University of Virginia Library

[SCENE the First.]

Enter Montano and Titiro.
Titiro.
How is it possible my Daughter shou'd
“By Heav'ns be destined for the general good?
“For when I mark the words o'th'Oracle,
“Me-thinks with those the Signes agree not well.
“If Love must joyn 'em, and the one does flye,
“How can that be? How can the strings which tye
“The True-Loves-Knot be hatred and disdain?
Did Heav'n intend this Marriage, 'twould ordain,
Beauty, not Hounds o're Sylvios heart should reign.

Mont.
“He's young; and has time yet to feel Loves Dart.

Tit.
He Love! The Woods have took up all his heart.

Mont.
Not so, but Love may still new pleasures bring.

Tit.
“But Love's a Blossom that adorns our Spring.
Since want of Love is that this age his Crime,
I have but little hope t'expect from Time.

Mont.
“What if this Marriage be not writ in Heav'n,
“'Tis made on Earth, their mutual Vows they've given.
“To violate which, were rashly to profane
“The God-head of great Cynthia, in whose Fane
“The Solemne Oath was taken. Now how prone
“Our Goddess is to anger, and how soon
“By us to be incenst, thou'rt not to learn;
But I declare as far as I discern:
“And a Priests mind rapt up above the sky,
“Can into the eternal Counsels pry:
“This Knot is tyed by the hand of Destiny.
“Besides, I in a Dream have something viewd,
“Which my old hopes has more than e're renew'd.

Titr.
Dreams, what are they? Your hope's too strongly bent;
But say, what did the Airy form present?

Mont.
“When swelling Ladon weary of his Yoke,
“The Banks with his Rebellious waters broke:
“So that where Birds but lately built their Nests,
“Usurping Fishes swam; and Men and Beasts
“With Flocks and Woods promiscuously ta'n,
“Th'Impartial Deluge swept into the Main.
“That very night, that very night undone,
“I lost a Child, and then my only Son:
Whilst in his Cradle the poor Infant lay,
“The cruel Torrent ravisht him away:
I owe my Death to that unhappy day.

Tit.
“And I may say of thy two Sons; the Floods
“Have ravisht one, the other's lost i'th' Woods.

Mont.
Perhaps kind Heav'n in the surviving Brother,
“Will by the one make me amends for t'other.
“'Tis always good to hope; now hear me out:
“'Twas at the dawning of the Morn, about
“That Mungrel hour, which gotten betwixt Night
“And day, is half an Æthiop, and half White:
When kind Heav'n to my waking fancy brought
These lively Images of Fate, me-thought
“On famed Alpheos-banks I Angling sate
“under a shady Beech; there came up straight
“A grave old Man, down to the middle bare;
“His Chin all dropping, and his grizled hair,
And said, Loe, here's thy Son, and take good heed
Thou kill him not, then dived into the Reed:
Startled, I cry'd, Propitious Heav'n defend:
No sooner did the Reverend shape descend,
“But strait black Clouds obscured the Heav'n around,
“And threatning me with a dire Tempest fround;
“I to my bosom clapt the Babe for fear,
“And cryed, shall then one hour both give and bear
“Away my hopes: Streight all the ayr was turn'd
“Serene, and Thunder-bolts to ashes burn'd,
“Fell hissing in the water; with Bows broken,
“And Shafts by thousands; Signs which did betoken
“Extinguisht Vengeance; then a shrill Voice broke
“From the riv'd Beech, which in its tongue thus spoke;
“Believe Montano, and thy hopes still nourish,
“Thy fair Arcadia once agen shall flourish.

Titi.
Can your fond hope from such weak fancies rise?
“Alas, Montano Dreams are Histories
“Of what is past, rather than Prophecies
“Of what's to come; mere fragments of the sight,
“Or thoughts of the past day reviv'd at night.
Man's Doom, and the great Oracles of Heav'n
Are never by such feeble voyces given.
“In short, how Heav'n has destined to dispose
“Of our two Children, neither of us knows.
“But this is clear to both of us; thine flyes,
“And against Natures Laws does Love despise.

Mont.
“Take courage Titiro, do not debase
“Your thoughts with mortal fears, but nobly place
“Your hopes above: Heav'n favours a strong Faith,
“And a faint Prayer ne're climbs that Arduous Path.
“Our Childrens Pedegree you know's Divine,
“And Heav'n that smiles on all, will surely shine
“On its own Progeny. Come Titiro,
“Together to the Temple let us go.
And humbly bow to the Eternal Throne,
Victims and Prayers have pow'r, if Dreams have none.
“And thou high mover of the Orbs, that ridest
“The Starry Region, with thy Wisdom guidest
“Their Course, look down upon our tottering state,
“And reconcile Disdain and Love with Fate?

(Exeunt.