 | Love In it's Extasie : Or, The large Prerogative |  |
Sce. 2.
Loud Musick. Enter Charastus, Flavanda, Bermudo, Halisdus, Spadatus, Arontas, and Attendants.Cha.
Was't not a direfull Tempest that last night
Affrighted our Horizon? was ever yet your age
Acquainted with the like Halisdus?
Hal.
Never my gratious Lord: yet I have seene
Many, that would have terrified the boldest:
When our Ætnean Hill, spitted his fiery venome
'Gainst the Heavens; when the affrighted Sun
For three dayes has withdrawn himself; yet these
Compar'd with this for horror,
Deserve not to be mentioned.
Cha.
It was a dreadfull night indeed; yet see
How gloriously the Sunne appeares: the Heavens
In labour were all night, & from their pregnant womb
This morn a Sun springs forth, whose glorious beames
Frights back their pristine terrour.
Hal.
Wer't not a sin too great and irreligious
To mistrust the heavens diviner Mercy,
I should conceive this ill-aboding night
Portendeth some ensuing misery.
Cha.
Doe not Halisdus with thy misconstruing fear
Strive to disturb our joyes: Thy sight Flavanda,
Like to Auroras Beames, darted from out the Eastern Hills,
Expells those drossie exhalations, which this too sad night
Infused to my fadder soul.
Fla.
Your highnesse has a privilege for flattery.
Still harping on that string Flavanda?
If for to speake what my inclining soul
Prompts me to utter, and to conceive what I have said
Is but a derogation from thy worth, be Flattery,
I must confesse I am guilty of that fault,
Which never King did act, unlesse upon himselfe.
Fla.
Pardon my incredulity great Sir.
When I consider that the lofty Pines
Stoop not to brambles, that your Soaring Hawkes
Bend not to lesser Birds, except for prey: I must confesse
My virgin fear holds back those wandring thoughts
VVhich your Al-potent Majesty extracted
Lest I should perish like a hasty Blossome
Cropt by the setting winter.
Cha.
Is yet my Loyalty in question?
How oft have I with sacrilegious lipps
Dissected all the Gods for Oathes, and must I still
Remain suspected of disloyalty? surely I have a conscience.
Fla.
Yes, pure and more spotlesse than the wandering snow
VVhich the least breath of any calmer wind
Blowes up and down: such a conscience,
That had it not a burthen of Felicity
I should court its Master.
Cha.
VVas ever yet Felicity a Burthen?
Fla.
Yes, that which you vainly stile one:
You doe suppose a Crown a brave and glorious
Trophee of felicity, which had you been without,
One poor commanding word had done that deed,
VVhich now your vain intreaties sue for.
You are my King Sir.
Cha.
But tell me Dearest, how has my former life
Deservd that title of your King: has my taxations
Ever yet filld my oreflowing coffers?
Have I replenish'd once my appetite
VVith the direfull noyse of any subjects curses?
Our gentler reign abhorr'd those vices
Which most Kings doe Boast in: And canst thou think
When I doe subjugate my self to thee,
I shall become more ravenous than when I was
Sole Monarch?
Fla.
I dare not question Sir that virtue which in you
All Princes can't admire enough, much more not imitate.
Tis not the Tyrannick usage of a Scepter
That confirm's a King; He that is truely Royall,
Rules not his kingdome with the severe
And cruell Rigour of an austerer judgement,
But with a mild severity, a virtue which you
Have practis'd long; I must confesse, you are adorn'd
With all the Ornaments that make a King
A second Deity; But can those glorious trappings,
Your Crown, your scepter, arm'd with that virtue too,
Can they all resist those blasts, which envious fame
Will hurl upon my honour?
Cha.
What can the giddy multitude report
Against thy virtues? Thou art beyond their malice.
Fla.
I were beyond then all that's good,
Beyond the heavens themselves, and the celestiall powers.
That Love that tends to a superior,
Be it ne're so pure, is amongst them
But an ambitious Lust, sold for preferment.
Should Hymen joyn our hands in a lawfull union
With our hearts, yet they would say,
Flavanda does not give, but prostitutes her love
To satisfie her vaine Ambition: Thus I should ever
Rather bee thought your Strumpet, than your Wife.
Cha.
Canst thou suspect me yet Flavanda?
I should suspect my selfe rather, for I know
Our sex are all like watry clouds
Made various still by the reflecting Sun.
Whilst that the Crowne, Great Sir,
Impalls your Royall Brow, I cannot be your Wife
And to be your Whore, I dare not.
Cha.
Infortunate condition of a King! when that
His chiefest Ornament becomes his greatest punishment.
A Crowne, and Scepter are but transitory toyes,
That wait on bigg and pompous Misery.
Oh thou ambitious Man, whose soaring thoughts
Aime onely at a crown! knewst thou
The inconvenience now of mine, thou then
Wouldst wish, thou hadst rested in security,
And nere had sought so vain a happinesse.
Fla.
If that your boasted constancy bee firm
As 'twere a sinne to suspect the contrary,
That our loves may not diminish from each others lustre,
Invest my Brother in your dignity: So I a Princess
May equall you a some-times King.
Cha.
Must I resigne, or perish in felicity?
Is this thy doome then still irrevocable?
Fla.
As Fate.
Cha.
A sad and dismall sentence! yet stay,
And ere I part with this same glorious gemme,
Let me recall the long lost man within mee,
And with him, Mans better part, my Reason,
Reason! alas I have none
This trifle woman has unmand my soule,
And made me like her selfe irrationall.
Reason would tell me that I am a King,
And in that name, something there is
That whispers to my thoughts I may command.
'Tis true, I may, o're things
Grosse as my self; This arme of mine can levell
Cedars with the humblest shrubbs, and this my voyce
Can with one accent, breath more certain Fate
Than plague, or Fire. But can its loudest note
Silence one murmuring thought? or can this potent grasp
Inclose heavens lighting, or the smallest beame
Which from the sun is darted? Love is more pure
And lesse substantiall, 'tis no created body, Form,
And Matter, but an etheriall essence, Fancyes creatures.
And to be Master of an immateriall Soule,
Who would refuse to sacrifice that drosse,
That clogges Mortality? He is a beast
That would not fall, to rise a Constellation.
Hal.
Yet, Sir, consider what you give,
A Crowne, a Scepter, and a Kingdome.
Cha.
These are but titular Emblemes of felicity,
Visions of Blisse, Symptomes of Happinesse.
What is there in a crowne, worthy our estimation?
(He puts it on Flavandus head.
Place it here in its most proper sphære,
'Tis but a glorious trifle; looke now Halisdus
With impartiall eyes, and tell me which casts
The greater lustre; thy silence does condemne thee.
See, I kisse it, embrace it, and no virtuous heat
Payes a gratuity: One Kisse of hers
Makes me contemplate of a future happinesse
That rapes me to an Extasie of pleasure.
Dull, sencelesse, and base stupid Earth,
Goe to the Center; My aery thoughts climbes Heaven,
And graspeth now a Deity.
Ber.
Beware a cloud Ixion: if my plotes hitt right,
It shall be twice as fatall.
Char.
Yet ere Bermudo
I doe fully cease, 'ere that my soul
Be quite dismantled of that glorious robe
Which Fate so freely did allot mee,
Oh let these dewy drops, the truest Harbingers
Of a setting, Sun, entreat thee
Not to bring my frailty to a custome:
Do not, oh do not! doate like me Bermudo,
Account this folly lawfull, and traduce Me,
Me the Originall; 'Twill vex me in my urn.
Ber.
It shall not sir. I'le break the custome,
And to show how much my soule's
Obedient to your will, and that the world may see
That 'tis not pompe nor majesty affects me,
I make a vow before just heavens, and you,
That if ere my heart be conquer'd with a womans love,
Your Crown shall be restor'd.
Cha.
Thou knowst not what thou vow'st Bermudo.
Ber.
I doe my Lord, and know withall
How strictly Religion bindes me to performance;
For should I dare to violate what I have vow'd,
It would call a curse upon me, high
As the punishment Damnation payes to sinners:
I must then royall sir, & so must ye, my Lords,
And Peeres of Lelybæus, acknowledge him again
Your Soveraign, unlesse a doe a deed
Which humane frailty names impossible.
Cha.
Canst thou be so good Bermudo?
Ber.
'Tis not a Crowne great sir,
With that same large Prerogative annext,
Can make Bermudo be ingratefull;
You nourish'd my declining fortunes,
And brought them to that height which now
They stand in, and should I like ungatefull plant
Consume the stemme that nourish'd me,
Infamy would surely blast me.
Cha.
Thus then I doe indulge thee
All the prerogatives of Majestie.
Goe and ascend my throne, and let all with one applause
Say after me, Long live Bermudo King of Lelybæus.
Trumpets and shouts within.
Omnes.
Long live Bermudo King of Lelybæus.
Omnes.
Long live Bermudo King of Lelybæus.
Omnes.
Long live Bermudo King of Lelybæus.
Ber.
I have it now, seated firm, beyond the power
Of Revocation: Thanks to the Heavens,
And our diviner Policy. Long has this Kingdome
Under the easie yoak of an effeminate King
Surfetted with luxury, and been a Proverb
For our neighbouring Princes to express lasciviousness:
The thought whereof did grate my heart,
And stir'd a noble Anger in my blood.
Shame of all Kings, dishonor of thy race,
It was I that forc't my credulous sister
To make this tryall of thy constancy.
I made Flavanda to demand thy Crowne, onely
With a promise to restore it: But can you think
A Gemme so lost, will e're be sound
Before the extirpation of that seed
Which thy effeminate government has sown
In this too much abused Kingdome?
Cha.
If that the thought of what I was
Can not procure some reverence,
Yet slight me not for what I may be,
When the conditions which you hold
Your Kingdome by are broken.
Ber.
Conditious? 'Tis true, I promis'd when e're
My heart was conquer'd with a womans love
Your Crown should be restor'd.
Fla.
That was not all. A vow
Was past to me, seal'd with an Oath,
That when our Nuptialls should be solemniz'd
You would restore the Kingdome.
Ber.
It is confess'd: nor dare I disobey it.
Vowes of this nature may not be broken
Without the violation of Religion.
Cha.
Come dearest then, let Hymenæall Rites
Restore a double happiness.
Ber.
Stay rash man, hear our Decree first,
Reade Arontas, and let thy voiyce
Strike terror to the Nation.
Arontas
reads.
Whereas this fertile Kingdome, under
the easie raign of our effeminate predecessor,
has long surfetted with a degenerate
passion, which the weaker ones stile Love,
the wiser Folly, to the high dishonor of the
Goddess whose rites we ought to celebrate.
That we may now therefore repair our lost
honour, appease the wrath of that incensed
Deity, and avert those judgments which
are now so imminent; We have thought
fit to decree, and be it decreed by the most
high, and excellent Bermudo, the Supreme
Lord, and Ruler of this Nation, that for
the space of seven years next ensuing, none
shall presume to entertain that passion; If
any one shall presumptuously, contrary to
this our pleasure, be found so weak as to
express it in the least of Circumstance, their
lives to Heavens shall forfeit.
Bermudo.
Ber.
You have heard our will Charastus,
Presume not then to disobey it: 'Tis not the remembrance
Of your former greatness, or the Peoples love,
Can exempt you from the justice of our anger.
Could'st thou suppose, fond man, Bermudo
Would restore a Crown for bare gratuity; No,
I did but pull away the baite, to make
The hasty fish receive it with more eagerness,
Which now is caught, thanks to our Industry:
And that the captive may not flatter his imagination
With a hopes of a Recovery, Let our Decrees be publish'd.
Exit Arontas.
Cha.
That sir you have a power to punish my credulity,
This knee, nere bent before to humane greatness, testifies.
Oh Royall sir! Let the severity of your Law stop here,
Here on my head let your anger fall:
Punish not my folly in your loyall Subjects,
Guilty in nothing but obedience. If not for my sake,
For my sisters sake, for Desdonellas sake,
Shee though a Princess lov'd you sir a Subject:
I saw it, and was silent, and surely,
Had not I thought, you had suppos'd
Ingratitude the worst of evills,
I neere had left my self so bare,
Cloath'd onely with my shame and ruine.
Ber.
If Desdonella harbours such a thought,
She feeds the flame that will consume her:
Nor she, nor any sir shall dare to doe,
What is deni'd their Soveraigne.
Cha.
Then thus proud man I rise,
And boldly tell you, that though Religion
Tyes our hands, yet there's a power above you,
Which neither custome nor Religion can controul,
He sir will punish to the height the deadly sin
Of an abus'd Authority: Remember it, and tremble.
Fla.
Alas, fond mayd, to what a deluge of misfortune
Has this thy incredulity now brought thee?
VVhat indigested heaps of misery has it thrown
On thy ore-charged soul? Yee sacred Powers
That guard distressed Innocence!
If that my brothers tyranny has not as yet
Exiled ye this Nation, pitie my teares,
And since I needs must hate where I am forc'd to love
Learn me a loving hate: But can I hope
The heavens will pity me in such a vale of wickedness?
No surely, I'le therefore to the woods,
There harmeless Innocence wrapt in security,
Entombs faint envie, there vain Ambition
Covets no other Crown but Roses, No Scepter
But a Sheephook, these will I covet too.
Farewell Bermudo; and because once thou wert my brother,
In Heavens I wish thee.
Ber.
And I thee in hell for wishing it.
Fla.
Since that the Constellations yet do want
A fierce and cruell Tyger, I'le pray the Heavens
To place thee there, that when a Tyrant's born,
The world may say Bermudo gave the influence.
My ill-spent tears bids thee adue: Farewell all cruelty,
May well be stil'd the Zodiacks Gemini.
Exit.
Cha.
Farewell thou perfect Modell of all goodness,
Haste to the shadie woods, there I will live,
In contemplation of thy excellence:
Loves Theory shall be my study; a Science
Far beyond thy reach Bermudo; thy grosser sence
Is ignorant of all loves, except of that
VVhose baser flame knowes no commerce with purity,
That which insatiate lust perhaps has prompt thee too;
Mine is a love superplatonick, a flame,
VVhose bright continued Pyramide of splendour
Shall soare above thy duller reach Bermudo,
And make thy faint ambition become more blinde
Than are thy thoughts that guide it.
Ber.
What curses mutterst to thy self?
Are they 'gainst me, or 'gainst the destinies?
Cha.
Thou art not worthy of my curses,
And to curse my stars were irreligious,
For 'twas Love, not Fate
That made Charastus thus infortunate.
Exit.
Ber.
Farewell, a pair of Fondlins.
Is Arontas gon to publish our Decree?
Hall.
He is my Lord. Shall I recall him?
Ber.
Stir not a foot to hinder our designs.
Hall.
Oh good my Lord! This is not the way
To keep you in your Kingdome long Sir.
Ber.
VVhy? Lives there a man so bold
As to violate the Majesty of a King?
Hal.
It is a crime I must confess, that we Scicilians
Most abhor; nor do I think there lives a man
So irreligious: But by your leave,
He is no King that has no Subjects,
And if you take this course, what Subjects will remain?
Consider sir, Love is the principall cause
That begets you Subjects, And if you take away
The Cause, the effect will follow.
Ber.
Let not that trouble you sir.
Let it be your care joyn'd with Arontas
To send a Guard unto the utmost limits of our Kingdom
That bound upon the other Promontories
With a Commission to let none pass:
If any of another Nation come within their reach,
Bring straight to our subjection; which don
Haste ye unto our Ports, burn there our ships;
If that a man escapes, your heads shall pay his ransome.
We long have surfeted with extremes, and now
Extremes shall cure this deadly malady,
Which Justice is Halisdus, and not Tyranny.
Exeunt.
| Love In it's Extasie : Or, The large Prerogative | |