passage over
Into the Island; And whether he have sent 'em
Home to Bizantium, or keepe them here
His prisoners, is uncertaine.

Polyd:
The Report
Had like t'have put Chalcedon, Sir, into
A Civill Warre. The People of both Sexes,
'Till I allay'd them, were up in a Commotion.

Arch:
O my propheticke soule! which whisper'd me
I should not trust 'em to an Element
So false and treacherous.

Theag:
Are our two Ladies
Vapour'd away ith' mist too, Sir, and seiz'd on?

Lync:
Yes, and their women; They have not left a beauty
Ith' City; or ought which you can call handsome
To breed upon, or to continue a
Succession of good faces.

Theag:
I expect
In time to see my wife returne then, with
A race of little Thracians all noble by
The bearers side.

Meleag:
And I that my Wife save me
The future labout of begetting, and
Without my helpe returne me a fine Troope
And Squadron, which will call her Mother, and
Me Captaine.

Arch:
Had he seiz'd my Crowne; or taken
Me prisoner, and with me my Kingdome, It
Had beene a losse I could have borne; And thought it
One of the Chances which prove Princes subject
To Mens Misfortunes. But to deprive me of
Her, who to mee was Empire, Kingdome, Crowne,
And all Things else, which make men happy; She
Whose two eyes were the Sunnes that rul'd my Day,
And to whom onely her Absence did make Night;
She who smil'd virtue, and whose beauteous Lookes
Were a soft, visible, Musicke, which entranc'd
The lookers on, and strucke harmonious raptures
Into every chast soule, and instill'd pure fires
Int' every unchaste; She who had the power
To charme feirce Tygers, and make Panthers tame,
And civilize the wildest Salvage, but
He who surpriz'd Her, and made his Sister, and
My destined Queene part of his pyracy;—
Thus to deprive me of my Joyes ith' porch,
And entrance to them, is a wrong like that,
Where the faire Bride is ravisht from the Bridegroome,
Upon the Nuptiall Day; or where their Hands
Are rudely sunder'd whilest the Preist is tying
The holy Knot. But why doe I turne Woman,
And adde to th'losse by my Complaints. You two
Streight backe to th'City; Raise new Forces; Adde
Wings to your expedition. I shall thinke
Time moves not with its owne hast, 'till we give
The Robbers Battle, and redeeme the prey.

Ex: Lync: Polyd.
Rox:
Come, Sir, you shall divert the Thought of your
Recoverable loosse at our Tent; where
We will divide greifes with you, or finde wayes
To make them wholly ours.

Arch:
Your Company
Releives me, Madam; And I shall not thinke
My selfe unfortunate in such a presence.

Exeunt.