University of Virginia Library

ACT I.

SCENE I.

The PALACE-GARDEN.
Enter Lucius and Arminius.
Arm.
Why does the conqu'ring Lucius now despond;
Why does my Lord, with secret Sorrow mourn,
Why thus averse to every Sound of Joy;
When Fortune crowns you with her choicest Favours,
Makes you the Soldiers Pride, and Wish of Beauty?
The coldest Maid that ever grac'd a Court,
At your approach, drops all her haughty Airs;
New rolls her Eyes, new coins her Face in Smiles,
And her long-practis'd Scorn is then no more.

Luc.
O Albany! I cannot bear thy search.

Arm.
I must proceed, and name the beauteous Queen.

Luc.
Ha! say'st thou? What of her, Arminius?

Arm.
The mourning Rosalind in Sorrow dress'd,
Can charm beyond the gaudy Smiles of others!

Luc.
I view, indeed, the captive Queen with Pity.

Arm.
My Friend, does she not rule thy Soul?

Luc.
She does! she does! my charming Queen reigns here,
Triumphant in her native Throne, my Heart:
Diffusive is her Sway, War yields to Love,
Nor know I any Wish, but for her Beauty.

Arm.
Oh sure Despair, as certain Death for me!

[Aside.
Luc.
Why sighs my Friend? Is she not heav'nly Fair?

Arm.
Oh Guardian Powers of Britain! save him now,
Oh save the lovely Youth from pleasing Ruin!
Hast thou forgot? alas! the Queen's a Christian,
Apostate to our Altars, and our Worship.

Luc.
In her alone all my Devotion centers;
My Heart (when I such wond'rous Charms survey)
In her adores the All-creating Power.
Nor can Perfections, great as hers, mislead;
She cannot be mistaken; cannot err:
Or if she cou'd, with Rosalind to err,
Were better than believing with another!

Arm.
Beware the Mischiefs which attend her Love.
Thy Father, styl'd, the cruel King of Britain,
Is to the Christian Sect a most invet'rate Foe.

Luc.
Love were not Love, cou'd it admit of Fear.

Arm.
Think how, when Lord of Verulam, he slew
The good, the rightful Majesty of Britain;
Slew, at a peaceful Banquet, that brave Monarch.
The Queen (scarce up from Childbed of a Son,
Who soon expir'd) he forc'd to his loath'd Bed,
In hopes the Prince of Cambria, her Brother,
Wou'd prove a Friend, to his bold Usurpation:
And yet Heav'n smil'd upon the horrid Nuptials,
And bless'd the Tyrant with the God-like Lucius.

Luc.
Tho' sprung from one, I have no Tyrant's Soul,
Am I to blame? Cou'd I direct my Birth?
Cou'd I concur to Be? Was the Choice mine?
My Mother early paid the Debt of Nature;
Of me she dy'd: may that attone the Crime
Of wedding with her Husband's Murderer.

Arm.
Still, there's a Secret will thy Hopes destroy,
Thy Father does himself the Queen adore;
His Love began, soon after thou wert sent
To aid the Gallick King against his Brother.

Luc.
O fatal War! wou'd I had never seen it.

Arm.
Thy Father, at a Royal Interview,
Receiv'd a Dart from Rosalinda's Eyes,
The beauteous Heiress of my Uncle's Crown,
Then to the King of Aquitain betroth'd:
He strove in vain to cross the promis'd Nuptials,
For his own Bed courting the destin'd Bride.
Long Enmity between the Picts and Britons,
Their native Hate, and Contract with Otharius,
Caus'd the Refusal of your Father's Suit.

Luc.
The Fame of this Affront reach'd us abroad.

Arm.
Love was the secret Motive of the War;
Hence he invaded Albany with Fury:
And with my Uncle's Death the Slight reveng'd.
How has he gall'd the Picts with heavy Yokes!
How every Day oppress'd our conquer'd People!
How in these foreign Wars, and distant Climes
Forc'd us for him to carry hated Arms!
Eager to prosecute his furious Love,
He cross'd the Seas to make the Queen a Widow.
Too well his Chance in War succeeded here;
Otharius, he was slain, and we the Victors.

Luc.
This Morning with the Gallick King he comes
Triumphant o'er the Fate of Aquitain.

Arm.
Soon as your conqu'ring Arms had forc'd this City,
With Orders I was sent to plead his Love:
But she, with Indignation, has refus'd him.
I dread to say, how ill I have succeeded.
His Tyrant Temper will not yield to Reason,
Nor can the Name of Son, abate his Rage.
Cure or conceal your Love, or you are lost.

Luc.
Conceal my Love? conceal a raging Fire.
Conceal the Blaze, when it invades the Sky:
As well unbounded Storms may be conceal'd.

Arm.
Sure this Etherial Fire was struck by Jove.
Oh no! the God of Love has greater force;
He animates you thus; thus moves your Frame,
And brings inimitable Graces with him.
Feels not the Queen the Force of all those Charms?
A Dawn of Joy breaks from her gath'ring Smiles,
With all the Softness, which fore-runs her Sex's
Yielding.

Luc.
Ten Months I've offer'd ineffectual Vows;
Ten Months pursu'd the Fair with ardent Love.
No more—the Princess Emmelin appears:
I'll go this very Hour, and urge my Fate;
Ere my stern Father comes, I must be bless'd,
Be ever bless'd, or else for ever wretched.
Haste all ye Loves, and Graces to my aid;
Dwell on my Voice, and languish in my Eyes;
Bright Cytherea, from thy Heav'n look down,
Grant, Venus, grant, that I her Heart may move;
For me thy Slave, make her thy Votary.
Propitious now, thou shalt my Goddess be,
And I'll Devote my happy Hours to thee.
[Exit Luc.

Enter the Princess Emmelin.
Emm.
I met the Prince—how has thy search succeeded?

Arm.
Alas! too well.

Emm.
And grows the Hero, Lucius, sick for Love?
That stubborn Heart in Camps, and Slaughter bred,
Unus'd to Beauty and its soft Delights?
Oh Sympathy of Sex! oh Force of Nature!
What haughty Victor stops not at thy Call?
What Courage melts not at the sight of Beauty?
Oh Rosalind! how glorious are thy Chains!
How much superior to the Crowns of others!

Arm.
As next of Kindred to the Alban Throne,
Whilst none but elder Rivals had declar'd,
I had some distant Hopes of being heard.

Emm.
If I have Credit with the King, you shall;
We are my Brother's Captives, not the Britons.
But oh! what Hope hast thou to gain her Heart?
Where is the Hero, that dares rival Lucius?
At the young Warrior's Sight, each Virgin Breast
Throbs with an Extacy unutterable.
Scarce Venus feels more Transport in her Grove,
When kindling Wishes hurry on to Love.

Arm.
I own the Danger of superior Charms;
I own, his Power and Valour, Youth and Form,
Are Rivals dreadful to my boldest Hopes:
And yet, in Counsel with my kinder Stars,
Cunning and Conduct may out-wit the Hero,
And aid my feeble Hand to reach his Heart.

Emm.
Thou strik'st not there, Arminius; I oppose;
And, like his better Genius, guard the Warrior.
Know, I have seen him with indulgent Eyes;
As thou for Rosalind, I sigh for him.

Arm.
Be he immortal then, as are your Charms,
Within that beauteous Empire ever safe.

Emm.
Thou hast resolv'd his Fate, I read thy Soul,
This ten long Months I've study'd thy dark Breast
And know the Want of Vertue in thy Frame,
Which must subject thee to the Mind, that knows thee:
Wherefore, I left my Modesty a-while,
Reveal'd my virgin Love to guard its Object.
Honorius comes; with him the British King:
Protect my Lucius from his Father's Rage,
Or by our Nation's Gods, thy Queen shall know,
'Twas thy ill-fated Arm, which slew Otharius.

Arm.
Why, with Reproaches, does your Highness load me,
For what to you alone I have disclos'd?
Is this the End of all your promis'd Favour?
That promis'd Favour, which upheld my Hopes.
Yet, wherefore shou'd I shrink at your reproach?
In Battle, bravely did I take his Life;
That bar to Rosalinda's Throne and Bed.

Emm.
Spare but young Lucius, and your Secret's safe:
Nay, all that I can do to gain the Queen.

Arm.
Well does the King your Brother love his Sister.
Honorius rules the Fate of Rosalinda:
Direct her to my Arms; and Vortimer
(Whose Ear I've gain'd by flatt'ring of his Love)
Shall give the Prince to yours.

Emm.
Oh Albany! that soars above my Hopes,
My haughty Soul would not reveal its Weakness;
Yet something must be done, I'll think again.
But thou, my careful Genius, guard me well,
And thou, my Modesty, be faithful to me;
Heave not, my Bosom, when the Invader's nigh;
Throb not, fond Heart, to beat to him thy Secret:
My Eyes, take heed how ye my Pain express,
Strike not one Spark that may the Flame confess.
He can't despise, who does not know our Store:
'Tis proffer'd Love makes all our Beauties poor.
[Exit Emm.

Arm.
Enter Sylvius.

Syl.
I love my Brother with a Sister's Love,
As much as e'er a Sister lov'd a Brother:
But when compar'd to what I feel for Lucius,
How weak, how lambent is the kindred Flame!
Then not for thee, but him, I left my Sex,
Left the gay Pleasures of the British Court,
Thus in a servile Garb to follow Lucius,
To hear his Voice, and view his lovely Person:
For with the Dawn I took his Beauties in;
The vital Air, the Sighs which first I breath'd,
Were all inform'd, were all inspir'd by Lucius.

Arm.
Shall Rosalinda then possess thy Lover?

Syl.
Not till Alenia dies.

Arm.
Earth, Hell and all aerial Dæmons join,
Join they with us, to blast his hated Passion.
Born on the Wings o'th' Wind, the Wizard Alm'rin,
Mighty in Spells, in Charms and Magick Lore,
From Norway came, to aid our hapless Loves.
Ten sleepless Nights in Magick Rites have past,
And thus, this Morn, he has our Doom pronounc'd;
“Divide the Queen and Lucius, ye are blest,
“And in his Arms Alenia's Grief shall rest:
“For Rosalinda thou shalt sigh no more,
“If thou with her canst touch thy native Shore:
“But oh! be swift, their stronger Stars may join;
“Employ Force, Fraud: This Day and Night are thine.

Syl.
The Fates are kind, their Oracle is good.

Arm.
If Scruples weak and vain sway not thy Mind,
Alenia, we may yet be blest. Oh say,
Wilt thou unerring with thy Brother join,
In mutual Aid to gain our mutual Loves?

Syl.
Implicitly I will.

Arm.
Give me thy Vow.

Syl.
I swear to act in Concert with my Brother.

Arm.
Hold'st thou thy Favour with the Queen?

Syl.
I do.
She calls me faithful Boy, the only one
Of all her vast Retinue she can trust.
Embolden'd by this Grace, I told the Queen,
There was a Prince, who always mourn'd her Fate,
In Words so tender, with a Voice so sweet,
I lov'd, yet griev'd to hear the moving Story.
She ask'd me all transported, Is it Lucius?
I sigh'd and paus'd, not daring then to name you.

Arm.
[Exit Sylvia.

[Exeunt omnes.