University of Virginia Library

SCEN. I.

Ferrando, Ursini, Calantha, Alph: Violetta, Florinda, Sylvio.
Fer.
Come my Calantha, to consummate those joyes,
By mutuall vowes before the Altar made,
Which thy returne to life, to health, and reason,
Hath begun in me; those minutes which bring
Us any good, are swift and fleeting, and
Once past not to be recall'd, who knowes
Whether heaven will still be bountifull;

Cal.
Or smile upon this hasty Union:

Fer.
Yes royall mayde, they have prepar'd thee for it,
By the addition of new warmth and strength:

Cal.
For more sorrowes; pray let's backe, this day
(There's something whispers to me) will prove fatall.

Fer.
Ursini, see she weepes!
I've tooke thee from a sea of teares, (my Venus)
And thou art dropping dropping wet yet.

Syl.
'Tis ominous, this might have bin my marriage day;
But heaven forgive, and prosper him.

(aside
Fer.
Create a Sun-shine,
With thine owne smiles thou mayst, and dry thee in't:
Let the dull Negro dive to fetch thee Jewells,
These scatter'd seedes of pearle, are all too rich
And pompous for ornament; the least of these
Thy fond neglect has dropt, would purchase heaven.

Cal.
Blame not my pious thrift, I shed them for't;
Thither my journey tends, I shortly shall arrive there.

Fer.
Thou yeeldst too much to passion!

Cal.
These rites,
(If we may credit what our dreames fore-tell,)
Will turne to funerall obsequies, for such
This morning, (when your carefull art had bound
My senses up) fancy presented 'em.
Methought I saw,
Aurora from the East come weeping up,
Wrapt in nights sables, and the following day
Pac't slowly on, in griefes sad livery;
The pensive windes sigh'd forth a solemne dirge,
And strove to blow our marriage tapers out;
When you Ursini joyn'd in the solemnitie,
I saw you looke, like Sicily's pale ghost,
Broke from the hollow Caverns of the earth;
This hand Ferrando, at each gentle touch
Mouldred to ashes; on your lip there sate
A frost, which when I tasted straight convey'd
An icy chilnesse thorough every joynt;
The stammering Priest methought mistooke the rites,
And stead of those are us'd at nuptialls.
Sung a short requiem to our soules, committed
All that was left of us, to the earth, our last
Cold bed.

Alph.

I warrant you Ladies, this was because she lay alone;
you should advise her better.

Urs.
'Twas the intemperance of your disease
Suggested these Chimæra's.

Fer.
And with it they are fled.

Cal.
No, no Ferrando;
I've sinn'd against my fathers ghost; ere yet
His royall corps had slept two silent Moones
I'th' peacefull earth, or ere I had payd downe
Just tribute of my teares, I've chang'd my sables
For a gay nuptiall garment, whose light out-side
Denotes the loosenesse of a lighter minde,
To which griefe should have bin perpetuall guest.

Fer.
Urge it no more, thy misery's Virgin Queene
Are powerfull with me, and have taught this breast
A sad repentance.

Cal.
Canst thou Ferrando then repent?

Fer.
I can, that I have wrong'd thy innocence,
Kill'd thy father.

Cal.
O take me to thy soule, wee'l mingle sighs,
And teares, which still shall flow together from us,
As if the motion were but one; and those
So frequent, that the stones, which cloth his dust,
Shall soften into turfe, from whence shall spring
A bed of flowers, creeping about the grave,
As if they'd strew themselves upon him, then
Wither, that men might thinke we wept for them.

Fer.
Yet pardon Love, when ever I remember
He was a Prince, a Prince of equall power,
And strength with him he wrong'd; that he once stood
A barre betwixt our loves, or rather mockt
Our hopes of mutuall enjoyment; that
For his owne peevish humour, he would ruine
The edifice, that we had built to honour,
I glory in the act.

Cal.
Take pitty on me courteous death!
My thoughts are growne more terrible then thou!
I am monstrous, a prodigy in nature, one with
Him, that was my fathers murderer.

Fer.
Royall my Queene.
'Tis the excesse of pietie,
The errour of your duty, that thus wrongs
The justice of my cause.

Cal.
Yet you might have spar'd
His life, and made it your just praise, that you
Could conquer, and not kill:

Fer.
He was so eager in the pursuite of the foe,
When first he routed us, that willingly
He ran upon my sword, that stood t'oppose
His haste, and met a death instead of victory.

Urs.
Nay rather we may fay, that he met both
Who triumphs over life, and all the misery's
That too officiously attend upon it;
Crowne his pale statua, with victorious wreaths,
And call his unkinde fate, his happinesse!
His fall was honourable, Kings like other men
Travell to death, they goe i'th' common roade,
Are in their end as sensible of paine
As the base peasants, whom they by and by
I'th' grave are equall with; their only priviledge
Is in their executioner, who would not rather
Fall under a Kings hand, than yeeld his life
Up to a weake disease, a Feaver, Gout,
Or grating Stone, which had he mist this stroke,
Might streight have seiz'd him; and have rob'd him of
The glory of his end?

Cal.
I cannot yeeld
So farre to reason, but I still must looke
Upon you, as an enemy to Sicily;
As him that kill'd my father, and so hate you;
Yet I must love you too: when first we met
Together in your Tent, both arm'd (you know)
I would have fought, nay, and have kill'd you too,
(Could skill or strength have done it, some I had
Of both;) yet I meant not to survive you,
Nor should I neede t'have made another wound
To let mine owne life out, I'de dyed with yours.

Fer:
Ursini thou must quit some interest in my love,
Calantha—

Urs:
Deserves it all;
'Twere a sinne no lesse than sacriledge,
To rob her o'th least part of your affections.

Fer:
My faculties are growne
All to one power, call'd love and you engrosse it
Whole to your selfe; yet leave it still entire
To my Calantha, 'tis a divers flame,
That burnes mee, yet but one, each takes it's difference,
And being from the object, be you still
My friend, & thou my love, whom when we have once joyn'd
Unto our amorous folds, thus we will move
And of our armes make a new spheare for love.

Exeunt, with a long flourish.