Fortunes Tennis-Ball or, The Most Excellent History of Dorastus and Fawnia. Rendred in delightful English Verse, and worthy the perusal of all sorts of People. By S. S. [i.e. Samuel Sheppard] |
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 | Fortunes Tennis-Ball |  |
The most Excellent History OF Dorastus and Fawnia.
CANT. I.
Bohemiah's King is visited
By Sicil's Prince (who had been bred
In King Pandosto's Royal Court:)
Who doubts his Queen, and he do sport
Between the sheets, and (though in vain)
Contrives a way to have him slain:
Egistus sees the snare, and flyes
By Sea, to scape these treacheries.
Inspire me gentle Love, and Jealousie
By Sicil's Prince (who had been bred
In King Pandosto's Royal Court:)
Who doubts his Queen, and he do sport
Between the sheets, and (though in vain)
Contrives a way to have him slain:
Egistus sees the snare, and flyes
By Sea, to scape these treacheries.
Give me thy Passion and thy Extasie;
While to a pleasant Air I strike the strings,
Singing the fates of Lovers and of Kings.
Fertile Bohemia (fam'd in German Stories,
For happy Goverment, and of her glories,)
Had once a King Pandosto nam'd, by birth
Exceeding Royal, and for innate worth
Every way excellent; His Royal Mate,
Bellaria call'd a Woman blest by Fate
For vertue famous, earth's divinest creature:
This happy pair had not been married long,
(Scarce had they reacht the key of Hymens song)
When generous Lucina gave a boy,
To their hearts comfort, and the general joy;
The King to manifest his high content,
Proclaim'd a solemn Just, or Turnament;
Fame bears the Embassie on Eagles wings,
His Court is now a Parliment of Kings:
Great feastings; masques, mirth, & deeds of arms
While honour sits inthron'd with all her charms;
But when this great assembly takes her leave,
(And royal Presents from the King receive)
The Infant Prince (Garinter) doth consort
With careful Nurses in his Fathers Court:
What can the powers Etheriall add to this?
Can great Pandosto wish for better blisse?
Or sweet Bellaria covet more than Fate
Already hath confer'd? But what estate
Can Boast a firm fixt basi's, if the blind,
False, fickle Goddesse hath its fall design'd;
Sicilia's King (Egistus) who had found
His Education on Bohemian ground
From's Infancy, until the Gods had given
Him power on earth like to the powers in heaven:
To manifest no tract of Time could race
His Friendship out, nor distancy of place
Estrange his love, in ships (well rig'd and man'd,
If cause requir'd, the Pyrats to withstand)
Of Peers attending on their Soveraign:
The winds were still, no noxious blast has power
To sally sorth from Æols brazen tower:
The Seas are calm, the crooked Dolphins play,
Doris fair Daughter dancing all the way,
Till great Egistus treads that happy Earth,
Had been his Foster-mother from his birth.
Bellaria (in whose breast the Graces rested,
With all the glories of her sex invested)
Imagining her husbands Kingly heart
Would be the more her own, did she impart,
All special favours to his friend, admitted,
(Perhaps more intimacy then befitted)
Egistus to her private walks; her eye
Revealing her minds (just) captivity;
His Chamber oftentimes she would frequent,
Which caus'd suspition, though no ill was meant;
For these two Constellations still did move
Within the Orb of true Platonick love.
Pandosto marks their meetings, and doth fry
In the blue flames of baneful Jealousie:
He calls to mind the beauty of his Dear,
And then Egistus merits do appear
Full bloom'd; he next begins to scrutinize
Their private union, and their Colloquies,
He straightways fancies, and concludes at last,
Egist a villain, and his Wife unchast:
These erring fires still lead him up and down,
Till he grows weary of his Life and Crown.
A ruine, which may (falsly) crush his foes:
He knows Egistus is a mighty King,
And cannot sink without his ruining:
He knows his Wife has every Subjects heart,
Paying just homage to her high desert:
Since then there is no hope of publick force,
He now resolves to take a private course:
Egistus shall not fall by Steel, but die
By Poyson; this must Franions industrie
Accomplish; he that bears this Cup must kill
His gentle friend, and hee'l reward thee ill
With numerous dignities: but Franions Soul
Dreadly abhors to act a Deed so foul:
He therefore sets before the King what guilt
He would accrew, what blood must need be spilt,
What miseries must follow? But in vain
Does Franion charm his Serpent Soveraign,
He must perform't, or die: O killing words!
But Franion who by millions of Swords
Had rather perish, then (to give consent
Unto his Prince) to kill the Innocent:
Resolves (what ever hap) to break the thing
Though't break his neck) unto Sicilian's King
To lüm he opens all; Egistus scarce
Can credit Franion's tale; though his discourse
Have secret truth for warrant; Can it be,
Pandosto should be treacherous (quoth he)
First I'le believe earth moves, and Heaven stands still;
I never propt his foes, or sought his ill:
If that Egistus will forsake these Snares,
And Sail into Sicilia, if when there
(Safe in his fulgent throne, and free from fear)
The truth of this Narration were not shown,
To seize his life by tortures yet unknown.
Egistus now believes, and craves Advice
Of Franion (whom he finds maturely wise)
He counsels him, if now the winds sat right,
To weigh his Anchor, and set Sail that night.
Fortune (though blind) favours this rightous cause
With busie care: nor doth Egistus pause,
But (by the help of Franion) secretly
With winged haste (by help of Luna's lunacy)
He passes through the City Postern Gate,
With all his train, and is so blest by Fate,
To find the Skies serene, the Surges tame,
The surly Winds asleep, untill he came
Within the sight of Syracuse: the Shoar,
Is throng'd with Loyal Subjects, to adore
Their lawful Prince; their chearful ecchoes ring,
Heaven bless our Soveraign, God preserve the King.
CANT. 2.
Pandosto seizes on his Queen,
What various griefs and woes are seen:
She brings a Daughter forth; whom he
Leaves, to the mercy of the Sea
In a frail Boat; Bellaria's try'd
For Loosness, and for Paricide:
But by Apollo's upright doom,
She scapes a wisht for Martyrdom.
The Prince Garinter dies, whose death
Bereaves the Queen Bellaria's breath.
Pandosto's penitence (too late)
Who builds a Tomb to humour Fate.
What various griefs and woes are seen:
She brings a Daughter forth; whom he
Leaves, to the mercy of the Sea
In a frail Boat; Bellaria's try'd
For Loosness, and for Paricide:
But by Apollo's upright doom,
She scapes a wisht for Martyrdom.
The Prince Garinter dies, whose death
Bereaves the Queen Bellaria's breath.
Pandosto's penitence (too late)
Who builds a Tomb to humour Fate.
Egistus
thus deliver'd by the Gods
From eminent ruine, all their Altars load
With sacrifices for their blest support,
When death did wait him in Pandosto's Court:
Whose Citizens are all in uproar, they
Believe that the Sicilians went away,
doubting some curst contrivance, since their flight
Was shrowded with the sullen mists of night:
But King Pandosto now will pawn his life,
That his Cup-bearer (Franion) and his wife
Bellaria, had plotted this protection,
Mov'd by the fervency of her affection:
So swoln with rage, he instantly commands,
Those of the Guard, to lay their guilty hands
Upon his guiltless Queen (there's no denial)
And make her Prisoner till the day of trial.
The Guard (with much reluctancy) perform,
The K. commands, the words of Kings can charm
They find her playing with her pretty Son
Garinter, and declare what must be done;
Bellaria swoons for sorrow when she hears
The cruel Message, (which they tell in tears)
But her immaculate, thrice spot-less mind,
Signs her quietus, though her death's design'd:
Away she goes (free from the thought of crime)
In doleful sighs and tears to pass the time.
Pandosto then complain (his own disgrace)
That King Egistus had supply'd his place,
Rode in his saddle (though his old campanion)
By the lewd practise of the Traytor Franion,
Who now is fled away with Sicils King,
He therefore must be just in punishing
His Wives adultery, the People (who
Do never further then the outside go)
Easily fancy the report she stood
(Say they) one fair in fame; she once was good
The injur'd Queen mean time is tyr'd with wo,
And now (as Fates conspir'd her overthrow)
She finds her self with child, she wrings her hands
For now, quoth she, the King confirmed stands,
(Who cruelly consents to credit fables)
That Egist put a wrong Point in his tables:
O how does Fortune in disaster vary,
Though safely brought to bed, I must miscarry:
The Saylor bears a part in this same Ditty,
And thinketh it would move the King to pitty,
Conveys the story to his Royal ear,
Who raves and foams like some incensed Bear,
Baited by Mastiffs; she shall surely die
(quoth he) though Jove should give my words the lie;
Her Bastard (too) shall suffer death, by this:
The glory of the Sex delivered is
Of a fair Daughter, this Pandosto hears,
And (holding up his hand to Heaven) swears
Both Child and Mother shall be burnt with fire,
His Nobles strives to mitigate his ire:
They tell him that his Queen had ever prov'd,
How much she honor'd, and how much she lov'd
His sacred Person: say she were defil'd,
Nature and Justice yet would spare the Child:
But all these reasons cannot bate his grudge;
Who is the Queens Accuser, and her Judge:
But yet at last he is content to spare
The Child, but find a death more cruel far,
He lights on this device: The Child (quoth he)
As't came by Fortune, so to Destiny
I will commit it in a sedgy Boat;
This Royal Infant must on Neptune float,
Left to the mercy of the Winds and Seas;
But Heaven has care of such sweet Babes as these
He then commands his Guard to fetch the brat,
(For so he terms it) who was sucking at
Its Mothers milky tears; what heart can think:
Had I huge Oaks for Pens, the Sea for Ink,
And Homers deathlesse verse, I could not show
Half the stern horror of Bellaria's wo
Half dead they leave the Queen, and bring the child,
(Whose face would make a savage Scythian mild)
Unto the King, who strait commands his Guard
To put it into the little Boat prepar'd
For this fell purpose; neither Rudder, nor
A Sail to guide it to some happy shoar:
The Infant plac'd; unto a Ship they tye
The little Bark, and hale it instantly
Into the Main; this done they cut the Cord,
And then return to certifie their Lord.
They were no sooner gone but their arose
A mighty Tempest (like two potent foes)
Austes with Boreas fights, the Seas swell high,
The sparkling Surges front the weeping skie:
But here the Muse must leave this theam a while,
And unto King Pandosto turn her stile:
Who yet not glutted with revenge, conveens
All his chief Lords, declaring that he means
His trothlesse Queen in open Court to try,
For Murder (meant) and for Adultery:
Behold Bellaria's at the Bar, she throws
A light about her, though hem'd in with woes,
Her innocence gives courage above thought,
And now the King's hir'd witnesses are brought?
Who heard, the hapless Queen declares her grief,
That King Pandosto ever had the chief
Seat in her heart, that she had ever been
His faithful Subject, and his Loyal Queen:
That she no love had to Egistus shown,
But such as strictest Anchorites might own:
Pandosto tells her, that her surest fence,
(Considering her crime) was impudence;
Her guilt emboldens her, but thou shalt die,
Quoth he, by furious fire, to typifie
Thy fate in hell: Bellaria kneeling on
The humble earth (in a distracted tone)
Besought the King, by the great love he bare
To his young Son Garinter (his sole heir)
To grant her own request ('twas this) to send)
Six of his Nobles, Phœbus to attend
At Delphos, if that God (who all things knew)
Should ratifie her guilt, all torments due
To Parricide and vile Adulterous sin,
(Practiz'd against the person of a King)
Might be inflicted: this most just Request
So reasonable, could not find the least
Repulse, without Pandosto by his deeds
Will make it known, his Will all Law exceeds:
The Queen returns to Prison, he to Court,
And the six Lords together now consort
For Cynthia's Temple, and three weeks expir'd)
Their feet salute that shoar so much desir'd,
With great Devotion the six Peers pass on,
Unto the Fane of fam'd Hypereon;
Where come they offer liberal Sacrifice,
And gratifie his Priests with Gifts of Price:
They had not long chanted the Hymn divine,
Kneeling before Apollo's Shrine,
But they might hear, a voice resembling thunder,
(To their great joy, but to their greater wonder)
Crying, Bohemians, what ye hap to find,
Behind the Alter, take up? 'tis the mind
Of great Apollo; they forthwith obey,
And find a Parchment Scrowl, which thus did say.
From eminent ruine, all their Altars load
With sacrifices for their blest support,
When death did wait him in Pandosto's Court:
Whose Citizens are all in uproar, they
Believe that the Sicilians went away,
doubting some curst contrivance, since their flight
Was shrowded with the sullen mists of night:
But King Pandosto now will pawn his life,
That his Cup-bearer (Franion) and his wife
Bellaria, had plotted this protection,
Mov'd by the fervency of her affection:
Those of the Guard, to lay their guilty hands
Upon his guiltless Queen (there's no denial)
And make her Prisoner till the day of trial.
The Guard (with much reluctancy) perform,
The K. commands, the words of Kings can charm
They find her playing with her pretty Son
Garinter, and declare what must be done;
Bellaria swoons for sorrow when she hears
The cruel Message, (which they tell in tears)
But her immaculate, thrice spot-less mind,
Signs her quietus, though her death's design'd:
Away she goes (free from the thought of crime)
In doleful sighs and tears to pass the time.
Pandosto then complain (his own disgrace)
That King Egistus had supply'd his place,
Rode in his saddle (though his old campanion)
By the lewd practise of the Traytor Franion,
Who now is fled away with Sicils King,
He therefore must be just in punishing
His Wives adultery, the People (who
Do never further then the outside go)
Easily fancy the report she stood
(Say they) one fair in fame; she once was good
The injur'd Queen mean time is tyr'd with wo,
And now (as Fates conspir'd her overthrow)
She finds her self with child, she wrings her hands
For now, quoth she, the King confirmed stands,
(Who cruelly consents to credit fables)
That Egist put a wrong Point in his tables:
Though safely brought to bed, I must miscarry:
The Saylor bears a part in this same Ditty,
And thinketh it would move the King to pitty,
Conveys the story to his Royal ear,
Who raves and foams like some incensed Bear,
Baited by Mastiffs; she shall surely die
(quoth he) though Jove should give my words the lie;
Her Bastard (too) shall suffer death, by this:
The glory of the Sex delivered is
Of a fair Daughter, this Pandosto hears,
And (holding up his hand to Heaven) swears
Both Child and Mother shall be burnt with fire,
His Nobles strives to mitigate his ire:
They tell him that his Queen had ever prov'd,
How much she honor'd, and how much she lov'd
His sacred Person: say she were defil'd,
Nature and Justice yet would spare the Child:
But all these reasons cannot bate his grudge;
Who is the Queens Accuser, and her Judge:
But yet at last he is content to spare
The Child, but find a death more cruel far,
He lights on this device: The Child (quoth he)
As't came by Fortune, so to Destiny
I will commit it in a sedgy Boat;
This Royal Infant must on Neptune float,
Left to the mercy of the Winds and Seas;
But Heaven has care of such sweet Babes as these
He then commands his Guard to fetch the brat,
(For so he terms it) who was sucking at
Had I huge Oaks for Pens, the Sea for Ink,
And Homers deathlesse verse, I could not show
Half the stern horror of Bellaria's wo
Half dead they leave the Queen, and bring the child,
(Whose face would make a savage Scythian mild)
Unto the King, who strait commands his Guard
To put it into the little Boat prepar'd
For this fell purpose; neither Rudder, nor
A Sail to guide it to some happy shoar:
The Infant plac'd; unto a Ship they tye
The little Bark, and hale it instantly
Into the Main; this done they cut the Cord,
And then return to certifie their Lord.
They were no sooner gone but their arose
A mighty Tempest (like two potent foes)
Austes with Boreas fights, the Seas swell high,
The sparkling Surges front the weeping skie:
But here the Muse must leave this theam a while,
And unto King Pandosto turn her stile:
Who yet not glutted with revenge, conveens
All his chief Lords, declaring that he means
His trothlesse Queen in open Court to try,
For Murder (meant) and for Adultery:
Behold Bellaria's at the Bar, she throws
A light about her, though hem'd in with woes,
Her innocence gives courage above thought,
And now the King's hir'd witnesses are brought?
Who heard, the hapless Queen declares her grief,
That King Pandosto ever had the chief
His faithful Subject, and his Loyal Queen:
That she no love had to Egistus shown,
But such as strictest Anchorites might own:
Pandosto tells her, that her surest fence,
(Considering her crime) was impudence;
Her guilt emboldens her, but thou shalt die,
Quoth he, by furious fire, to typifie
Thy fate in hell: Bellaria kneeling on
The humble earth (in a distracted tone)
Besought the King, by the great love he bare
To his young Son Garinter (his sole heir)
To grant her own request ('twas this) to send)
Six of his Nobles, Phœbus to attend
At Delphos, if that God (who all things knew)
Should ratifie her guilt, all torments due
To Parricide and vile Adulterous sin,
(Practiz'd against the person of a King)
Might be inflicted: this most just Request
So reasonable, could not find the least
Repulse, without Pandosto by his deeds
Will make it known, his Will all Law exceeds:
The Queen returns to Prison, he to Court,
And the six Lords together now consort
For Cynthia's Temple, and three weeks expir'd)
Their feet salute that shoar so much desir'd,
With great Devotion the six Peers pass on,
Unto the Fane of fam'd Hypereon;
Where come they offer liberal Sacrifice,
And gratifie his Priests with Gifts of Price:
Kneeling before Apollo's Shrine,
But they might hear, a voice resembling thunder,
(To their great joy, but to their greater wonder)
Crying, Bohemians, what ye hap to find,
Behind the Alter, take up? 'tis the mind
Of great Apollo; they forthwith obey,
And find a Parchment Scrowl, which thus did say.
THE ORACLE
Suspitions are no proofs, and JealousieA judge that's sway'd with damnd partialitly:
Bellaria's chast, Eegistus void of blame;
Pandosto treacherous, and void of shame:
Franion's a Loyal Subject: the sweet Child,
(That in a paper-Cock-boat was exil'd,
Its native Country) is most innocent:
Pandosto shall embrace his Monument
Without an heir, unless this female's found,
Whom justly men conjecture to be drown'd.
No sooner had the Lords this Shedule handed,
But by Apollo's Priests they were commanded,
Not to presume to read it till they came
Unto Pandosto (as they dread the Name
Of sacred Phœbus) home returned; they tell
The King what hapned at the Oracle,
Shewing the Scrowl: the Nobles of the Land
Intreat the King, he forthwith would command
The Queen unto the bar, and there, before
The Lords and Commons, if she were a Whore,
Appoint her such a death as might deter
Her Sex from paths so much irregular;
But if her Grace were faultlesse found, that then
She might be lov'd and honour'd once agen.
This counsel pleas'd Pandosto, and next day
His Peerage all appears, the People they
May witness with them; poor Bellaria stands
Before the Bar, to Heaven her eyes and hands
She lists, her foul Indictment's read, but she
Puts in a pithy and a noble Plea:
Pandosto then commands a Duke to read
The Scrowl, being what Apollo had decreed:
Which when the people heard, they claps their hands
While King Pandosto all amazed stands,
Asham'd of his rash folly, but at last
He begs Bellaria to forgive what's past:
But while he's courting her (that's easly led)
black news is brought that prince Garinter's dead
Which soon as fair Bellaria heavs, she dies,
Her Soul ascending to the Deities.
The King (affectionate too late) so much
Lament her death, his inward grief is such,
For three days space he's speechless, but at length
Recovering his forfeit speech and strength,
He posts forth seas of tears, and makes such moan,
Rocks would relent to hear him sigh and groan,
But time asswages these laments: the King
Makes preparation for the burying
Of chaste Bellaria, and his soul-lesse heir,
Whom in one sumptuous tomb he doth inter:
Making such solemn Obsequies as told,
How dear he did his Queen Bellaria hold,
Upon whose tomb (the glory of her kind)
In Golden Letters were these number sign'd:
But by Apollo's Priests they were commanded,
Not to presume to read it till they came
Unto Pandosto (as they dread the Name
Of sacred Phœbus) home returned; they tell
The King what hapned at the Oracle,
Shewing the Scrowl: the Nobles of the Land
Intreat the King, he forthwith would command
The Queen unto the bar, and there, before
The Lords and Commons, if she were a Whore,
Her Sex from paths so much irregular;
But if her Grace were faultlesse found, that then
She might be lov'd and honour'd once agen.
This counsel pleas'd Pandosto, and next day
His Peerage all appears, the People they
May witness with them; poor Bellaria stands
Before the Bar, to Heaven her eyes and hands
She lists, her foul Indictment's read, but she
Puts in a pithy and a noble Plea:
Pandosto then commands a Duke to read
The Scrowl, being what Apollo had decreed:
Which when the people heard, they claps their hands
While King Pandosto all amazed stands,
Asham'd of his rash folly, but at last
He begs Bellaria to forgive what's past:
But while he's courting her (that's easly led)
black news is brought that prince Garinter's dead
Which soon as fair Bellaria heavs, she dies,
Her Soul ascending to the Deities.
The King (affectionate too late) so much
Lament her death, his inward grief is such,
For three days space he's speechless, but at length
Recovering his forfeit speech and strength,
He posts forth seas of tears, and makes such moan,
Rocks would relent to hear him sigh and groan,
But time asswages these laments: the King
Makes preparation for the burying
Of chaste Bellaria, and his soul-lesse heir,
Whom in one sumptuous tomb he doth inter:
How dear he did his Queen Bellaria hold,
Upon whose tomb (the glory of her kind)
In Golden Letters were these number sign'd:
Here lies intomb'd Bohemias blessed Queen,
(Bellaria) whose fame shall flourish green,
While Sol shall dart a beam, accus'd to be
Unchast and conscious of Adultery,
But by Apollos sacred Arbitration
Restored with glory to her former station.
Yet slain with grief at last, grief, that had long
Surcharg'd her soul, caus'd by her husbands wrong
Therefore who ere thou art that passeth by,
Curse him that caus'd this Royal Queen to dye.
(Bellaria) whose fame shall flourish green,
While Sol shall dart a beam, accus'd to be
Unchast and conscious of Adultery,
But by Apollos sacred Arbitration
Restored with glory to her former station.
Yet slain with grief at last, grief, that had long
Surcharg'd her soul, caus'd by her husbands wrong
Therefore who ere thou art that passeth by,
Curse him that caus'd this Royal Queen to dye.
Unto this monument once every day,
The King Pandosto would repair to pay
A dolourous tribute, where (lamenting) we
Will leave him, and review the raging Sea,
where his young daughter floats on Neptunes back
High providence protecting her from wrack.
The King Pandosto would repair to pay
A dolourous tribute, where (lamenting) we
Will leave him, and review the raging Sea,
where his young daughter floats on Neptunes back
High providence protecting her from wrack.
CANT. 3.
The Child that floated on the Main,
Is sav'd by a Sicilian Swain;
Who fosters her with happy care,
Till she is almost fit to hear.
Her glorious beauty is made known,
To King Egistus only Son;
Who comes to gaze, but when they part,
Fawnia secludes his Princely heart;
(Doubting his Fathers rage) they flie
(With an intent) for Italy,
But by a sullen fate are driven
Into a fair Bohemian haven:
Dorastus is to prison sent,
(To Fawnia's direful discontent)
Who now is known Pandosto's heir;
All to Sicilia then repair:
There these two Lovers (crost by fate,
Till now) becomes incorporate:
Pandosto kills himself and leaves
His Crown, Dorastus it receives.
The Infant Princesse by a cruel doom,
Is sav'd by a Sicilian Swain;
Who fosters her with happy care,
Till she is almost fit to hear.
Her glorious beauty is made known,
To King Egistus only Son;
Who comes to gaze, but when they part,
Fawnia secludes his Princely heart;
(With an intent) for Italy,
But by a sullen fate are driven
Into a fair Bohemian haven:
Dorastus is to prison sent,
(To Fawnia's direful discontent)
Who now is known Pandosto's heir;
All to Sicilia then repair:
There these two Lovers (crost by fate,
Till now) becomes incorporate:
Pandosto kills himself and leaves
His Crown, Dorastus it receives.
allowing in bright-hair'd Thetis angry woomb
(Tost by the mercilesse winds and angry Seas)
Avoids the horrid shock for two whole days:
But had not scap'd the third: if she that guides
Saphire-hew'd Neptune, and in triumph rides
Over the surface of the swelling deep,
Had not commanded Spio safe to keep
The Royal Babe, the plyant Nymph obeys,
Guiding the Boat through Neptunes pathlesse ways
Till on the Coast of Sicily it stands,
There Spio leaves it sticking on the sands:
It fortuned a Shepheard that had lost
One of his flock, implores about the coast,
His sheep he seek't in vain: but in's retreat,
The Shepheard hears this pretty lamb to bleat:
He stands amaz'd a while, being crampt with fear,
But taking heart of grace, he comes more near,
Wrapt in a Mantle broidered curiously;
The Shepheard (who's astonish'd at the thing)
Resolves to bear the Child unto the King;
The pretty bantling in his arms he bears,
And presently unto his Cot repairs;
But as the Shepheard ceiz'd the Royal Child,
A Purse of Gold he at her feet beheld:
His mind is altered now, himself will keep
The Infant (who does writh its head and weep
Wanting the Dulcid Dug) but he hastes home,
And is no sooner to his Mansion come,
But the Child cries aloud; the Shepherdess,
(Amaz'd) with both her hands her self does bless:
Women (though excellent) are so much accurst
By Nature, that they still believe the worst:
She thinks it is some Bastard, ceizes on
A Cudgel, vowing Castigation:
The good man seeing her (who wore the breeches)
Arm'd with her mace, strivs with the fairst speeches
To pacifie her rage (but his sweet Honey)
Cannot be won, until the Purse of Money
Greet her grey eyes; declaring all the matter
How he had found the Infant on the water:
She then began to simper somewhat sweetly,
And in her arms she takes the babe most neatly;
Be sure (quoth he) you never blab our store)
Profit (quoth she) is a good hatch to th' door:
All things in order set, he carefully
Doth keep his sheep, she sings a Lullaby
Inrich'd with all those graces, which we call
Supreamly excellent; she's Fawnia nam'd,
Fawnia that shall in future time be fam'd:
The honest Shepheard and the Shepherdess,
Her Father and Mother she doth guess,
Who in she obeyld in all things, yet her face
Was so Celestial; and with such a grace
She bare herself (so young and yet so sage)
All men might run and see her Parentage;
The Swainlings who live near, do wonder sore,
That Porrus, who was once so very poor,
Should on the sudden have such wondrous store:
Blest with a daughter too, whose wit and feature,
Almost declar'd she was no mortal creature;
Who row such favour finds in each mans eye,
Sicilia's Prince hears of her fulgency;
Egistus Son (Dorastus) whose rare parts,
Wan him the peoples wonder, with their hearts:
Now by the Gods (qd. he) speaking in laughter,
I will go to see the shepherds handsom Daughter:
Who kept her Fathers sheep with solemn care;
The chearful Sun did for the West prepare;
When Prince Dorastus goes from Court set on,
And finds the fairest Fawnia all alone;
Somnus had ceiz'd her sences on the ground,
(Cloath'd with sweet grass she slept, her head was crown'd
With a Fine Flowry Chaplet. Flora she,
Or Arrow loving Cynthia seem'd to be:
His noble heart becomes her beauties prize:
Who waking, wonders: she conceit some God
Had left the pleasures of his bright abode,
To blesse mortality upon her knee
She falls; Incomparable Mago, quoth he,
I am no Deity; ‘Though Princes are
“Cal'd Gods, like other mortal men they fare,
“And travel to the Grave the self same way:
I am thy slave (most beautious Fawnia)
Behold Dorastus, King Egistus Son;
Implore; thy love; sure Fawnia can be won,
The Shepherdess (whose colour went and came)
To hear of Love, and Prince Dorastus Name,
Replies, My gracious Lord, it is your will
To jest with her, who shall adore you still:
But simple sheapheards never aim so high
As Princes Courts, the brow of Majesty
Breaks their frail sences, Odours poyson them,
They dare not gaze upon a Diadem.
This said, she rose and reverently bow'd,
While 1000 thoughts about her soul do crowd:
The Prince repaid her courtesie with a kiss;
Can Heaven (quoth he) afford a greater bliss?
Now by the powers Celestial, should my Father,
(As sure he will) and all earthly Kings together,
Conspire to hinder my resolves, I'd do
What my unbounded thoughts do promp me to?
He wed thee (Fawnia) we this night will fly
From hence (my dear) to fertile Italy;
Along; the Rich find friendship every where,
Fawnia replies, your Highness shall be,
As true and sacred Oracles to me:
Dispose your humble Handmaid as you please.
Within these few hours we will take the Seas,
(quoth he) I have a trusty Servant, who
I know will further what I list to do:
Him will I send to thee within this hour,
Him follow, and may the Almighty power
Prosper our loves: this said, they kiss and part.
Dorastus soon (aided by Capnia's art)
Fills three fair Casks full of Gold, beside
Trunks full of Rich attire for his fair Bride:
A ship lies ready, and (as their intents
Were own'p by Heaven) no rude North wind rents
The rowling waves; while things preparing were,
Capnia doth unto Fawnia repair:
Who welcomes this true Servant to her Lord,
By whom she presently is brought on board:
The Marriners finding such pleasant gaies,
Prepare for lancing, and expand their sayls;
Where lo Dorastus comes and clips his dear;
And now they on the raging Ocean are,
Who flatters for a while but suddenly
A baleful darkness muffles up the sky;
The winds are all in larg'd, dire thunder's heard,
The Master pores in vain upon the Garde
All look for death, when be, a minutes time,
Makes satisfaction for three dayes crime:
That's not much distant from Pandosto's Court:
Dorastus droops, so to mistake his way,
Instead of Italy, Bohemia:
Fawnia lament, for now behold there came
Some of Pandosto's Guard, to know what Name
The ship did bear, and presently to bring
All her Inhabitants unto the King:
There no excuse can serve, along they go,
Dorastus, Fawnia, and Capnio,
With lowly homage (humbled on the knee)
They do salute Bohemia's Majesty
Who ask Dorastus what's his Name, and whence
He came, who straightway renders his pretence?
My Name (Sir) is Meleagrus, by my birth
A Knight brought up on Trapalonian earth:
This Gentlewoman, whom I mean to make
My wife; is an Italion; for whose sake,
(Doubting her friends consent) I took my way
(Partial Fate) to Trapolonia;
But forc'd by tempest hither ('gainst my mind)
Where I shall hope hospitious friends to find:
Pandosto starting from his Throne, replyes,
Now by the everliving Deities.
Thou art a perjur'd Traytor, and hast won,
(This Lady to her sure destruction)
By cursed frauds; who for her grace and beauty,
Merits that mighty Kings should do her duty,
And till I hear of her descent, and can
Prove that thou art a Trapilonian,
Dorastus made, being hurried presently
To prison: Fawnia wrings her lilly palms,
And swoons away, vext with uncessant qualms:
Pandosto, who (though old and sapless grown)
Loves the lewd act; more than he lov'd his crown,
Did deeply doat on Fawnia, comforts her,
Promising if she'l presently confer
Her love on him, he'l instantly set free
Her Knight, and raise him unto dignity:
She scarce refrains to pull the Tyrants beard,
Calls him a dog for footy Dis prepar'd.
A month is past since King Egistus lost
His Son, who sends about to every cost:
At last his willy Messengers resort,
With hasty motion to Pandosto's Court,
Who kindly welhomes them; their charge is thus,
Where ere they find his Son, with courteous
And wining language, to convene him home;
But if they find he will yet further rome,
To bring him into Sicily by force:
But for poor Fawnia her doom is worse,
She must be murdered presently, and so
The Prince's Servant, faithful Capnio;
They had no sooner told the Embassy,
But King Pandosto sendeth presently
For Meleagrus; he's Sicilia's heir
He knows, and he is glad he has him there:
Dorastus wonders at this great mutation,
But more to see some Lords of his own Nation;
That he shall manifest the hate he had
Conceiv'd! 'gainst Fawnia for her great disdain;
Commanding she and Capnio should be slain.
Fawnia (no doubt inspir'd by Heaven) cryes,
O why did the cruel destinies
Cause Prince Dorastus to affect a Maid
So far beneath him, (now to death betray'd)
But since I must forsake the world, take here,
Brave Prince, this chain, which still for my sake wear.
Which from my Infancy has ever been,
About my neck, but till now-never seen:
Pandosto starts, he knew the chain of old,
It was his Wives: he then began to hold
His thoughts in strict suspence, computes the time
Since (mad with rage) he acted that black crime,
He finds she is his daughter; strait he rears
Himself from's throne, watring his cheeks with tears,
Ah Fawnia! sweet Fawnia he doth try,
All there admire at this strange Colloquie:
Fawnia is not more glad that she has found
So great a Father (then Dorastus crown'd)
With glorious hope, to gain so brave a Wife;
The Lords on both sides joy, that now the strife,
'Twixt the Sicilians, and Bohemia's state,
Shall cease, and naught remain of ancient hate:
The King great Feasts and Justing doth prepare,
For joy he now hath found a female heir:
Which done, he does imbarque himself and his,
With Prince Dorastus, and his only bliss
He takes along, and Neptunes brow appears
So smooth, in six days they see Syracuse:
Egistus marvels when he hears the news:
And having heard Pandosto's story, sends
For Porrus (who was in the Jaylors hands:
Who tells the truth of all, how Fawnia scapt,
Shewing the Mantle wherein she was wrapt:
Pandosto Knights him, and the Lovers are
The next day married, Hymen every where
Is chanted: Lo Hymen each man sings:
And an Eternal League 'twixt the two Kings
Concluded: every Commoner is feasted
For forty dayes (so long the triumph lasted)
Which was no sooner ended, but his Soul,
Vext for his former facts, so black and foul:
Having betraid his friend, and slain his wife,
Pandosto's own hands take Pandosto's life:
Whose death for many dayes they do bewail:
And then Dorastus and his Queen set sail
For fair Behomia, where he sumtuously
Inters his Father: Governs graciously
For many years, till Death (with little pain)
Did put a perod to his Life, and Reign.
FINIS.
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