 | The Doubtfull Heir |  |
14
ACT. II.
Enter Leandro with Letters.Lean.
The hope, and care of many years, are in
One day destroy'd; hath Heaven no stroke in War?
Or is old providence asleep? Leonario
Is comming home with victorie, and brings
Young Ferdinand, whom I expected to
Salute a King, his Prisoner, and the Queen
With her new Conqueror, glorious in the spoils,
By putting out this light, will mix their beams
And burn our eyes out with their shine; there is
No talk but of this triumph, and the people
Whom I by art and secret murmurs had
Made doubtful at the first noise of this Conquest,
As they had borrowed souls from fear, and folly,
Adore the rising Star, and in the praise
Of him and his great fate, wonder that Heaven
Should hold a Sun, and he so bright; nor with
This flattery content, but they condemn,
(As low as all their sins shall one day them)
Him whom the chance of War hath made a Prisoner.
There is no trust to policie or time,
The things of State are whirld by destinie,
To meet their period, Art cannot repair 'em.
Enter Servant.
Ser.
My Lord, the Queen hath sent for you,
She is going forth to meet the Prince, and hath
Commanded none be wanting to attend
With all the State that may become her, to
Congratulate the triumph now brought home.
Leand.
I shall obey. I must attend this glorie;
15
The Queens example first forms into smile.
I here contract my knowledge, and seclude
My wishes, since they prosper not. I am
Her Chancelor, as great Offices, and high
Employments, do expose us to most danger,
They oft teach those possess 'em a State-wisdom,
And by Inherent virtues of the place,
Our fear to lose, makes us secure our selves,
By art more often, than by conscience;
But I may be indangered to suspition;
I like not things; but I delay my attendance.
Exit.
Enter Captain, Lieutenant, Antient and Souldiers.
Capt.
Lieutenant.
Lieu.
Captain.
Capt.
Antient, what think you of the Wars now?
Ant.
We are come off with Honour.
Lieu.
And our Limbs, Captain.
Capt.
Is that all? who made you a Lieutenant?
And you Antient? these titles were not born w'e,
You did not wear these Buffs and Feathers in
The memorie of Man, when you receiv'd
The binding twelve-pence, it was otherwise.
Ant.
But you receiv'd, if you remember Captain,
Beside what we releast in honest debt
Sums for this great Instalment, we ha' paid
I take it for our names.
Capt.
And it became you,
Now you are Gentlemen, my Comrades of honor,
And I dare walk and drink at Taverns w'e,
Your oaths become you now, and your splay feet;
You look'd before like Magots, City Worms,
I ha' made you both brave fellows, fellows to Knights.
You may be Squires to Ladies too.
Ant.
I think so.
Capt.
We are all now of a trade,
For Mars is Master of our Companie,
16
Honour our Purchase, and Fire and Sword
The Tools we work withall.
Lieu.
But now the Wars are done, I think
We may shut up our Shop, there is no more
Pay, is there?
Capt.
Pox upon you; I see your souls bleat after
Profit still, a bullet in the right place would
Ha' knock'd out this humour of getting mony;
But fear not, though you come off with more
Limbs than you deserve, you shall have pay.
Ant.
Shall we, and not be troubled to fight for't?
Capt.
Yes, it will be necessary you fight, you will
Ha' your throats cut else, and be sent off like Sheep,
Doe not fear payment here be Mandrakes,
That will rore, and cudgell you to your hearts content,
You sha'not walk the Streets now you are
Officers without a quarrell: pay enough.
Lieu.
A Man had as good be no Lieutenant, as be
Beaten when he comes home what think you Antient?
Ant.
For my part, I can indure beating as well
As another, if that be all.
Capt.
Will you to your Shops agen?
Ant.
I have no mind to Woosted Stockings agen,
And Shoos that Shine, I would were colours still.
Capt.
Well said Antient, come I'l take your fears off;
Doe not confess you are a Lieutenant, or you an
Antient, and no man will quarrell w'ee, you
Shall be as secure as Chrysome Children.
Lieu.
Shall we? they shall rack me e'r Ile confess I am
A Lieutenant or ever see the Wars.
Ant.
Or I an Antient. Ile tak't upon my death
I was never a Souldier in my life.
Capt.
'Tis well done; now because I love you,
And see you have an Itch after honour, so
It may come without blows, Let me advise you,
17
Lieut.
And good debts too.
Cap.
You shall both turn Courtiers.
Ant.
Shall we?
Cap.
I say't; for if my phisnomy deceive me not,
You two are born to be—
Both.
What?
Cap.
Coxbombs. I'l help to make you too;
You shall presently kiss the Queens hand;
You have moneys you say, You shall never turn
To your vomit of small Wares. I have friends
At Court, you may in time be great; And when I come
With a Petition to your honors, for moneys in arrear,
Or knocking out some rascals brains, such as you were
When you wore a girt under your chops, you two
May stand between me and the Gallows.
Ant.
Hang us if we do not.
Capt.
You shall buy places presently. But stay,
Have you a minde to be Officers to the Queen
In ordinary, or extraordinary?
Ant.
Extraordinary by all means.
Lieut.
We scorn to be ordinary Courtiers.
Capt.
I commend your judgement, that will be more
Chargeable: But—
Ant.
Hang't, we'l finde money enough, but I
Resolve to be extraordinary.
Capt.
I'l bring you to a Court-Merchant presently;
You will get infinite estates.
Both.
A ha Captain.
Capt.
And so command the Ladies, if you be bountiful.
Both.
A ha Boy.
Capt.
For I know you do love Wenches;
You will have all the business, and the Country
Come tumbling in upon you like the tide,
After a moneth: You must keep twenty men
Between you, night and day to tell your money.
18
If you be rul'd, and take this course: Had I
Moneys like you, I would be—
Lieut.
Come, we will lend thee moneys too hereafter.
Cap.
Will you, come on, no more Lieutenant now.
Nor Antient.
Ant.
Do ye think we long to be beaten.
Exeunt.
Enter Ferdinand (in prison) Rosania (like a Page.)
Rosa.
Pray do not grieve for me, I have a heart
That can for your sake suffer more; and when
The tyranny of your fate calls me to die,
I can as willingly resign my breath,
As go to sleep.
Ferd.
Can I hear this Rosania
Without a fresh wound? That thy love to me
Should be so ill rewarded, th'ast engag'd
Thy self too much already; 'tis within
Thy will, yet to be safe, reveal thy self,
Throw of the cloud that doth eclipse that brightness,
And they will court thy person, and be proud
With all becoming-honor to receive thee,
No fear shall rob thy cheek of her chaste blood.
Oh leave me to my own Stars, and expect
What ere become of wretched Ferdinand,
A happy fate.
Rosa.
Your Councel is unkinde,
This language would become your charity
To a stranger, but my Interest is more
In thee, then thus with words to be sent off;
Our vows have made us one, nor can the names
Of Father, Countrey, or what can be dear
In Nature, bribe one thought to wish my self
In Heaven without thy company; it were poor then
To leave thee here. Then by thy faith I charge thee,
By this—the first and last seal of our love.
Kisses him.
By all our promises, when we did flatter
19
A peeces, and collected what did like
Us best, to make us a new paradice,
By that, the noblest ornament of thy soul,
Thy honor, I conjure thee, let me still
Be undiscovered; What will it avail
To leave me, whom thou lovest, and walk alone
Sad pilgrime to another world? We will
Converse in soul, and shoot like Stars, whose Beams
Are twisted, and make bright the sullen Groves
Of Lovers as we pass.
Ferd.
These are but dreams
Of happiness, be wise Rosania,
Thy love is not a friend to make thee miserable,
Society in death, where we affect,
But multiplies our grief; Live thou, Oh live.
And if thou hast a tear, when I am dead,
But drop it to my memory, it shall
More precious then embalming dwell upon me,
And keep my ashes pure, my spirit shall
At the same instant in some innocent shape
Descend upon that earth thou hast bedew'd;
And kissing the bright tribute of thy eye,
Shall after wait like thy good Angel on thee.
There will be none to speak of Ferdinand
Without disdain, if thou diest too: Oh live
A little to defend me, or at least
To say I was no Traitor to thy love,
And lay the shame on death and my false Stars
That would not let me live to be a King.
Rosa.
Oh Ferdinand,
Thou dost not love me now.
Ferd.
Not love Rosania?
If woing thee to live, will not assure thee,
Command me then to die, and spare the cruelty
Of the fair Queen: Not love Rosania?
20
I will at such a narrow passage let
Out life, it shall be many hours in ebbing,
And my soul bathing in the Crimson stream,
Take pleasure to be drown'd. I have small time
To love, and be alive, but I will carry
So true a Faith to woman hence, as shall
Make poor the world, when I am gone to tell
The story yonder.—We are interrupted.
Enter Keeper.
Keep.
You must prepare your self for present trial;
I have command to attend you to the Judges.
That Gentleman, and all that did adhere
To your Conspiracy, are by the Queens
Most gracious Mercy pardon'd.
Ferd.
In that word
Th'hast brought me more then life; I shall betray,
And with my too much joy undo thee again.
Heaven does command thee live, I must obey
This Summons, I shall see thee again Tiberio,
Before I die.
Rosa.
I'l wait upon you Sir,
The Queen will not deny me that poor office;
I know not how to leave you.
Ferd.
Death and I
Shall meet, and be made friends; but when we part,
The world shall finde thy story in my heart.
Exit.
Enter Officers with Bar, Table, Stools,—then Ernesto, Rodriguez, Leandro, Queen, supported by Leonario, Ferdinand, Rosania, Ladies, Gentlemen, and Guard, who set Ferdinand to the Bar.
Queen.
Is that the prisoner at the Bar?
Leon.
He that pretended himself Ferdinand,
Your Uncles son.
Q.
Proceed to his Arraignment; my Lord Leandro,
You know our pleasure.
21
Although the Queen in her own Royal power.
And without violating Sacred Justice, where
Treason comes to invade her, and her Crown
With open war, need not insist upon
The Forms, and Circumstance of Law, but use
Her Sword in present execution;
Yet such is the sweet temper of her blood,
And calmness of her Nature, though provok'd
Into a storm, unto the great'st offender
She shuts up no defence, willing to give
A satisfaction to the world how much
She doth delight in mercy. Ferdinand,
For so thou dost pretend thy self, thou art
Indicted of High Treason to Her Majestie,
In that thou hast usurp'd relation to
Her blood; and under name of being her Kinsman,
Not onely hast contriv'd to blast her Honor
With Neighbor Princes, but hast gather'd arms
To wound the precious bosom of her Countrey,
And tear the Crown, which Heaven and just Succession
Hath plac'd upon her Royal Head: what canst
Thou answer to this Treason?
Ferd.
Boldly thus.
As I was never with the height of all
My expectation, and the aid of Friends,
Transported one degree above my self,
So must not Ferdinand, though his Stars have frown'd
And the great eye of Providence seem to slumber
While your force thus compel'd, & brought me hither
With mockery of my Fate, to be arraign'd
For being a Prince; have any thought beneath
The Title I was born to; yet I'l not call
This cruelty in you, nor in the Queen,
(If I may name her so, without injustice
To my own right) a Kingdom is a Garland,
Worth all Contention; and where right seals not
The true Possession, Nature is forgotten,
22
Within that excellent Figure, that restrains
A Passion here, that else would forth like lightning.
Tis not your shape, which yet hath so much sweetness,
Some pale religious Hermit might suspect
You are the blessed Saint he pray'd too; no,
The magick's in our nature, and our blood;
For both our veins full of one precious purple
Strike harmony in their motion, I am Ferdinand,
And you the fair Olivia, brothers children.
Leon.
What insolence is this?
Qu.
Oh my Lord let him
Be free to plead; for it be no dream,
His cause will want an Orator: By my blood,
He does talk bravely.
Rodri.
These are flourishes.
Ernest.
Speak to the treason you are charged with,
And confess a guilt.
Leond.
He justifies himself.
Ferd.
If it be treason to be born a Prince,
To have my Fathers Royal Blood move here;
If it be treason, in my infancy
To have escap'd by Divine Providence,
When my poor life should have been sacrific'd
To please a cruel Uncle, whose Ambition
Surpris'd my Crown, and after made Olivia
His Daughter Queen; if it be treason, to
Have been a stranger thus long from my Country,
Bred up with silence, of my name, and birth,
And not till now mature to own my self
Before a Sun-beam; if it be treason
After so long a banishment to weep
A tear of joy upon my Countries bosom,
And call her mine my just inheritance,
Unless you stain my blood with bastardy;
If it be treason, still to love this Earth,
23
Though late unkindly arm'd to kill her Sovereign,
As if the effusion of my blood were left
To make her fertile, if to love Olivia,
My nearest pledge of blood, although her power
Hath chain'd her Prince, and made her Lord her prisoner,
Who sits with expectation to hear
That sentence that must make the golden Wreath,
Secure upon her Brow, by blasting mine.
If this be treason, I am guilty Ferdinand.
Your King's become a traitor, and must die
A black, and most inglorious death.
Ernest.
You offer
At some defence, but come not home; by what
Engine were you translated hence, or whether
Convei'd? There was some trust, deceiv'd, when you
Were carried forth to be preserv'd, and much
Care taken since, in bringing of you up,
And giving secret Fire to this Ambition.
Ferd.
There wants no testimony here, of what
Concerns the story of my Birth and Infancy,
If one dare speak, and be an honest Lord.
Leand.
Hows that?
Ferd.
Whose love and art secur'd me from all tyranny,
Though here my funeral was believ'd, while I
Sent to an honorable Friend, his Kinsman,
Grew safely to the knowledge of my self
At last, till fortune of the War betray'd me
To this captivity.
Leand.
I blush at thee
Yong-man, whose fate hath made thee desperate,
And car'st not what mans blood thou draw'st along
In thy black stream, or what mans faith thou mak'st
As hateful as thy crimes.
Ernest.
That confederate
Sure has some name, declare him, that he may
24
Quee.
We always see that men in such high nature
Deform'd, and guilty, want not specious shapes
To gain their practice friendship, and compassion,
But he shall feel the punishment; d'you smile?
Ferd.
A womans anger is but worth it Madam;
And if I may have freedom, I must say,
Not in contempt of what you seem, nor help'd
By overcharge of passion, which but makes
A fruitless noise; I have a sense of what
I am to lose, a life, but I am so fortified
With valiant thoughts, and innocence, I shall,
When my last breath is giving up to lose
Its self i'th' air, be so remote from fear,
That I will cast my face into one smile,
Which shall when I am dead, acquit all trembling,
And be a story to the world, how free
From paleness Ferdinand took leave of earth.
Rosa.
Alas my Lord, you forget me, that can
Part with such courage.
Ferd.
I forget indeed,
I thought of death with honor, but my love
Hath found a way to chide me; O my Boy,
I can weep now.
Leon.
A sudden change, he weeps.
Quee.
What Boy is that?
Ferd.
I prethee take thy self away.
Quee.
Your Spirit
Does melt it seems, and you begin to think
A life is worth preserving, though with Infamy.
Ferd.
Goodness thy aid again, and tell this great
Proud woman, I have a Spirit scorns her pity.
Come hither Boy, and let me kiss thee; thus
At parting with a good, and pretty servant,
I can without my honor stain'd shed tears:
I took thee from thy Friends, to make thee mine;
25
Rosa.
Yes my Lord.
Ferd.
And mean't when I was King to make thee great,
And shall I not, when I can live no longer,
To cherish thee at farewel, drop a tear?
That I could weep my soul upon thee,—But
You are to slow me thinks, I am so far
From dread, I think your forms too tedious.
I expect my sentence.
Quee.
Let it stay a while.
What secret flame is this? Honor protect me!
Your Graces fair excuse, for you—I shall
Return again—
Exit.
Ferd.
And I, with better guard
After my silence in the Grave, to meet
And plead this cause.
Ernest.
He is distracted sure;
His person I could pity, but his insolence
Wants an example; what if we proceed
To sentence?
Leon.
I suppose the Queen will clear
Your duties in't.
Leand.
But I'l acquaint her.
Exit.
Rod.
My Lord Leandro's gone.
Ernest.
His censure will
Be one with ours.
Ferd.
Yet shall I publish who
Thou art? I shall not die with a calm soul
And leave thee in this cloud.
Enter the Queen and Leandro.
Rosa.
By no means Sir.—The Queen.
Quee.
Whose service is so forward to our State,
That when Our pleasure's known, not to proceed,
They dare be officious in his Sentence? Are
We Queen, or do we move by your Protection?
Ernest.
Madam, the Prince—
Quee.
My Lord, you have a Queen.
26
Hath no Commission here to be a Judge,
You were best circumscribe our Regal power,
And by your selves condemn, or pardon all,
And we sign to your will: The offence, which you
Call treason strikes at us, and we release it,
Let me but see one curl in any Brow:
Attend the prisoner hither;—Kiss our hand.
Are you so merciless to think this man
Fit for a Scaffold. You shall Sir be near us,
And if in this confusion of your Fortunes
You can finde gratitude, and love, despair not.
These men that now oppose, may finde your title
Clear to the Kingdom too: Be Sir collected,
And let us use your arm.
Exit. Supported by Ferdinand.
Rosa.
What change is here?
Leand.
What think you of this Lords?
Rodri.
I dare not think.
Leon.
Affronted thus? O my vext heart.
Exit.
Rosa.
Ile follow still, and if this be no dream,
We have scap'd a Brook, to meet a greater stream.
Exeunt.
| The Doubtfull Heir | |