 | The Play-House to be Let |  |
The Fifth ENTRY.
This Entry is prepared by an Ayr and Cōrante; and then the Scene is chang'd, in which is discover'd the rising of the Sun through a thick Wood, and Venta-Cruz at great distance on the South side. This being discern'd a while,Enter Drake Senior, Drake Junior, Page, Souldier.
Drak. jun.
Bold Rouse, doubting our safety by our stay;
Thinking his patience longer than our way;
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Our Trenches digg'd, and rais'd our Fort,
Is here arriv'd, resolving still to be
A sharer in your worser destiny.
He was conducted by a Symeron;
And bows for what his rasher Love has done.
Drak. sen.
I shall be very slow.
When I must backward go
With punishment to overtake
The errours which my friend did make.
Tell him I know his fault is past;
And now I cannot but go fast,
When I shall forward move
To meet approaching Love.
[Exit Souldier.
The morn begins her glory in the East;
And now the World prepares
To entertain new cares;
Though th'old suffic'd to hinder all our rest.
Drake. jun.
Benighted Seamen now their course reform
Who, Coasting, were misguided by a storm.
Now Merchants to imported stowage haste,
Whilst Plowmen drive from Cottages their Teems.
The Poor in Cities rise to toyl and faste;
And Lovers grieve to leave their pleasant dreams.
Drak. sen.
Be careful not to let
The Camps Revelie beat
To make our Warriours rise and move:
But as Heav'ns Traveller above
Unheard begins, and silently his way
Does still continue till he perfects day,
So all this progress must be calmly made.
The winds, which still unseen
Have in their motion been,
Oft pass without a whisper through the shade.
Drak. jun.
Each, dutious as your slave,
Does to your Orders grow;
And all, as in the Grave,
are husht and private now.
Drak. sen.
E're we begin to march, send out
The Symerons again to scout:
Let not our Wings be loosely spread:
The Van I'll at some distance lead.
Those who the Baggage bear
Let Pedro still relieve, and closse
Secure their haltings in our Gross.
You shall command the Rear.
Enter Rouse.
Rouse.
Arm, Arm! make haste, and bring me to my Chief!
Drak. sen.
What great distress does hasten for relief!
Rouse.
I come not now thy pardon to receive,
Because my rasher love without thy leave
Durst venture for a share
Of thy mishaps in War.
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What wildness more
Than I have seen before
In Deserts openly expos'd
Or Woods with ancient growth of shades inclos'd,
Or Seas, when nought but light'ning has appear'd,
And only Thunder and the Winds were heard,
Does now thy wond'ring looks possess?
Drak. jun.
What more than yet thou canst express?
Rous.
Drake, thy belov'd renown is lost,
Of which thy Nation us'd to boast:
Since now where thou a sword dost wear,
And many marks of pow'r dost bear,
The worst of license does best Laws invade:
For Beauty is an abject captive made;
Ev'n whilst those flowry Ornaments are worn
Which should the Bridal dignity adorn.
If thus the crowd be suffer'd to deride
The sacred Rites and Honours of a Bride,
Let savage War devour all civil Peace,
Love fly from Courts to Camps, and Sexes cease.
Drak. sen.
Thy mystick meaning thou dost less
By words than by thy looks express.
Drak. jun.
That we may better know
Thy thoughts, make haste to show
The object of our wonder, and thy fear.
Rous.
Turn your unhappy eyes, and see it there.
The Scene is suddenly changed into the former prospect of the rising of the Morning, and Venta Cruz; but about the Middle, it is vary'd with the discov'ry of a Beautiful Lady ty'd to a Tree, adorn'd with the Ornaments of a Bride, with her hair dishevel'd, and complaining, with her hands towards Heaven: About her are likewise discern'd the Symerons who took her prisoner.
Drak. sen.
What dismal beauty does amaze my sight,
Which from black sorrow breaks like Morn from Night?
And though it sweetest beauty be
Does seem more terrible to me
Than all the sudden and the various forms
Which Death does wear in Battels and in storms.
Rous.
A party of your Symerons (whose eyes
Pierce through that darkness which does night disguise
Whom weary toyls might sleepy make,
But that revenge keeps them awake)
Did e're the early dawning rise,
And close by Venta-Cruz surprise
A Bride and Bridegroom at their Nuptial Feast,
To whom the Sym'rons now
Much more than fury show;
For they have all those cruelties exprest
That Spanish pride could e're provoke from them
Or Moorish Malice can revenge esteem.
Drak. sen.
Arm! Arm! the honour of my Nation turns
To shame, when an afflicted Beauty mourns.
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Our number, yet they are too few to bleed
When Honour must revengeful be
For this affront to Love and me.
Drak. jun.
Our Forces of the Land,
Brave Chief, let me command.
Drak. sen.
March on! whilst with my Seamen I advance,
Let none, before the Dice are cast, despair;
Nor after they are thrown, dislike the chance;
For Honour throws at all, and still plays fair.
Rous.
In beauties noble cause no Seamen doubt,
If Poets may authentick be.
For Sea-born Venus sake let them march out:
She leads them both at Land and Sea.
Drak. sen.
Long yet e're night
I shall in fight
Their stormy courage prove:
Each Seaman hath his Mermaid too;
And by instinct must love,
Though he were never taught to woo.
Enter Pedro.
Pedro.
Stay! stay! successful Chief! my heart as low
As the foundation where thou tread'st does bow:
But 'tis not for my own offence;
For if I should offend
My King, in thee his friend,
I would not with my self dispence.
Thy mercy shall our pattern be,
Behold th'afflicted Bride is free.
The Scene is suddenly chang'd again, where the Lady is vanisht, and nothing appears but that Prospect which was in the beginning of the Entry.
She is as free and as unblemisht too
As if she had a Pris'ner been to you.
Drak. sen.
What are they who disguis'd in nights dark shade,
Unlicens'd, from our Camp this sally made?
Strait to the stroke of Justice bring me those!
Pedro.
They thought their duties was to take their foes.
Be merciful, and censure the offence
To be but their mistaken diligence.
Drak. jun.
Suspect not Pedro in this crime, who still
Has shewn exact obedience to thy will.
Pedro.
And noble Chief, the cruelties which they
Have often felt beneath the Spaniards sway
(Who midst the triumphs of our Nuptial feasts
Have forc'd our Brides, and slaughter'd all our guests)
May some excuse even from your reason draw:
Revenge does all the fetters break of Law.
Drak. sen.
The future guidance and the care
Of their demeanour in this war,
Is strictly, Pedro, left to thee:
The gentle Sex must still be free.
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To punish all unmanly cruelties.
March on! they may e're night redeem
By vertuous Valour my esteem.
[Exeunt Drake senior, Drake junior, Rouse, and Page.
Pedro.
Ho! ho! the Pris'ners straight unbind,
And let the Bride all homage find;
The Father and the Bridegroom hither bring.
E're yet our Van shall far advance,
Know Diegos you must dance.
Strike up, strike up, in honour of my King.
Enter the Father of the Bride, and her Bridegroom; the Bridegroom dancing with Castanietos, to express the joy he receives for his liberty, whilst the Father moves to his measures, denoting the fright he had receiv'd from the Symerons, when he was surpriz'd at his nuptial Entertainment.
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