University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

Enter Taccola and Bottolo.
Tac.
Good Bottolo, set these things upon the Shelf;
I must stay here to give my Lady her Things,
She's coming down this way; I had forgot
Her Vail; nay, prethee do so much for me.

Bot.
Well, well; pox on't, I take no joy in this Wedding.

Tac.
Nay, prethee no discourse now, honest Bottolo.

Bot.
O rare! honest Bottolo! before night
You'l scold at this honest Bottolo.

Tac.
Thou deserv'st it twice, where I do it once, sirrah.

Enter Emilia.
Emil.
What's the matter?

Bot.
Nothing, Mistress.—Ah, 'tis a thousand pities.
[Exit Bottolo.

Emil.
Have you brought my Things, Governess?

Tac.
Yes, my sweet Charge.

Emil.
Where's the Company?

Tac.
They all stay for you in the Hall.

Emil.
I go, I go.

[As she offers to go, enter Miranzo.
Mir.
Stay, stay, fairest Maid.

Emil.
What's your pleasure, Sir?

Mir.
I dare not tell her 'tis to gaze on her.
[Aside.
Madam, the business I must acquaint you with
Deserves a privacy; please you to command
Your Woman for a minuit to withdraw.

Emil.
Leave us a little, Governess.

Tac.
By my troth a comly Gentleman; had luck been
This might have made the better Husband.
Pray Sir be not tedious, here's business to be done.

Mir.
Not by the old Gentleman.
[Exit Taccola.
I am a Stranger to you, Madam;
My business will seem strange too.

Emil.
Pray quickly, Sir; I am staid for.

Mir.
That's part of it.

Emil.
Of what?

Mir.
Why, of my business, to desire you not to go.

Emil.
What mean you, Sir? why do you gaze so wildly?
I hope your thoughts are not so much unsettl'd
As your looks; why do you desire me not to go?

Mir.
Why, you go to be married, do you not?

Emil.
Yes; what do you mean? Pray leave me.

Mir.
I must not, nay, I cannot leave you.

Emil.
Not leave me! What is the business
That thus unseasonably you stay me for?

Mir.
I know I have doue ill to trouble you;
But who can help it; Love and Whirlwinds
Will have their giddy courses.
The story's short, I saw and lov'd you.
Wonder not; Lightning burns at a flash,
When lesser Fires do by degrees consume.

Emil.
It is not well to give me this strange trouble.
How did you come to meet me?
Pray say no more; I must obey and marry.

Mir.
Do, and be happy.—'Tis true,
I might have dy'd without afflicting you;
For that I ask forgiveness.

Emil.
I forgive you freely.

Mir.
This then finishes my Wooing.

[He draws a Poniard.
Emil.
Hold; you do not mean so madly!

Mir.
I mean thus, soberly.

Emil.
Where is your Reason and your Justice, Sir!
Think on't; wou'd you rob another of his right?
Your neer Relation too!

Mir.
Not by dying, do I?

Emil.
That offends Heaven, at whose disposal
You ought to be.

Mir.
I am so; you are my Heaven here,
And you dispose me to my Fate.

Emil.
Why d' you cruelly disturb me? I know
You dare not be so injurious as to
Destroy at once your self, and all my peace.

Mir.
You mistake; Alass! I have not courage enough to try
Whether or no I can endure to live.

Emil.
Oh, you have ruin'd me! what shall I do!

Mir.
I am sorry I have troubled you, indeed I am;
But you began to plague me first:
I was at peace with Woman-kind; that is,
I lov'd none till your eyes began the quarrel.

Emil.
What wou'd you have me do? how can I now
Avoid this Marriage, ready for the Temple,
Ingag'd by my Obedience, and my Promise!

Mir.
You may pretend a sudden Sickness, Madam.

Emil.
I need not much pretend it;
But what is your design in this?

Mir.
I dare not name a Pardon at the first;
I only beg to be Repriev'd, that I may try
If it be possible to love you less,
And you may try to love me more:
But if you think it too much mercy to Reprieve me,
Pronounce my Sentence quickly, you shall find me
Your faithful Executioner.

Emil.
You press me strangely;
I dare not be the cause of any murther:
Live—I will not marry; by all that's good I will not:
But from this time see me no more,
Cruel disturber of my Peace.

Mir.
I lost mine first by seeing you;
And though I promis'd to obey one Sentence,
Yet this is too hard, dying's easier:
I cannot promise never to see you more and live.

Emil.
Be gone, and leave the most unhappy of all Women.

Mir.
I go, remember only this vow I leave behind,
Never to live to see you wretched or unkind.

[Exit.
Emil.
Ah me!—I need not wholly counterfeit
Sickness; I have an Ague in my thoughts,
Which shakes my Soul; I shall grow faint indeed.
Governess.

[Enter Taccola.
Tac.
O, sweet Charge, there's old calling for you.

Emil.
I cannot go yet; lead me to my Chamber;
I fear I shall grow ill.

Tac.
How, how!

Emil.
Prethee peace.

Tac.
Why, what a Gods-name hath this young Fellow done?
What is he gone and left you?

Emil.
Nothing, nothing; prethee along, I faint.

[Exeunt.