 | The Royal Mischief |  |
37
ACT V.
SCENE I.
The Royal Apartment in the Castle of Phasia, Homais is discover'd Bound: Then Enter four Mutes, three with Bow-strings, the other with a Bowl of Poison; they rank themselves in dumb show, on one side the Stage.Then Enter the Prince of Libardian.
P. of Li.
Our Castle is investing by Levan,
Eager and swift, as Lovers to their Joys,
He flies to his and my undoing;
Yet e're we meet as Foes,
And bring our Quarrel to the fatal Field,
The Wretch that made us such, shall taste my Justice.
See where she lies! O pity, Nature, thou
So much should'st Err; so far bestow thy utmost
Cost upon the Case, and leave the Building Empty;
The lovely Frame exhausted all thy Store,
And Beggar'd thee so far, thou could'st not look
Within, to aid her Wants. Hence monstrous Forms,
And unimagin'd Ills Inhabit there,
But Death shall fright them thence:
I will not stay to argue with my Wrongs,
For fear her Eyes steal my complaints away.
Be dumb her Charms, let me be Deaf and Blind,
'Till Fate has plaid the mighty part in hand.
Hom.
You need not bring your sight to urge my Faults,
They stand full blown to my repenting Eyes;
Sure there are Hours of Ill that wait us all,
And Fate has made us subject to their call;
Tho' some are blacker stain'd than others are,
There's none can say, their Lives were ever fair:
Then on our Guardian Gods be all the fault,
Not having watcht our frailty as they ought;
Back to themselves, I do retort the Blame,
Who carelesly resign our trusted Fame.
P. of Li.
It is not wise to wrangle thus with whom
You are to meet so soon.
Behold the fatal Choice! would'st thou be Hours
In dying, here is a Draught will give thee
Time to ask Heaven pardon for thy Sins,
Or if that thou hast fallen beyond its Mercy,
And think'st within thy self, 'tis vain to ask it;
Then here's the Bow-string will be sudden with you;
38
And send thee to thy Home with smaller Cost;
They're Cordials all, which but a Friend like me
Cou'd minister to one so foul, so sick
To Death, as thou—which shall the Garland wear,
For having made the odious Homais fair.
Hom.
They are indeed rich Cordials all, which if
Not urg'd by you, had met my Wishes:
Swell'd with the fatal Draught, I shou'd have burst
These Bonds, that now confine me close, and at
Your Feet, in Flouds of Tears, and oft repeated
Wishes for Forgiveness, have left my dying Breath.
Now I shall part displeas'd to think that Love,
Which oft you swore Proof against any Change,
Cou'd not survive one Fault.
P. of Li.
O Women! exquisite in all that's Ill!
Were they but wise to shun, as to excuse
Their Faults, how perfect would they be!
None that had sinn'd as high as thou—
Cou'd once have thought my Justice too severe.
But not to leave you matter for Dislike,
Your Form I love, tho' I abhor your Faults.
Did I once listen to what Passion speaks,
Those lovely Eyes wou'd soon perswade my Heart,
With all your Guilt, to doat upon their Shrine.
Therefore no more, to dally with a Flame
That may confound my Honour and my Reason.
I will unloose your Bonds,
And leave you to your self to chuse your Fate.
[Unbinds her, and is going.
Hom.
O do not stir unless you wou'd forestall
The use of these, and make Despair my Doom.
Thus on my Knees, in Thanks for my Deliverance,
I'll clasp your flying Feet, nor loose my hold,
Till you've vouchsafed an Answer to my Prayer.
P. of Li.
We minutely expect a sharp Assault,
Here my Revenge perform'd, I shall have time
To argue with Levan of his Injustice,
Force him recall that Sentence on his Wife,
Who by his fawning Council stands convicted
Of Adultery, banisht for ever all
Her Husbands Territories, her Eyes put out;
Those Lights, which dazled all the gazing Croud;
Her Hands, her Nose, her Lips, to be cut off;
Then thus exposed, thus branded, thus abused,
Sent back with Ignominy to her Father;
The Visier too, cramm'd in a Roaring Cannon,
Discharg'd in Air, to expiate the Crime
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My self undone, are Ills your Eyes have caus'd:
You Bow-string Mutes approach—
And since she wo' not, I'll determin for her:
Do your Office—
Hom.
Hold, hold, my Lord. Ah Wretch! thou art undone.
Slaves! stay till I require your speed—See, see;
He will not have you be so sudden.
Give me but leave to speak this once,
This only now—and I am dumb for ever.
P. of Li.
What canst thou urge of weight to recompense
This Respite, which I borrow of Revenge.
Hom.
Nothing, nothing—I but move your Pity:
O think, I charge you, by your own bless'd Soul,
If thus you sink me now amidst my Sins,
What will become of mine?
Eternity, that never-ending Time,
The Present and the Future all in One,
That worse than deadliest Foes could ever think us;
'Tis but the uncharitable Voice of Hell,
That wishes Pain, and Misery for ever,
To give my Body, which you once thought beauteous,
An endless Prey to those affrighting Fiends:
This was your Love, and this your kind Revenge.
P. of Li.
Oh! I've a Sea of Tenderness within me;
And thou hast mov'd my Tears by such a Spring,
That now they flow to drown Revenge for ever.
Hom.
My dearest Lord, 'tis more than Safety to
Believe, that yet you love me; to see those
Falling Tears, to hear those rising Sighs,
And know my Soul is precious in your Eyes.
O let me live to make amends for this!
Or else in Hell the Thoughts of my Ingratitude
Will be my strongest Circumstance of Woe.
P. of Li.
O Homais! say that I should spare thy Life,
And thou shouldst fall again—What Hell were then
Sufficient for Revenge?
Hom.
None—None—
Kill in my Sins, and may I burn for ever.
P. of Li.
'Tis Grief for thy Immortal Part, that holds
My Hands; and now I look again upon thee,
That beauteous Frame, had it a Soul to suit
Such Glory, when fading here, might rise an
Ornament to all those shining Courts above.
Heark! the Assault begins.
[Trumpets, &c. as to an Assault.
Remember Homais, that thou bearst thee well,
Or else thy Life's my certain Forfeit.
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Her Sorrows, and say, I will expose my Life to serve her.
[He leads Homais to the Scene, which opens to her, then closes again; the Prince returns, signs away the Mutes, and Exit. Then a long Alarm, repeated Shouts within, of Long live the Princess Homais. Long live the Prince of Colchis. Then Enter Homais and Acmat, with Officers, Guards, and Soldiers.
Hom.
Thanks worthy Soldiers, such are noble Sounds,
That save at once our Lives and Fame from Ruine.
My Lord, by those Designs which Acmat has
Delivered, conspired the Fall of both:
Now in a Civil War he fain would steep you,
Defends the Adulterous Princess and her Minion
Against her Godlike Lord, and my Protector:
'Tis to your timely Aid all owe our Safeties;
And therefore, that Levan (who by your means
I entring here) may praise your Diligence,
Haste and secure the Visier from escaping.
Offi.
Now when the Gates were opened to the Prince,
And Acmat had proclaim'd your Interest here,
Osman retreated from the Walls in haste,
Lowdly exclaimed against your Sacred Name,
And with his Sword dividing all our Ranks,
Open'd himself a Passage to the Palace,
And took the way to Princess Bassima's
Apartment.
Hom.
The Villain helps to shew himself.
Secure the Avenues, let none escape,
Till the victorious Prince arrives;
And for that sawcy peremptory Priest,
Who sent my Lord on Errand to the Camp,
Secure him close, nor let him eat nor sleep,
Till Death shall close his Eyes. He who durst wake
His Prince, when I ordain'd him Rest, whilst he
Himself has Life, shall never rest.
Offi.
Your Orders shall be straight obey'd.
Hom.
You're worth our Royal Care, and soon shall find
The Effects of all my Promises to all.
Till then my Thanks and Praises shall attend you.
[Shout.]
Long live the Princess Homais!
Hom.
Now to your several Posts, and guard the Palace,
My own peculiar Guard attend without;
After a Moments Conference with Acmat,
I do my self intend to meet the Conqueror.
Offi.
Prosperity attend your Highness.
[Exit. Manet Hom. Acm.
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I had forgot, the most important News,
Relying on a better Star to govern here,
Soon as the Princess was arriv'd, thirsty
With Flight and Sorrow, I administer'd,
According to our Yesternight's Resolves,
In her Sherbet, the Cure of all her Ills.
Hom.
Done like a Princess Minister; now when
I visited, I found her fainting; the
Poyson and her Fears begin to operate,
Nor can she long remain to cross our Hopes.
Acm.
That done, I made my Interest with the
Officer (whose turn it was to guard the Gate)
To admit the Prince, and set your Title up.
Nor had my Lord escap'd, if in that Minute
(Tho' ignorant of what I purposed to him)
With a small Train he had not parted hence,
Leaving the Visier to command the Castle;
Himself, as they report, designs for Ablas,
And in the Head of their united Force,
Will soon return to try his Fate by Battel.
Hom.
Therefore, therefore—Whilst he's alive, how dare
I think of any Crown but his? he who
Has sworn my Death, will surely act it.
Do thou make haste to Ismael—
'Tis but a Moment since they are departed,
His Youth will soon o'retake their Speed.
Tell him my Prayers and Vengeance shall go with him,
And charge him strike, to save a thousand Lives,
To rid my Heart of its worst Passion, Fear;
That nothing may remain but Transport here.
[Exeunt omnes.
The Scene draws, and discovers the Princess Bassima fainting upon a Couch, the Visier Osman enters to her.
Osm.
Ah, Madam! We are lost! Betray'd to Ruine!
The shameless Homais has undone us all:
The Soldiers are revolted on her side,
The Prince her Lord departed from the Castle,
And ours Victorious now is entring here.
Bass.
Then Death's the Cure of all,
And I am hastning to him.
Since last we met I'm grown familiar with him,
And we have now contracted such a Friendship,
That I am certain nothing can disjoyn us.
Osm.
Therefore, my Princess, since your Fate and mine
Are both so near, and there remains no means
To save you; let us employ the time
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O do not banish me from Earth unblest!
Send not your true Adorer hence
Unrecompens'd for all his constant Love.
Bass.
There's none but you cou'd make me hear these Words;
But by the eminent Disorder here,
I now conjure you, Osman, not to name
A Thought that may offend my Glory.
Fain I would part at Peace with all,
And something more, with you—But this is not the way.
Osm.
O do not argue thus, my Fair, with him,
Who has not time to loose the Doors I've fasten'd
All behind; they've five to force, before they
Can disturb us; an Age if well employ'd.
I count such vast Delight in your Embrace,
That shou'd my Life exceed that charming Point,
The Extasie would blunt the sharpest Sword,
For I could feel no other Death but Joy.
Bass.
O Honour, Glory, guard me.
Osm.
They're all but empty, notionary Sounds;
The World already does conclude me happy:
Will you be more unkind than they?
You, who of all the World can only make me blest.
Alas! we have not time to lose—
Already they wou'd force the Door that leads
To this Apartment; your Joys, midst all this
Noise and Horror, would prevent another thought.
Show now that you have truly lik'd, and in
This latest Hour of Life do not oppose
A barren Shadow to my Love, unknown
To any but our selves.
Bass.
Destroy me not, my Lord, by these Requests;
For I forbid not only Hopes, but Wishes:
That Faithfulness I owe my Royal Lord,
That Veneration all must pay to Vertue,
And a fair Conscience Peace, are more
Than Force sufficient to repel your Suit.
Then regulate your Flame by mine, and well
Consider that a transitory Moment
Ought to hold little weight, compared to
Everlasting Life.
Osm.
Inhuman Princess!
Bass.
You ought not think me so; had I been such,
Now in my Husband's Arms I'd flourisht fair,
Not in a narrow Corner of the World,
Hunted, detested by my greatest Friends,
Am yet so far in Love with Misery,
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O you know little! Not to know, 'tis much
For Souls so truly wed to Vertue,
To ballance with themselves as I have done,
Which is the dearest to me, You or Glory.
Osm.
Did you but love like me, you wou'd by all
Those Joys prevent the vulgar Road of Death;
Or which is worse, that which will follow your Denial.
Bass.
I have a War within, which Death
Can only conquer: None but my self can tell
The wrecking Pains I bear; you see me Dying
Eeither by Treason, or that time allotted
To me. Cease then this most extravagant Request.
Resign, like me, your Wishes and
Desires. Scarce can we hear the Words we speak
[A Noise at the Scene Door,
For the rude Noise and Fury of our Foes.
Heark! how they strive to bring us threatned Fate?
Ah Heavens! Is this a time to deal for Guilt!
When others would repent them of their Sins?
VVe who have liv'd till now so void of Crimes,
Let us not think it proper to begin 'em.
Osm.
Heavens! Is it possible you should permit
This unexampled Vertue thus to fall!
Have you not left one Means to save her?
She who deserves a thousand Altars
To her Name: Earth is indeed too vile to bear her;
Above she'll shine, as in her proper Sphere.
Forgive me, charming Excellence, I who
Durst think you had a Mortal Part, with rude
Unhollow'd Fires approacht such Sanctity,
Now full of VVonder am convin'd, your Charms
Are much too pure for ought, but his Omnipotence
That framed them—
Here the Door is forc'd open, Levan and Homais enter, with Officers, Guards, and Soldiers.
Lev.
Seize the Villain.
I will remit of her Inhuman Sentence,
Eternal Banishment be all her Doom.
Grant her Repentance Heaven, for her dark Sin to me.
My Lord, give present Orders to the Soldiers,
[To one of the Court, who goes out.
That they respect as mine my Uncles Person;
My Quarrel never did extend to him.
VVhen he returns my Arms are open to him,
For I've a weighty Favour to request.
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By our unhappy Hymen, I conjure you,
Spare Osman's Life; for all his Crime was mine.
Osm.
Believe her not, such VVhite cou'd know no stain,
And 'tis my Curse, that I must speak her Innocent,
Even whilst confessing Love was on her Lips,
Her Cold, her Candid Virtue dampt the Sound,
That but the Eccho only was enjoy'd.
Hom.
D'e stand unmov'd, before a Rival's Boasting;
Go, bear him to immediate Execution,
And in that way the Council has decreed.
Lev.
You've rous'd me up to noble Justice;
Be sudden, as Revenge and Hate cou'd wish.
Osm.
Fare well, sweet Saint, 'till we shall meet above:
Now Souldiers, to that Fate which none can shun.
[Is taken and carried off.]
Bass.
Yet call your faithful Visier back;
O send, and stop his way to Execution;
Pity a most unhappy Bride, who e're
She saw your Eyes, receiv'd a Wound from his;
Love, has like Fate, its pointed Hour;
And irresistible their Force,
But made a wretched Victim to the State,
VVith all this Languishment, this Love about me?
My Royal Father gave me to your Arms;
I strove to vanquish this uneasie Passion:
Knew all your God-like Virtues, and ador'd them,
But yet unaided, could not do you Iustice:
To Osman I reveal'd the unhappy Flame,
Conjur'd him, as my only cure, to take
My Father's Court for ours; his Wife o're heard
The fatal Dialect, and now for that he dies:
The horrid Canon is discharg'd—I need no more:
[A Gun shot off.
Ah Heaven receive thee to its Joys.
[Swouns in the Ladies arms.
Lev.
When Beauty pleads, what Rage can keep its height?
And I am fram'd, by Nature, full of pity,
But rival'd Love there's none should calmly bear.
Enter an Officer.
Offic.
Your Orders, Sir, are punctually obey'd:
The Visier went undaunted to his Fate,
Nor at the horrid manner was concern'd,
But cry'd, 'twas glorious all he underwent
For Bassima, then as the Orders ran,
Alive we cram'd him in the Fatal Canon,
Which in a moment was discharg'd in Air,
His Carcass shattering in a thousand pieces.
New dread and Horrour fell on all the Crowd,
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Bass.
The Vail of Death spreads o're my darken'd Sight;
'Twas kind who ever dealt this Mischief to me;
They're much too exquisite for Nature's Pangs:
Can you forgive the Errors of my Fate?
I summon all my latest strength, thus low,
To ask it of you—Farewell, my Lord—and O believe,
Glory was still my darling Virtue.
Nor did a Love, strong as my Amorous
Stars cou'd give, once tempt me to forsake it:
For you, who were too much Divine for me,
I beg from Heaven a long and glorious Reign;
My Stars shone sullenly upon my Birth;
Let 'em not quench my Fame and Life together.
[Dies.
Lev.
How calm she went! Should she be innocent,
Eternal Grief and Horrour wou'd surround me:
Nor cou'd the Globe afford my fellow Wretch.
O Heavens! What state is mine, that I must hope
My Wife was false?
Hom.
Drown all these Melancholy Thoughts in joy;
Fortune has made our Victory compleat:
The Storm that threaten'd black, is now o're-blown,
And the bright shining Sun of Love appears,
Unintermixt with any ill presage.
Lev.
By Heav'n, my Homais, I adore thee strangely;
My Soul takes Fire at every glance of thine:
So dear thou art to every Corner of me,
So true a Mistress of my Thoughts and Person,
That I will gaze my Miseries away,
And in thy Arms remember naught but thee.
[As Levan is Embracing of her, the Prince of Libardian Enters with his Sword drawn, runs at her, and Kills her.
Hom.
Ah Traytor, Hell-Hound, thou hast done thy worst.
P. of L.
Thus I've discharg'd the Debt I ow'd;
Stretch Acmat's Tortures to their utmost length:
Her Minion Ismael whom she sent to take my Life,
Is by my Subjects packt to Hell before her.
Room, ye Infernal Powers, for three more vile
Then ever flam'd below.
Hom.
Thou Dotard, impotent in all but Mischief,
How could'st thou hope, at, such an Age, to keep
A Handsome Wife? Thy own, thy Devil will
Tell thee 'tis impossible—
Thus I dash thee with my gore,
And may it scatter unthought Plagues around thee,
Curses more numerous than the Ocean's Sand,
Much more inveterate than Woman's Malice;
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P. of L.
Rail on, thou can'st deceive no more.
Hom.
O thou too fainly Lover! Canst thou hear him?
That Coward Ismael too, who reapt my formost Joys;
What an effeminate Troop have I to deal with?
I'le meet and sink him in the hottest Lake;
Nay, plunge to keep him down—O! I shall Reign
A welcome Ghost; the Fiends will hugg my Royal Mischief.
Grim Osman and his Princess grace my Train;
One sent by Poison, t'other by new Fires.
But thou, my Darling Evil,
When Fate had nothing else to do but join us;
When expectation beat the loudest March,
And full blown Joys within an instant of us,
'Tis more than life can bear to be defeated:
Be thou a shade, and let us mingle then;
There feast at large, what we but tasted here:
Thus with my utmost force I'le bear thee with me;
Thus strangle thy lov'd Neck, thus die together;
But O! a Curse on Fate and my exspiring strength.
[Dies.
P. of L.
O Nephew! How wert thou mis-led,
Thy noblest Nature turn'd to vilest Uses,
Made Homais's Tool to hew Ambition,
Murther, Incest, for her? I dare not tell
Thee yet, how much to blame thou art.
Enter an Officer.
Offi.
My Lord, the Princess Selima, dristracted
With her Griefs, ranges the fatal Plain,
Gathering the smoaking Relicks of her Lord,
Which singes, as she grasps them; now on the
Horrid Pile, her self had heap'd, I left her
Stretcht along, bestowing burning Kisses
And Embraces on every fatal piece.
P. of L.
Remove her, for your Life, with gentlest force,
And then, with care, convey her to my Tent:
I'me lost amidst this round of Fate, what Crimes
Were ours, that you should thus severely blast
The Royal Fame.
Lev.
And here stand I, the cursed Cause of all,
As unconcern'd, as tho' the Beauteous pair
That fell by me, were still alive;
But mighty grief has stopt the passage up;
Extreamest detestation of my self,
Has left me means to speak no other way but thus.
[Falls upon his Sword.
P. of L.
Add not new Crimes to the unhappy Count,
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For thy faults; live to convince the World,
By a more just and glorious Reign,
That they were Fates, not yours.
Lev.
'Tis past—Behold the Murderer of Bassima,
Who took his Uncles Wife, and hug'd the Incest;
And wou'd you wish me life? I wretch who gave
Her up a Prey to her Avenger, prov'd
In effect the Inhuman Butcherer
Of Nature's fairest work.
P. of L.
Her two Extreams,
So foul and yet so fair, she cannot paint again.
O in a Cause so bad, to lose thee
Thus, after all my ardent longings,
And mighty strivings to advance your glory;
Unwreath'd this Brow to place on yours the Lawrel,
Show'd you to Conquer'd Nations, as my boasting
Prov'd to be made your glories foil:
My dearness to thee, more urges Tears of Grief
Than Anger from me.
Lev.
By all your mighty Wrongs and my undoing,
By Deaths inevitable Pangs that now assail me,
I thought her un-enjoy'd—
And Bassima that Monster she was made:
O injur'd Saint, dart from thy Heaven upon me,
And grant that Pardon which thou askt of me,
To you, my Sins can never think forgiveness,
Nor after Incest, cou'd I live to wear it.
Beauty, Death's keenest Dart,
More fruitful far than any other Fate.
By whose Inchantments all my glories fade,
And Innocence unwary is betray'd.
[Dies.
P. of Li.
O horrour, horrour, horrour!
What Mischief two fair Guilty Eyes have wrought;
Let Lovers all look here, and shun the Dotage.
To Heaven my dismal Thoughts shall straight be turn'd,
And all these said Dissasters truly Mourn'd.
[Exeunt omnes,
| The Royal Mischief | |