The Female Rebelion :: :: University of Virginia Library

And when they have gam'd themselves into bare Adamites,
they had rather winter in that Querpo, than shelter under Ammunition
coats; Buff makes 'em quake more than nakedness.

Eric.

They'll thrust themselves into all companys, yet be listed to
none; nor venture their blood for a common good, yet throw it away
on a common Miss; where they have often the fate of Beavers, who
divert their ruine with the loss of their dousets.

Jas.

And this they'll entitle recruiting the Army, thô their perfectest
Issue had ne're heart enough to be of the train bands.

Eric.

See yonder our night ravens!

[Eric. spys Ant., Pen., & Cel. at a distance.
Jas.

Abroad by moonshine, the false Allarum of Day.

Ilu.

Now these blood hounds are off the guards, 'tis the best
minute for our designe.

[Exeunt all (at the left.)
Enter Antiopa, Penthes., Celeno, Thalestris, Eribea, and Nicostrate under guard, all without Jewells (from the right.)
Ant.
'Tis safest now i'th'dead of Night to execute
[to Pen. & Cel.
This High-born Traytor.—Were we fit to be
[to Nic.
Gull'd with Pretence, we should surprize the Tyrants.

Nic.
Thô they both 'scap'd 'twas not my Fault; No Sybills
Leafs were more true than my Intelligence.

Ant.

Is protesting your Innocence all yr confession? fetch that
grim retainer to Justice, the executioner.

[To Erib., who exit at the left. Ant., Pen., & Cel. confer togather.
Tha.

You, Lady Wiseacre, why willn't you confess as others do,
and have your throat cut according to Law, when you are so fairly
offered it?

[To Nic.
Nic.

What? when I am not guilty?

Tha.

Why you must be guilty, that's concluded allready; or suffer
for looking so guiltyly.

Nic.

But I should blush at such a confession.

Tha.

I can tell you by experience a remedy for that, be but
Impudent enough, and I'll warrant you shall never blush.

Nic.

But I have a desire to save my self.

Tha.

That's not to the Purpose; do you think we took all this
pains to let you be sav'd? The Queen is fled for committing Treason
against her self, & in all conscience somebody must die for it. And
if you do not, I don't know who will.

Nic.

Then I will confess.

Tha.

Well said; had I not lov'd you, I had never given you such
wholsome nodification, nor come thus kindly to see your heart forthcoming;
I'll look they shalln't wrong you (as Taylors are wont) in
the cutting out.

Nic.

And that yr self contriv'd the Plot; Now you being a Principal
Joyner for our new frame of Goverment, The Jury will turn, and
return Ignoramus's for you, and then I, as accessary, shall escape of
course.

Tha.

Who? I, you loyal Traytor? Ladys she'll confess to me, but
she is dead in law, and who but an Oaf will care what any say when
they are dead.

Enter Eribea carrying a block, and Eorpata an Ax (from the left.)
Ant.

Eorpata, chop off her Head.

[she points to Nic.
Tha.

I'll go bring hither my fencing Iron, and cut off this wen of
Honour from the face of the Earth.

[Exit Tha. (at the right.)

Nic.
I do not fear the Ax, for if I did,
I need not now have come within its reach.
Dying's an Act so short, who death doth fear,
Dreads that which has no being any where.

Enter Alcymen without Jewells (from the left.)
Alc.

Your Trojans to Night have surpriz'd the Tower, while I
guarded the Palace.

Nic.
Let's storm 'em on each side; & all mount up
On one anothers shoulders 'till we top 'em.
The Giants borrow'd Hills to help 'em climb,
Ranking their forces barely on the Earth;
But we'el be our own Mountains, and our files
Shall be all marshall'd upward in the Air.

Ant.

Her death must be deferr'd till we have quell'd them (since
she pretends for us) least we provoke more Enemys, And loose Friends.

Cel.
Defer'd for them?

Pen.
O that our Earth should foster such a brood,
And not gape rather to make them her Food!

Enter Thalestris in old Armour, with a rusty two handed sword (from the right.)
Tha.

This Roguy consort of mine has blunted the two handed
dagger with weeding the Yard. Hey-day, is not her head off yet?
Had all you togather but done that, I alone would have killed the rest
of her.

[she looks on Nic.
Ant.
Bind this Illustrious cheat. We'll to the Army.

[To Alc.
[Exeunt Ant., Pen., Cel., & Thal. (at the left.)
Nic.
All I thank Fortune for is, that I'm made
Your charge, And if you now dare take my Word,
I'll venture one Attempt for my release.

Alc.
'Twere base if I deny'd this to the[e] only,
Princess of the Blood; 'specially since 'twas you
Gave me my Place, and thereby Power to grant it.

Nic.
The Trojans come, let's vanish.

[A Drum beats low within (at ye left.) Exeunt Nic., Alcy., Eribea, Eorp., and Guards (at the right.)

ranking in the MS.

of in the MS.

SCEN: 3d.

Drum beats a march louder.
Enter Jasius, Ilus, Ericthonius, and Infantry (from the left.)
Jas.

Courage, my True blades of Array, that will never turn Edge;
That state Hocus-pocus, who dissembled himself from a Brewhouse to
a Throne, did never out plot us.

Eric.

Then not only all the men are our Volunteers, but the
Eunuchs too that have been men, and the Hermophrodites that are
but half men; nay, whatever's but as like us as a Mandrake, are for
us to the hilts.

Ilu.

Even Fortune her self is a Cavaleer, and hath converted our
disasters and our Enemys malice, into Agents for our Advantage.
Else I had not been in an Equipage to operate on my suburbian
Hectors.

[Ilu. & Eric. look on their suits.
Eric.

Nor I in a garb to collogue with my rustical clubmen; for
none are drawn in but by Birds of the same Feather.

Nic.

Nor I in a capacity to admit your forces thrô a sally port
into the Castle.

Eric.

Till now we receiv'd Indignitys, as the Caspian Sea doth
Rivers, without any way to be disburthen'd.

Jas.

But when our cause hath prevail'd (which is so just 'twill
fight for itself) our Villainage will be turn'd into Majestracy.

Ilu.

Next to being Princes ourselves, our greatest glory is to make
such.

Infan.

For the Queen! For the Queen! For the Queen!

[Drums beat rowlingly.
Enter Laranda (from the right.)
Laran.

Gallants, you act as daringly as if your bodys (according
to Philosophy) could not suffer Penetration: but what if it come to
dying?

Jas.

Why 'tis but stepping two Inches farther than I have a
hundred times, and there's an end on't.

Ilu.

I'll die with him for what he dares.

[To Lar.
Eric.

I'll do that with 'em both, and give 'em their hands in.

Lar.

Thorough-paced Royallists, this Fidelity in distress will make
the Trojan faith as proverbial as the Grecian Falshood.

Eric.

But our request is, you will meditate with the Queen not to
gibbet us when we are dead, for being kill'd in her Quarrel, without a
formal defence against a quo warranto.

Lar.

Can you think she'll pass an Act of Oblivion upon Desert,
for being too paramount?

Enter Ganimede, bringing in Eorpata (from the left.)
Gan.

Gentlemen, I have catched one of the Zeal-mad sect.

Eric.

We know her levelling saintship, she's a rag of seperation,
and is for heart-healing schism, and soul-saving Rebellion, holding
forth Nature made us all equall when alive, and when dead.

Jas.

Th'other day she took up the Bankrupts trade, as the laudable
practice of Whigland is, where to be quite blown up is the surest
way of thriving.

Eor.

I had an inward call to it.

Ilu.

And an outward one too, for cheating's all the calling you have.

Eorp.

Thou hast a carnal spirit.

Ilu.

And thou an Infernal one.

Lar.

Therefore don't disgrace yr camp with her canting company.

Jas.

She may pass, if she be free to commit no more treason.

Eor.

I profess I will be no backslider.

Jas.

Then follow, my extempore Mirmidons, follow.

Inf.

Long live the Queen! Long live the Queen! Long live the
Queen!

[They wave their caps over their hands. Exeunt Eor. (at the right); Jas., Eric., Ilu., & Inf. (at the inner part of the left.)

Drum beats a March. App: Moon sets, having been in motion before.
Enter Queen and Sagalus (from the outer part of ye left.)
Queen.
Since I the tumults of your Army lay'd,
By telling them you offer'd me their Aid;
While they beheld you master of my sword:
Then made them to yr will by reason yeild
(The noblest way on Earth to gain a feild)
And am return'd; my station here I'll have,
Thô it afford me nothing but a grave.

Sag.
Why will you gratify your foes so far,
As by your fall to justify their War?

Que.
That Monarch merits not to stear a Realm,
Who, when a storm approaches, quits the helm.

Sag.
Yet when the winds a Pilots skill ore mate,
He makes to shore, and leaves his ship to fate.

Que.
But who for such faint hearted Guides would care?
The Vessells often saved, when they despair.

Sag.
Yet who leaves Harbour while the sea runs high,
And black Tornado's ruffle in the sky?
Or when a spout another Sea rains down,
Which might his barq above the Ocean drown?
Or Hurricanes from all points hurl the Waves
Till giddy ships reel down into their graves?

Que.
Perish all councells which of fear partake,
Fear might false Gods, but not true Princes make.

Sag.
Your Goodness shames all morals, in whose mind
Extreams prove vertues of a loftyer kind.

Enter Lanthinus (from the left.)
Lan.
Sr, your Troops won't advance except you Lead 'em.

[Sag. congees to the Queen. Exeunt Sag. & Lan. (At ye left.)

Lar.
Madam, the Trojans have surprized the Tower,
And vow to reinstate you in yr Empire.

Que.
Without commission?

[Queen turns away.
Lar.
Loyalty sure might
Be a good warrant in its own cause to fight.

Qu.
Should subjects Judge of taking Arms, As well
Under that fair pretence they may rebell:
Illegal deeds for me no grace shall find,
They who without, against me are combin'd.

Lar.
They but expose their Lives, your life to save.

Que.
Such may set up their Prince to be their slave.
For who by force raise others to a crown,
Are Ladders, stand as apt to take them down.

Lar.
They ask you nothing but their Zeal to own.

Que.
Th'events not sure; But if I ow'd my Throne
To men, who should not arm, 'twould shame us all;
Rather then rise by them I'd choose to fall.
Yet say—I thank them.

[Exit Queen (at the right.) Lar. offers to go forth (at the left); enter there Antiopa, Pen., Celeno, Thalestris, Eribea, Eorpata, and Alcymen under guard.
Ant.
Seiz[e] her!

[To Erib. & Eor., who disarm Lar.
Lar.
Is this the way professors keep their faith?

[to Eor.
Eor.
Yea, with the Ungodly.

Ant.
You are the Cabbinet
Of the Queens Councels, which we must unlock.

[To Lar.
Lar.
The World shalln't make me falsify my trust.
[Ant., Pen., & Cel. talk togather.
But what's your crime?

[To Alcy.
Alc.
I know not, that's a Prisoner as well as I,
All I request is Justice.

Tha.

Ne're doubt that, you shall have the height of Justice, if it
be to be had for mony, & we have a Court on purpose, is all high

Justice; The Judge whereof deserves no less for his profoundness,
than to be made a fourth in Hell.

Ant.
False Alcymen, you have released Nicostrate,
For which yr Life's to[o] poor an expiation.

Pen.
Though you continued a whole year a dying.

Alcy.
Gratitude to her, not falshood to you, made me
Take her parole, whose time's as yet not lapsed.

Cel.

There's no great loss of such a mazzard, that has no more
wit than to side with a Courtier in disgrace; 'tis but chopping off one
block upon another.

Pen.
Marshall, go rack these two, til on the wheel
Each limb a several execution feel;
Let them dy face to face, and so sustain
At once their own, & one anothers pain:
Then hang their Quarter'd corps by Joynts on high,
To make a dreadfull shambles in the sky;
Then sell their flesh by th'Inch, that all may Here
Buy wit too, and hence learn our Power to fear.

Enter Nicostrate with her face disfigured (from the left.)
Alc.
If mine eys fail not, here's Nicostrate.

[Alcy. turns and spys Nic.
Nic.
Can you discern me through this cloud of misery,
[To Alcy.
When I scarce know whether I am my self?
Behold the marks of Sagalus's rage,
[To Ant., Pen., & Cel., pointing to her face.
Writ in my blood, for siding with your Cause.

Ant.
How fell you into his claws?

Nic.
Being told He was
Prepar'd to attack this City for Orithya,
I went to work him from that cursed intent,
And gain'd my point at last, when I protested,
She had resolv'd to refuse his Amours.

Ant.
What made the King, when he embraced the councell,
To brand the Councellor?

Nic.
Distastfull News
Made the relater odious, nay, He had slain me,
But that he thought this shameful guise and sorrow
Would prove more tedious executioners;
These looks making my Love as scorn'd as his:
Swift Death is his Mercy.

Pen.
And may that Mercy take him!

Nic.
But if he now disturb you, then destroy me.

Ant.
This was good service.—Yo[u] shall hold your office.

[To Alcy., who bows.
Nic.
But, pray, why's Laranda under guard?

Ant.
'Cause she asists her countrys curse, Orythia.

Cel.

I can't think her a right woman, since she is like to loose
her head for holding her tongue; who could suspect such a sin in our
sex as keeping of Councell!

Nic.
Pray, let me sift [her]; she has been my confident.

Ant.
Do, while we summon the Fort.

[Exeunt all but Nic. & Lar. (at ye left.)
Nic.
Why do you thus adhere unto your Queen,
Whom now offended Providence has left?
Heaven's disallowance of a cause is seen,
When once of Earthly succours 'tis bereft.

Lar.
The troubles of a Throne are not still sent,
As marks of Indignation from above;
Heav'n sometimes wounds, that it may death prevent,
For chastisment's the surgery of Love.

Nic.
Alas! your Queen is past redemption broke,
Fortune has no severer doom in store,
The loosing of a crown is her worst stroke;
Trees that are thunderstruck ne're flourish more.

Lar.
Yet while there's Life, there's Hope: And were that less,
I'd not desert her when she needs me most.

If Scythia's Monarch dys, a Numerous Press
Of men are slaughter'd to attend his Ghost.
And shall I leave my Soveraign whilst alive?
No, were she martyr'd, her I'd ne're deny;
For though she fell her cause would still survive,
Since 'tis known Law—The Queen can never Dy.

Nic.
But can you joyn with any who suborns
Male forces thus our female Lives to spill?

Lar.
She more such help, than yr revolting scorns.

Nic.
They worse than slay, who save her 'gainst her Will.

Enter Antiopa, Penthesilea, and Celeno (from the left.)
Cel.
These Ruffians dare retort on us the name of Rebells.

Ant.
And swear the walls shall be their Fence or Tombstones.

Pen.
They are possessed, and I no less inspir'd.
Wrath's very spirit is so much my own,
Methinks I could unman 'em all alone;
Whatever prophets did or said before,
My rapture says I can fullfill and more.
'Twas confidence brought their wonders in,
But where that ends, Fury do[e]s but begin.

Nic.
Pray, let us two work what we can by Treaty;
For I have urged that from her may do service.

Ant.
Then go and treat, we'll stand to your Agreement.
[Exeunt Nic. and Lar. (at the left.)
Can the Name Queen carry such charms about it,
To make these desperado's prove Invincible?

Pen.
Queen! That a syllable, a sound, a breath,
An empty notion, without life or substance,
Should e're contend against our strength & Art!
Accursed word, oh that thou hadst a body,
A soul, or any thing could feel my Anger!
But thou art less than I my self would make thee.

Cel.

These sanguine Malignants are so intoxicated with Allegiance,
They protest against pay as a downright cheating the Exchecquer:
should we hash, or carbonado them with our Simitars, they'd take it
for a peice of cookery, and devour each other to the last man; or else
all starve into loyal sceletons, e're they would swallow our engagement.

Anti.
The People's safety is the supreme Law,
Yet who is safe while this Orithya lives?
Her Absence fights, the memory of Her quells us.

Pen.
My steel I long to handsel with such slaughter:
A Tyrants blood ne're stains when it is spilt,
But both the Hands that shed it wash from guilt.

Enter Laranda & Alcy. (from the left.)
Lar.
When I inform'd the Trojans how the Queen
Renounced their Aid, they treated.

Ant.
Well; But now
You must Orithya's Abode descry,
Else all you've done's but painted treachery.

Lar.
The Queen? she in my breast so fixt abides,
I'll ne're discover where she else resides.

Ant.
We'll thank your service, yet ne're make it known.

Lar.
What thanks can make such guilt against the Throne?

Pen.
You dy, unless her residence you Name.

Lar.
Dying for truth, I shall survive by Fame.

Pen.
Stitch up her mouth, let her not feed nor speak
(I'll break this humour, or her heart shall break)
Keep in her soul Pris'ner, that it may,
Though it desires to part, not find the way,
But in her own stiff carcass coffin'd lie,
And stifled there, without departing die.

Lar.
Since death is certain, when & how it must
Come, is indifferent, so the cause be just;

The loss of future years will be no more,
Than not to have been born so long before;
Those broken drops of Time, hid in th'Abyss
Of vast Eternity, we never miss.
Not the stout only, but the delicate,
Can loath the crambe of life's tedious date;
Who lives a century, and forgotten dies,
Has no more being here than last years Flys.
Such only have right spirits, who create
By brave Acheivements their Immortal state:
(For Parent never long in heirs survives,
And oft is sham'd by their degenerate lives.)
Souls Immortality from Heaven do share;
But in Fames life we our own makers are.

Pen.
Let your Name, like a spirit, walk after death.

Enter Nic., Jas., Eric., Ilus, Erib., & guards (from the left); Anti. speaks to Alcy. concerning Laranda.
Ant.
Keep her in bonds till we have doom'd these miscreants.

[Exe. Alcy. & Lar. (at ye left.)
Nic.
They have surrendred the Tower basely for their Freedome.

[To Ant.
Pen.
What Free abhorrers who consp[i]red our ruine?

Nic.
Acts of Oblivion are but the Alms of Victors.

Pen.
Their yeilding on Orithya's account,
Proves they are Hers, & makes 'em feirce delinquents.

Ilu.
Your articles oblige ye to release us.

Pen.
How! slaves to our words, shall mouth glue hold us?
There's a new light reveals, you ought to perish.

Eric.
Then will you slay us after quarter granted?

Pen.
'Tis not my fit, but temper, blood to spill,
Those I forgave in hot, in cool I'll kill;

And had both sexe's malice brew'd a curse
Mix'd of all mischiefs, I'd Invent a worse.

Jas.

What thing, but cruelty itself in pettycoats, could be so
divelish.

[To Eric. & Ilus.
Pen.

Go turn these Monarchy men into their proper liverys, and
then into the Dungeon, those suburbs of Hell.

[To Erib., who, with ye Guards, drives out the Trojans (at ye inner part of ye left.)
Enter Thalestris (from the outer part of the left.)
Tha.

Generalissima, I can discover to you the darkest plot.

[she whispers to Ant.
Ant.

Let your secret come out quickly, or it will burst you.

Tha.

Why, in a word, your souldiers are all in open Mutiny.

Ant.

Then they discovered themselves.

Tha.

Yes; but I first found out by every body 'twas for pay.
Yet give the word, and they shall soon ruine one another without blows.

Ant.

O, the wit of a Councellor!

Tha.

Look you, I have a medicine to make the Pestelence, in a
Box which was a reliq of Pandora's; this if I open, when I have the
wind of 'em, they'll cunningly kill each other, yet none of 'em the
wiser, nay, the Dead shall slay the living.

Ant.

You may do much without the receipt: you ought to wear—
The Lord have mercy upon us—still on your breast, you are so plain
a Plague.

Nic.
This is Orithya's Plot: then let Celeno,
And I, in outward show, Joyn with the Army,
T'insinuate into the Cheif Mutineers,
And train 'em into our snare, the rest will yield.

Ant.
Do, while we secure Orithya's Grandmother & ye Palace.

[Exeunt Ant., Pen., & Tha. (at ye right.)

Cel.

But where shall we get a mass of coin to stop the mouths of
a monyless Army, that hath been so long fobbed off with debentures?

Nic.

And after Victory too! Yet that's Antiopa's part; for we are
not bound to be Hacknys to any, who wage war forma Pauperis, and
reform upon tick.

Cel.

An Army unpayed is a headstrong Horse with the bit out
of his mouth, ten to one he throws the rider: but for a months
Advance, they'll march as merrily as you could wish to have their
brains beat out; as if 'twere their only Ambition to leap out of the
world, with the credit of mony about 'em.

Nic.
Then why should we run hazards still with them,
Nor true Prince, nor subject, nor themselves?
Mercurial falsehood strictest bonds defeats,
As Mercury thrô bonds of Iron eats.

Cel.

Verily, I like the cause, as men do their drink, best when
strongest; and am tinder to the least spark of hope may light me to
a fairer Interest: specially now they declare for Regicide.

Nic.
Then shall we joyn in councel?

Cel.
Yes, why not?

Nic.
Yet let's not trust our thoughts to words,
But wisely dialogue by signs, shrugs, winks, & nods.

[Nic. & Cel., by mimical gestures, act a Treaty, agre[e]ing and disagreeing, at last sh'ke hands.
Cel.
Content:
[Enter Thalestris (from the right.)
Let us avoid this Lady Shallow plot.

[Cel. spys Tha., & exit with Nic. (at ye inner part of ye left.)
Enter Lanthinus (from the outer part of the left.)
Lan.

Pray, what news have you from the rumpers, those History
pedlars, and edition of Pybottom, whose whole Volumns be but half-sheets,
yet are as long a working into a chaos, as the Creation was a
getting out of one; they cannot have anything in 'em, for they are all

outsides, and are sold about the streets as Purslane, at a penny a leaf
(upon which folio's their scriblers, like Catterpillars, live); but are had
at the Coffee houses at their true value for nothing.

Tha.

They publish that the City cares not a pin what the Councel
thinks, nor the Country a straw what the City says; that Levity is a
better quality in court than gravity, se[e]ing persons there rise faster and
higher by it. There is a whig comedy to be spoke by Parots, Jays,
Magpys, and Starlings, because the words of it are properest for those
Actors, which (like the Authors) repeat by rote what the[y] don't
understand, and all the Gold that is made by Alchymistry, is to be
kept in banco for the support of such Poets.

Lan.

What! from the Antirumpers?

Tha.

They write in it, that wett Gall is a better cure for a ring
worm in the State than bleeding; And the secret of flying without
wings, discovered by a Cabal of Cowards, Torys call them Associators
(a new word for Traytors) who fled to a Peninsula, 'cause their
Country would not follow their inward owl-light, nor beleive that such
who commence Saints by their own Infallibility, had a right to bestride
the Age, and ride mankind. Ditto. That those Jurys shall have a
Toleration to Hoyle together in blew ribbands, who will credit none
of Queens evidence but witnesses of Fortune; whose two edged
tongues are kept in pay to cut throats; whose lips, worse than leeches,
draw blood without touching, and will kiss the Crown off her head,
and her head off her shoulders.

Lan.

These Novells were barrell'd up forty years agoe, & are only
fresh tapp'd; this is but antiquity come to pass.

[Exit Thal. (at ye right.)
Enter Queen & Sagalus (from the outer part of the left.)
Que.
Good Sr, return, what can yr words redress?

Sag.
A Partner yet's some solace in distress.

Que.
Oh no! you can't my greif b'tween both divide;
By adding yours, mine will be multiply'd.

Sag.
They may design your Death and I prevent.

Que.
Yr Presence would but further that Intent.
Nay, both may fall, then where's the mutual comfort?
In dying, no society is known,
Thô thousands fall at once, each dies alone;
Yet you may plead you did my good intend,
Whilst I expire plain murderer of my Friend.

Sag.
I'd rather be by swords than sorrow slain,
I cannot leave you till I see you reign.

Que.
I'll ne're reign more, unless I can abate
My Peoples rage without an Advocate.

Sag.
You would not leave me when my camp rebell'd.

Que.
Nor should you me, if mine you ere had quell'd.

Sag.
Great Heroine, I'll rather bear the blame
Of parting thus, then staying 'clipse your Fame.
Yet wheresoe're you shed yr powerfull ray,
I, like a Heliotrope, must turn that way.
Then (as two Planets which divided shine,
By intermingled beams together twine)
We by our thoughts may, thô removed in place,
Be to each other present and embrace.

Que.
I come not here out of a love to sway,
But subjects teach their Glorys to obey.
When they have the madness of Rebellion known,
And all their falshood to each other shown,
And find thô they subdue whom the[m] oppose,
They ne're shall reach those ends for which they rose;
But must what Arbitrary Power they fear
Under us, from Usurpers surely bear:
Then they will beg to undergo my checks,
And Kneel to have me tread upon the[ir] necks.

Exeunt Queen (at the right); Sag. (at the left) Looking kindly at each other: Lan. follows Sag.

our our in the MS.

worser in the MS.

THE END OF THE FOURTH ACT.