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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CANT. 2. |
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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.
| Fortunes Tennis-Ball | |