University of Virginia Library

ACT IV.

The Scene as at first.

SCENE I.

Pamphilus, Philena.
Phi.
So now Sir my humble thanks
For the honour y'a pleas'd to do me.

Pam.
Nay Lady, I'll
Wayt upon you in, that's certain, I'm not
So coursly bred, nor so ill mannerd.

Phi.
I should be at least Sir, to trouble you farther—and
Engage your courtesie so much.

Pam.
No trouble in the world,
tis pleasure to me rather.

Phi.
Pray Sir excuse me, I am presently
To go forth again on visit.

Pam.
Why I'll accompany you,
And wait upon you thither too.

Phi.
By no means Sir, 'tis to a friend of mine
Y'are not acquainted with, besides I have
Some businesse—

Pam.
Nay an't be to a friend of yours
I must needs
Be acquainted with them, being so much your servant as I am,
And for your business, my presence
Shall no ways hinder its dispatch.

Phi.
Now I think on't too, I must visit by the way
A friend of mine there lately brought abed,—
Won't that shake him off?

[aside.]
Pam.
I'll wait upon you thither too. I
Am the welcom'st man amongst the Gossips,
You won't think how they love my Company.

Phi.
Tis a sign I'm none then,—no getting rid of him!
Oh see in happy Time Flamette here.

SCENE II.

Flamette, Pamphilus, Philena.
Phil.
Prithy Flamette, an' thou lov'st me, get me rid
Of this Importune heer; is more tedious
Than a painful-sleepless night, and worser than
A Feaver or Catharr, I am even sick of him.

Fla.
Oh! have you found him then?
This comes of your complacency, I told ye so,
All curtesie is cast away on him, and discurtesie
Is no discurtesie to such as he,
Who either brag of favours they ne'r received,
Or else abuse those they receive of us.

Pam.
I, I shall be sure
Of your good word still, but no matter what
You say, she knows me well enough, and I
Know what I owe too, to such Nymphs as she.

Fla.
Nothing but a blanquetting as I know of.

Pam.
Come Lady shall we go?

offers to take her by the hand.
Phi.
What shall I do to rid me of this Importune?

Fla.
Why an' take my counsel, a flat denyal's best,
And if that won't do, a good Cudgel; I know
No other way.

Pam.
Come, come, let her talk
Till her tongue's a-weary, and let us go.

Phi.
Still does this Burr
Stick on me?

Fla.
Burr? he is Pitch rather, defiles all those
He touches; 'tis imputation enough of Curtezan
For any Nymph but to be seen in's Company:
But hear you not the News?

Pam.
Huh! she must come
Tattling with her News now!

Phi.
No, what ist?

Fla.
The lamentablest and dolefullest.
As ever yet was heard in Cypres,
Will leave, I fear, no heart without a sorrow,
No eye without a tear.

Phi.
For heavens Love what?

Fla.
Why Bellinda,
The lovely Bellinda, and so belov'd of all,
Who merited to live beyond the natural bounds
Of life, this day untimely is to die.

Phi.
Ay me! how so?

Fla.
Condemn'd to death
By our Ilands Laws, for falsifying her faith
To Gods and men, in swearing she lov'd one here,
Whilst 'tis prov'd she was betroath'd before
Unto another.

Phi.
And how's that known?

Fla.
By a Stranger's arrival here
Just on the point she took the sacred Oath,
And proving her forsworn.

Phi.
Strange! but on a strangers bare information
This may not be believ'd, there may be malice,
And consequently falshood in it,—and may't not be
That other to whom she was betroth'd, she swears she loves?

Fla.
The Oath you know admits no such equivocation,
Being expresly limited to some one in the Isle.

Phi.
And so may he be for ought we know.

Fla.
What probability of that?
And you at her lodging ne'r know of it!—
No no, her guilt's but too apparent.

Pam.
Ugh, ugh, ugh.

[He cryes]
Fla.
What ails the Fool?

Pam.
Oh I've lost the best Wife, the best Wife
As ever poor Husband had—what shall I do?
What shall I do?

Fla:
Why prethee go hang thy self,
So we were rid of thee.

Pam.
Oh, oh, such a Wife! such a wife!

[exit crying]
Phi.
I see now
The man is vain and foolish,—but this is wondrous strange;
The patient gods latter or sooner still
Follow ('tis true) all crimes with punishment,
But just i'th Act to meet her punishment
Declares them mightily offended—I can't believe it yet,
Where there is gain in sinne, there is excuse
For sinning, but he sins twice who commits
An unprofitable crime, as must be this of hers,
To lose her life for nothing, for an Oath,
A breath.

Fla.
Unhappy breath the Whilst,
And most unhappy she,
That what is cause of others living shou'd be
Her cause of death—but see where Polydor comes,
We shall know all of him.

SCENE III.

Polydor to them, speaking to some within:
Pol.
For the Prisoners now you may restore 'um to their liberties;
With prohibition only of wearing arms,
Death being their Rivall ther's no fear now
Of their farther Rivalship.

Phi.
O Polydor
Is this news true?

Pol.
Too true alas, unfortunate she the while,
Vnfortunate we, unfortunate all the Isle.

Phi.
Never gave Fate then a greater document,
If the fair Bellinda be to die,
No beauty's proof gainst death and calamitie—
But this comes of dissembling, and now I see
That Falshood and Dissembling are but twins,
And wher t'one ends, the other but begins.

SCENE IV.

Chorvs, Mysti, Polydor.
Pol.
O welcom, welcom, and in this general dismay,
Tell us, since Love so gentle was of old,
As w'ar by Antient Sages told,
Whence is it, that to day
He so tyrannical and cruel proves?

Mysti.
That's Fortunes fault, & none of Love's,—for know,
Love and Death o'th' way once meeting,
Having pass'd a friendly greeting,
Sleep their weary ey-lids closing,
Lay them down themselves reposing;
When this Fortune did befall um,
Which after did so much apall 'um:
Love whom divers cares molested,
Could not sleep, but whilst Death rested,
All in hast away he posts him,
But his hast full dearly costs him;
For it chanc'd that going to sleeping,
Both had given their darts in keeping
Unto Night, who, Errors mother,
Blindly knowing not th'one from th'other,
Gave Love Death's, and ne'r perceiv'd it,
Whilst as blindly Love receiv'd it;
Since which time, their darts confounding,
Love now kils, instead of wounding,
Death our hearts with sweetness filling,
Gently wounds, instead of killing.

Pol.
Next, pray tell us with what fire
Our brests are charg'd, that our desire
And hearts so vehemently shou'd move
Towards the Object of our Love?

Mysti.
That speculation is more high,
And deeper the Philosophie;
Know, that from the Impulsion
Of self-divided things does come,
Which separated, are in pain
To re-unite and joyn again,
As branches we asunder bend,
Forcibly again tow'rds one another tend;
For Nature did both sexes knit
At first in one Hermaphrodit,
Till finding by conjunction so near,
Both but more dull, and more unactive were
To edge their Appetite agen
She sever'd and dis-joyned them,
Whence does proceed that gentle pain,
And longing appetite to conjoyn again.

SCENE VI.

Euphanes to them.
Eup.
Bellinda to dye!
O ye just gods, whom yet I will not blame,
Nor asperse with foul imputation and stain
Of such a horrid crime, till she be dead;
And then though you show'r down all your punishments
And plauges upon my head,
I'll say 'twas cruelly and unjustly done.

Phi.
Enter Philander another way.
O Heaven and Earth!
Why do's not t'one sink under me? and tother
Fall on my cursed head, am guilty of
Bellinda's death? but yet 'tis needless too,
For though they both
Forbear to punish me, I do so loath
My hated life for't, I'll die in spight of them,
If flames, or steel, or precipices have any force
To take away a life.

Eup.
To be conducted by Love only to Hope,
And have only a glimpse of Hope to light
Me so despair! if this be to Love and Hope,
Happy who hate, and those who desperate are.

Phi.
To have sought her only to find her false!
And found her, only to be the loss of her!

Eup.
Cruel Fortune thus to have lifted me up,
Only to throw me more violently down again.

Phi.
But I dally and trifle, a friendly Sword
Might do me a pleasure now; and see in happy time
Euphanes who for need could help me.

Eup.
Art thou there murtherer? compleat thy wickedness then
And take my life too, Bellinda's but half dead yet;
When thou hast slain me, thou shalt find the other half
Here panting in my Bosom.

Phi.
I prethee spare
Thy reproaches Euphanes, and do not add
Affliction to Affliction; have more humanity
Than to wound a dying man: know I am more
Miserable already than Miseries self
Can make me, or thou thy self couldst wish.
Bellinda's murtherer?

Eup.
Yet killing of me thou might'st add unto thy crime.

Phi.
But it would take from thine
By killing me.

Eup.
If thou knowest no better way
To die, than by my hand, I wish thee no
Greater punishment than still to live:
The Sword is Angers weapon, faint-hearted Coward,
Grief has a keener one, if thou canst find it out.

Phi.
Thou advisest well, a single death
Suffices not for Philanders crime indeed,
And I shall but redouble it, by seeing of her die.

SCENE VI.

Philostrates, Philena, Chorus to them, &c.
Philos.
That a Nymph so fair and young
Should rush thus voluntarily upon
A sacrilegious Oath, and so incur
Her own destruction, 's a folly and rashness to
Be expiated equally with a prodigy.—
Go let a Sacrifice presently be prepar'd,
T'appease the angry Deity.

Phile.
Too much of Blood
We have already, the water of mine Eyes
Shall furnish out the rest of sacrifice;
As who's so hard-hearted, so avaritious
Of sorrow and grief, he wou'd not spare a tear
From all calamities, to spend it here?
But see Euphanes. Now still and still
D'ye persever ill-advised Youth to love,
Where y'are not lov'd, and prefer Bellinda's
Falshood to Philena's Truth?

Eup.
Thy heart then never by experience it seems did prove,
Only to love where w'are belov'd again
Is bargain, and not Love,—
And what, silly Nymph, avails it you
Toward the obtaining of Euphanes love, that Bellinda's false,
Who but collects from thence, no woman can be true?

Philost.
Bring forth our sable robes, and let
The Executioner with the fatal Ax
Be ready against the hour expires.

Mysti.
Behold 'um here.

Phil.

Chorus
sings.

SCENE VII.

Polydor, with Bellinda veyl'd, &c. to them.
Pol.
Room, room before there.

Eup.
She comes, she comes; now to declare
A Resolution great as its causes are,
Dar'st thou Philander, when her death we see,
Resolve to die with me?

Philan.
For my resolve Euphanes, never fear,
I wll not say to die with you, but her.

Philos.
Now unveil her, whilst thus it is with pain,
with his Wand he uncharms her.
O open the port of speech,
Shortly by deaths hand to be clos'd up again.

Bel.
Ha! what means this deadly Tragick spectacle,
This Funeral Livery, & those bloody Ensigns of cruel
And abhorred death! is there any thing can be
In Philanders presence able to frighten me?—

Eup.
How's this?

Bel.
She runs & embraces him, and he looks strangely on her.
Ha! he unkindly reject me,
Nay then away with all
These deadly preparations,
The shadows of death it self,
The Axe and th'Executioner too,
For one unkind look of Philander's
Can kill me sooner than all the rest can do.

Philos.
Thy Falshood Nymph makes him behold thee so,
Occasioning all this affliction and woe,
To swear thou lov'dst one here, betroth'd before
Unto another.

Bel.
And what else should I swear,
embraces him agen.
Beholding my betroth'd Philander here?
When passing along to take the sacred Oath
And hearing of his voice amid'st the Throng
I glanc'd mine eyes aside,
And instantly espi'd
My dear Philander, For Lovers are quick sighted,
Though Love be blind.

Pol.
Error of Humane minds
How were we all deceiv'd then.

Philos.
[all shout for joy]
Strange, but so 'tis in Religious minds,
Still in high contemplation
Error of humane things is often found,
As those who most do contemplate the Stars
Do soonest fall to ground.

Phila.
But that I of all men shou'd be so deceiv'd!
Knowing my Bellinda so well, is an Error I
Shall ne'r pardon in my self, nor do I know
Deerest whe'r thou can'st ever pardon or no.

Bel.
Well, well.

Pol.
See how she sweetly nods, and smiling
Out th'rest do's seem to say,
Well, well Philander, I'll be jealous another day.

Philos.
Away with these dolefull preparations then,
And resume your former joyfull ones agen.

Pam.
Enter Pamphilus crying
Ugh, ugh, ugh,
I have lost the best Wife, the best wife,
As ever poor Husband had—But soft what this?
Alive agen! and in anothers Arms!
How comes this about? this is fine geer I faith.

Fla.
Why thou perpetual Doult,
Thou unconscionable Asse Thou; mak'st People
Kill themselves with laughing at thee, If she'ave
Ever been
Philander's, both before she arrived here,
And since, and now, when should she be thy Wife
I prethee?

Pam.
Why even when she pleases,
I am ready for my part.

Fla.
I dare swear thou art for any one.

Pol.
See how hand in hand,
These happy Lovers stand,
So lost in joy for their escape from death,
As yet they do not know,
Whether they live, or no.
Mean time you may perceive
By their ey-beams twisted, their fixt regards,
Their unmovable posture, and their minds surprize,
Ther's nothing glews so fast as Lovers eyes.

Philost.
O happy pair!
Now safely to your Port arrived are;
Happy whose former suff'rance and annoy,
Does now but heighten more your present joy;
Happy, who after y'ave so long
On Fortunes rough tempestuous Seas been tost,
May truly say, y'ad been lost indeed,
Unless you had been lost.

Bel.
Oh my dearest, and don't my eyes deceive me?

she tenderly reclines her head upon his Arm.
Phil.
My dearest, dearest heart,
Come, come, let's go, and take from Love,
And Fortune both, the power they had before,
Of making us ever miserable more;
For yet some farther proof there needs, and some
More true and real joy, to let us know,
Whe'r that w'enjoy be real, true, or no.

Philost.

Chorus
sings.
All the joyes that unto heart,
Heav'n & Earth did e'r impart,
All the pleasures that the Spring,
Or Love, to Youth did ever bring,
All contentments too, that e'r
Yet in any's bosom were,
With a Ravishment to boot,
At all parts answerable too't;
May blest Hymen all, and more
In these Lovers bosoms store,
Till satiat with it, they may cry,
To pitious heaven, 't wou'd let 'um die,
And to a better life translate 'um,
Where joys, pleasures, contents ne'er satiate 'um.

Exeunt.
Manent Philena, Flamette, Euphanes.
Fla.
And won't you go along?

Phile.
No Flamette, to a heart
And pallat so sad and so out of tast as mine,
No Musick, no Feast can relish, and the sight
Of others wealth and happiness, wou'd but make me
More sensible of mine own poverty and misery;
Let them abound with happiness then, and surfet with
Deliciousness, I envy not their fortunes,
But pity and lament my own.

Fla.
Excellent sweetness! Heaven's my witness I
Heartily pitty her.

Phi.
But see where Euphanes stands, turn'd musing Statua,
Who knows but now may be the fittest time
To move my Sute again? to love beyond
The possibility or enjoying, is Hope
Too far stretcht beyond the end of Love;
I'll try then, now Bellinda's love
Is probably extinct in him, whether Philena's yet
Have any flame to enkindle it again,—
Euphanes—

Eup.
Hence troublesom and importune,—
Out of how profound a slumber, and sweet
Reverie has she awak'd me, whilst I imagined
With gratefull Error, Philander's happiness
Might possibly have been mine own, had Love
And Fortune pleas'd,—the more fool I the whilst,
Who with these fancy'd joyes, and imaginary wealth,
But feed my Thoughts, whilst I am starv'd my self.

Phile.
Cruel and pittyless! Is this then all the thanks,
And reward I have, for preferring thy Loves
Int'rest to my own? and betraying mine own
Love, in pleading for thee to Bellinda
Against my self?

Eup.
And what's the effect of it?

Phile.
Th'ingratefull only judge by the Event,
The Gratefull by the Act and the Intent;
Thy face belies thy heart, for that is gentle,
And full of Love; but with my heart now what
Shall I do, since thou, whose 'tis, reject'st it?
Wou'd I cou'd gratifie thee with it any wayes,
Though I tore it out of my bosom.

Eup.
Prithee
If thou't gratifie me, let me never see thee more.

Exit abruptly.
Phil.
And so perhaps (cruel as thou art,)
Thou never shall't;
My mind condenses with multitude of thoughts
I feel transporting me to somwhat high and brave—
Let's see;—but for that which we approve our selves,
And cann't b' approv'd by others until 't be done,
There needs but small deliberation.—
Flamette, a word with thee.

Exeunt.