 | The Royall Master |  |
The fift Act.
Simphorosa, Theodosia, Domitilla.Theo.
He consorted and counsel'd Domitilla;
I have my part in loves affliction.
This I fear'd
Enter Iacamo.
I must acquaint the King; where is your fellow
Bombo? his mirth might now be seasonable.
Iaca.
Hee's gone Madam.
Sim.
Gone, whither?
Iaca.
Backe to the country house; he heard of my Lord
Montaltoes disgrace, and the feare of his supplying
The place of a favorite, sent him away this morning
With all his moveables; the countrey he saies
Is wholesome, where he will dye without feare or wit when
His time comes; he durst not stay to see the King.
Exit Jaca.
Sim.
Would we had still beene strangers to the Court;
Leave us; my daughter is much bound to your grace.
Dom.
It is the King you speake of; pray be carefull
You speake all goodnesse of him, he deserves it,
And will when I am dead.
Sim.
Ile lose no time.
Exit.
Theo.
I wish it prosper.
Dom.
I dare not say the King dissembles with me;
That were a fault beyond my love; but sure
Something he said that made my heart beleeve
He did not meane me for another; and
Montalto, whose reward I must be thought,
Is now confin'd, and under his displeasure.
Theo.
He will have more care of his honour then
To place thee so unworthily; Montalto
Has plaid the cunning traytour with our loves,
If I may trust thee noble Philoberto
That told me the whole story of his falsehood,
Which I before suspected.
Dom.
And if he should dispise me as tis justice,
Will heaven be angry if I love him still;
Or will the King call it a treason in me?
If hee doe, I can willingly dye for't,
And with my last words pray he may live happy;
But why am I this trouble to your grace?
My story is not worth one of your minuts;
To make my time more happy, spent in something
That may concerne your highnesse; you doe love too.
Enter Iacamo.
Iaca.
Madam, the Duke of Florence.
Theo.
How the Duke?
Dom.
Why does he visite me? Madam indeed
You may beleeve I love him not.
Theo.
Admit him
I preethe, and conceale me Domitilla;
I know he comes a wooing to thy beauty;
I preethe let me heare the second part:
Exit.
Dom.
I shall against my owne desires obey you.
Enter Duke.
Duke.
The ambition of my eyes can not be thought
Immodest, if they ever wish to dwell here;
They have found their light agen; let no misfortune
Be a second cause to bury me in darkenesse.
Dom.
Your graces pardon, if my haste to attend
The King and his commands made me appeare
Rude when I left your excellence.
Duke.
This does more
Then satisfie.
Dom.
I know not how I may
Stand guilty in your thoughts by keeping a
Rich Caskanet.
Duke.
You honor'd me to accept it.
Dom.
But with a blush I must remember too
I did not thanke you; there was want of time
Or manners; I must leave it to your mercy,
And would by any duty to your grace
Expiate my errour.
Duke.
Madam it is not worth
The mention of this gratitude; Your breath
Makes the oblation rich, and me who am
Encourag'd by your vertue, to present you
With something of more valew, then a world
Of these poore empty glories; I dare give you
Dom.
Blesse your grace from such a meaning.
Duke.
Can you be cruell to it?
Dom.
I ne're had
The confidence to looke upon a wound;
And such a bleeding object as your heart
Would fright my senses.
Duke.
You are more ingenious
Then not to understand that I meane love;
I love you Madam, best of all your sex.
Dom.
You cannot Sir, you dare not.
Duke.
How?
Dom.
You dare not be so wicked I am am sure
When you remember, what you are, a Prince.
Duke.
Is it a sinne for Princes to love Madam?
Dom.
Or if you could dispence with so much passion
To love me, and durst give me, what I tremble
To thinke you promise, that, that very act
In which you most advance affection to me,
Would make me thinke you love me not.
Duke.
Be clearer.
Dom.
How should I thinke his courtship worth my trust,
And meete him with a reall change of hearts,
Who in his very first attempt of love,
Would blast my honour, and betray me to
A shame, blacke as the tongue of infamy.
Duke.
Would I?
Dom.
And more;
For you in this
Would tempt me to an act, by which I should
Not onely wound my selfe to death of honour,
But make me guilty of anothers blood,
And kill an innocent Lady, whose least teare
Is worth a thousand lives of perjurd men
That make a scorne of vertue.
Duke.
What Lady?
Dom.
Have you forgot the Princesse Sir?
Duke.
The Princesse!
In that name youle finde your selfe agen
Lost in a mist of passions; oh thinke
The fames and hopes of two rich countries are
Engag'd upon your faith; your highnesse pardon.
I finde some blushes chide my too much boldnesse,
And by a nearer view now of your goodnesse,
I see my errour to beleeve you meant
Other then triall of me, or could fall
To any thought beneath your birth and honour.
Duke.
But if Theodosia be made anothers
By her owne gift, and I at large, with what
Justice may I be thought then to addresse
My passions hither.
Dom.
If the Princesse, which
I must not thinke, give your heart backe agen,
And that you could quit all your tyes with honour,
My thoughts are all resign'd to the Kings will;
He must dispose of me, by my owne vow,
Without his free consent never to marry.
Exit.
Duke.
The King; there tis; I thought shee was his mistresse;
Tis not possible the Princesse now
Can pardon my neglect; Montaltoes practise
Vpon me, and his poysoning of her vertue
Wo'not excuse my shame; I dare not see
Whom I have injur'd, Theodosia;
In am resolv'd, this night Ile steale from Naples.
Enter Theodosia.
Theo.
Nay doe not hide your face my Lord; it will
Appeare as fresh and lovely to my eyes,
As when it first presented me your smiles;
I am Theodosia still.
Duke.
But I have beene:
Theo.
Abus'd; time will discover to the ruine
Of his owne name, and glory of our loves,
Montaltoes practise to divide our soules.
Duke.
You cannot be so mercifull; or else
This sweetnesse is put on to enlarge my guilt,
When we are both compar'd; dare you beleeve
Theo.
Vpon whom?
Duke.
Vpon my selfe, for suffering my eyes
To wander from this sweetnesse.
Theo.
You outdoe
The satisfaction; if your grace can finde
Me grow agen within your heart, where first
My love desired to plant.
Duke.
Oh let me drowne
My blushes in this overflow of charity;
But there's an act that justice calls me to,
Before I can be worthy of this peace.
Montalto has plaid the villaine; now I finde it,
And from his treacherous heart my sword must force
A bloody satisfaction for thy honour,
Poyson'd by him.
Theo.
Stay that revenge; shame has
Already sunke him.
Enter a Courtier.
Court.
Sir the King desires
Some conference with your grace, and with you Madam.
Theo.
I shall attend you Sir; we shall present
Together, thus no object to displease him.
Duke.
Though I shall blush to see him, Ile waite on you.
Exeunt.
Enter King, Riviero, Andrugio; Petitioners.
King.
Good heaven, upon what humane bosome shall
We that are made your substitutes on earth
Place secure confidence? and yet there may
Be malice in complaints; the flourishing Oake
For his extent of Branches, stature, growth,
The darling and the Idoll of the wood,
Whose awefull nod the under trees adore,
Shooke by a tempest, and throwne downe must neede
Submit his curled head and full growne limbes,
To every common Axe, be patient, while
The tortures put to every joynt the Sawes
And engines, making with their very noyse
The Forrests groane and tremble; but not one
Whom poverty of soule, and envy sends
To gather stickes from the trees wish'd for ruine,
The great mans Embleme; I did love Montalto,
And wod not have him lost if justice would
Consent, and be a little of his side;
But here are the two plummets weigh him downe;
His impious practice on the Duke, and base
Aspertions on our sister that defame
Our whole blood, is a loud, loud accusation.
Rivi.
His conscience dares not Sir deny't.
King.
And you
Speake here the tragicke story of Riviero,
Whose honest soule for not complying with
His power and ends, chose in a discontent
To make himselfe an exile, yee pursude,
And by the practise of Montalto poyson'd
At Rome.
Andr.
This letter sent to Alvarez,
Whose treacherous Physicke purg'd his soule away,
Is too much testimony.
King.
Tis his Character.
Enter Octavio.
Octavio you come for justice too.
Octav.
It were a vaine breath to desire it Sir;
Your thoughts are still so conscious of vertue,
They will prevent petition.
King.
Come nearer.
Rivi.
The King is troubled.
Andr.
Where he loved, to finde
So much ingratitude.
King.
Andrugio.
Rivi.
Things are not yet mature for my discovery.
King.
You observe—away—
Exit Andr. Octav.
We may be just Philoberto,
Yet not destroy another attribute,
Which shewes whose representative we are;
Mercy becomes a King; too much can be
Resolv'd.
Enter Simphorsa.
Madam you are welcome.
Rivi.
I begin
To feare there is some spell upon the King;
If after this Montalto shall prevaile,
Let innocence be stronger to the world,
And heaven be afraid to punish vice.
King.
Remove
For a few minuts.
Rivi.
I obey.
King.
You tell me wonders Madam; las poore Lady,
I shall then have enough to reconcile;
Shee was too hasty to interpret me
Her lover.
Sim.
If you Sir apply no cure,
The fond impression may I feare indanger
Her sence and life; I urg'd Montalto Sir
By your command, before his change of fortune,
But shee tooke no delight to heare him namde.
King.
No, no, nor I; good heaven how I am troubled
How to repaire this pretty peece of innocence,
Whom I have brought into a waking dreame
Of passion; something I must doe; pray tell me,
But tell me truth; I charge thee by thy duty
To me, to Naples, and to heaven, or if
There be in womans faith, or thy Religion
Any thing else to make it up a full
And perfect conjuration.
Sim.
You fright me;
Without these not a thought within my heart
But you have power to summon.
King.
Tell me then,
Is Domitilla vertuous?
Sim.
How Sir?
King.
Is shee exceeding vertuous; is shee most
Divinely chast; can shee doe more then blush
At wanton sounds; will shee be very angry
To heare it nam'd; tell me; does shee pray
And weepe, and wod be torne upon the racke
Ere shee consent to staine one virgin thought?
Or dares shee more then Lucrece kill her selfe
To save her honour, or doe something more
Miraculously then all this to preserve
Her white name to posterity.
Sim.
I know not
How to reply to these particulars;
But if your meaning be to have me speake
Truth of her modest and pure thoughts, shee is
All that her mother can beseech of heaven
To blesse a childe with of so chast a foule,
And vertuous simplicity.
King.
No more;
I doe beleeve, and will finde out a way
To make her satisfaction; tis just;
Say I desire her presence.
Sim.
Now you blesse us;
A widdowes prayers and teares for this great bounty.
Exit.
Enter Riviero.
Rivi.
Your sister and the Duke Sir.
King.
There's new trouble.
Rivi.
Never so lovingly united;
The pleasant language of their eyes and gestures
Doth speake their hearts at peace.
King.
That would rejoyce me.
Enter Duke, Theodosia.
Theo.
Take us to your love;
All jealousies are banish'd, and we both
Breath from one soule.
King.
My wonder and my joy.
Duke.
Your pardon.
King.
Take my bosome.
Theo.
The misfortune
Kept us at distance, was your creatures act.
King.
The clouds are now remov'd.
Lord Montalto, Sir.
King.
Let Musicke speake
His deare approach; we sent for him.
Rivi.
How's this?
King.
Let me intreate you to obscure your persons
A while.
Exit Duke, Theodosia.
Loud Musicke—Enter Guido, Aloisio, Alexio, Andrugio, Octavio, Montalto.
King.
My Lord y'are welcome to us, very welcome
We have kept our word, and finde you have not lost
Your confidence; what a brave armour is
An innocent soule? How like a rocke it bids
Defiance to a storme, against whose ribbes
The insolent waves, but dash themselves in peeces,
And fall and hide their heads in passionate foame;
How would a guilty person tremble now,
Looke pale, and with his eyes chain'd to the ground:
Betray his feare of justice.
Mont.
Where should honour
Shine with his pure and native lustre but
Where there is such a King, so good, so great,
The example and reward, he must be
A rebell twice to vertue that can live
To be convinc'd of a dishonour neare
Such an instructive goodnesse.
King.
Where be all his fierce accusers?
Call 'em to his presence,
Whom all their envies would destroy.
Rivi.
So, so;
The King is charm'd.
Octav.
They are gone upon the first
Newes of my Lords returne; they vanish'd Sir.
Mont.
So may all treason fly the brow of innocence
King.
Tis well said; but they sha not fly their names;
Reade there just to our thoughts, they apprehended
Thee lost in our displeasure (wheres our sister)
And now they came to be reveng'd Montalto,
Vpon our favours.
Right, and please your grace.
King.
Theres something may concerne your want of grace Andrugio, Philoberto.
Gives them papers.
Mont.
We are undone Guido, and I see more
Engines are leveld at my fate.
Rivi.
The King would have your Lordship peruse this.
Andr.
And these.
Rivi.
That you may know your friends and enemies.
Mont.
Lost, lost for ever.
Rivi.
Sir you know
You have obliged the Princesse Theodosia
And the Duke to you, and you may presume
To use their favours, they are here.
Enter Duke, Theodosia.
Mont.
Twere better
For me they had no beeing. I did never
Expect this; to accuse me for the death
Of Riviero; but I must obey
This fatall revolution.
King.
Why does Montalto kneele.
Mont.
I dare not aske your pardon,
Onely I beg you would put on a brow
Rough as the cause you have to make it frowne,
And that may strike me dead without more torment.
King.
Ingratefull man! am I rewarded thus;
Not onely with my faith abus'd and subjects,
But wounding all our honours.
Theo.
Let him finde your mercy Sir
For his offence to me.
Enter Simphorosa, Domitilla.
King.
I must not, dare not pardon; twere a sinne
In me of violence to heaven and justice.
Mont.
You have beene a Royall Master.
King.
Take him hence;
His life will draw a scorne upon the Kingdome;
Expect the censure of our lawes you gentlemen
We onely banish from the court.
Gui. Aloi. Alex.
You are mercifull.
Pray and be honest.
Rivi.
That last will be the greatest pennance to 'em.
King.
My passion would be strong but here is one
Come to divert the streame; how is it with
My pretty Domitilla; you and I
May change some words in private.
Octav.
The King is just, and tis within your silence
To make Montalto nothing.
Rivi.
Hee will sinke
Apace without that weight upon him; malice
Shall have no share in my revenge.
King.
And since Montalto
Is become incapable,
I wo'not marry thee; thats a thing too common,
But thou shalt be my mistresse, a preferment
Above my first intention; be wise
And entertaine it; oh the dayes and nights
Weele spend together.
Octav.
The King's very pleasant
With Domitilla.
King.
Come kisse me
Domitilla; kisse me now
Before all these; what needs this modesty;
Come let us take in one anothers soule.
Dom.
Are you the King of Naples.
King.
So they call me,
And if there be a power within that name
It shall be thine to make thee glorious,
And great above our Queene; there is no title
Like unto that our heate and blood creates
A mistresse Domitilla.
Dom.
Are you Sir in earnest?
King.
Doe but thou consent, and I
Will give thee such a proofe in my embraces
Of the delight; they will not follow us;
Ile tell thee more i'th bed-chamber.
Dom.
I dare
Not understand this language; can the King
Sinne hath deform'd his very shape; his voyce
Hath now no harmony.
King.
This is but to draw
More courtship from me.
Dom.
Pardon I beseech you;
I have found my errour.
King.
Will shee yeeld?
Dom.
I did consent
Too soone to my captivity,
Though modesty would not allow me strength
To tell you so; but you have Sir, by what
My fond thoughts never did expect, reliev'd me,
to make me know my selfe; and now preserving
That duty which I owe you as my King,
I call love backe agen, and can looke on
Your lusts with a becomming scorne.
King.
You can.
Dom.
Yes, and were Naples, Rome, and all the wealth
Of Italy laid downe, the great temptation,
Thus I would spurne their glories.
King.
Come this is but the tricke of all your sex;
We know you can dissemble appetite,
As if you were not flesh and blood.
Dom.
Sir give
Me leave to goe while I have power to pray for you,
Where was I lost? is there no friend to goodnesse;
Have I contracted such a leprous forme
That I have lost all mens defence and charity.
Octav.
Madam your innocence doth raise in me,
Though young, a willing champion, and with
My safe obedience to the King, I dare,
Armde with the witnesse of her cause, defie
The greatest souldier in the world.
King.
How's this?
Octav.
Sir, in a noble cause, if you to whom
In the first place truth flies as to an Altar,
Wave her religious defence, I dare dye for her.
You so brave? to prison with him;
We will correct your saucinesse.
Octav.
You will grace
My first act Sir, and get me fame by suffering
For so much sweetnesse.
Dom.
Let not your displeasure
Great Sir fall upon him; revenge what you
Call disobedience here.
King.
You owe much to
His confidence; nor is there any punishment
Beyond your love and liking of his boldnesse;
You two should make a marriage with your follies.
Octav.
Let Domitilla make Octavio
So blest.
Dom.
My Lord you now deserve I should
Be yours, whom with the hazard of the Kings
Anger, and your owne life you have defended;
There is a spring of honour here, and to it
I'th presence of the King, his Court and Heaven,
I dare now give my heart; nor is't without
My duty to a promise.
Octav.
Now you make
Octavio happy.
King.
Tis to my desires,
And I dare wish you joyes; forgive this practise;
Nay preety Domitilla I did this
But to divert more happily thy thoughts
Of me, who have not paide yet the full tribute
To my Cesarias dust; agen let me
Congratulate thy choise in young Octavio,
Whose birth and forward vertue will deserve thee;
Brother and sister love, and wish them happinesse.
Theo.
May all joyes spring within their hearts.
Duke.
I must present this gentleman to be more knowne to you.
Octav.
I hope you are no enemy to this blessing.
Sim.
I adde what doth become a most glad mother,
A blessing to your loves.
King.
Noble Riviero.
I live agen by your acknowledgment.
Duke.
Sir you may trust my testimony; Alvarez
Letter is now an argument of his safety,
Who is yet living to increase the guilt
Of false Montalto.
King.
Welcome; tis thy life
That hath revers'd Montaltoes doome, whose sentence
Now shall bee onely banishment; our hearts
Are full and sprightly; nothing wants but to
Perfect with holy ceremony, what
Your hearts have seal'd; mirth in each bosome flowes,
Distraction never had so sweet a close.
FINIS.
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