University of Virginia Library

ACT IV.

A Gallery; Athelwold and Ordgar.
Ordg.
Why I have known thee bear thy Wounds, and smile
While the barb'd Arrow torn from thy brave Flesh
Drew mangled Sinews with it,—as if Death
Dreadful to others, had been sport to thee;
Yet now thou fall'st so much below thy self,
The very wind of Fear blows down thy Courage.

Athel.
Have I not more than common Cause to doubt
The King has some Design against my Honour,
To send me thus abruptly from my House
With a Pretence so false; the vertuous Prince
Unus'd to Acts of Baseness, spoke with Pain,
And felt his falt'ring Tongue betray his Purpose.

Ordg.
Confusion on that downy Devil, Love!
Who thus can make a Boy of a known Hero.
Death! I shall lose all Patience; has the King
So much as seen, or heard, or thought of Elfrid?
Oh Hell! that when the Vertue of a Wife
Keeps a Man's real Honour out of danger,
The Plague of Jealousy must be call'd in,
To make him an imaginary Cuckold!

Athel.
Oh, Ordgar! bear the failings of thy Friend;
Coud'st thou but feel the weight that galls my Soul,
Pity wou'd teach thy Reason to forgive me!
I wou'd not doubt the Vertue of my Wife,
But something here assures me 'twill be try'd
With more than common strength;—and let me tell you,
Temptation is a pow'rful Plea with Women.
I knew the Guilt of Treachery to obtain her.
Vertue is Vice, when 'tis thro' Vice we reach it;
Like unslak'd Lime, Sin lies unfelt, and easy,
While Mirth and Gladness keep it dry within us;
But when Remorse has seiz'd our guilty Souls,
And Sorrow's Tears have rain'd their Streams upon it,
The moist Incentive strikes the limy Heap,
And rouses all its Fires to scorch our Bosoms.

Ordg.
If Guilt has stain'd your Soul, the Dew of Mercy
Falls thick enough to wash those Stains away,
And re-establish all the Snow of Vertue.
Heav'n asks no more Atonement for great Sins
Than our Repentance; your Repentance then
Has long since rac'd out one so small as yours:
If Grief is vain, what vainer than to grieve;
If 'tis not vain, why let me know the Cure,
And I'll apply it with the Balm of Friendship;
While there was Hope, I laugh'd at thy Affliction;
But I now pity thee, to see thee sunk
In an eternal Lethargy of Folly.

Athel.
I have no Friend but thee, on whom to lean,
If thou forsak'st me, I must sink indeed;
Thou wilt be happy in the sight of Elfrid,
When I am gone to make more room for Ruin;
Watch her with Eagles Eyes, for she's ambitious,
And they who slide upon Ambition's Ice
Sink into Vices, which they see and hate,
But move too swift to shun them.

Ordg.
For my Friend
I will do more than ev'n that Friend can ask me;
Prevention of a Crime keeps Honour safe,
But proves not Innocence; Elfrid shall think
No Eye observes her; if she then forbears,
Rest satisfy'd, she will forbear for ever;
The better to prepare for Observation,
I will depart the House, as if disgusted
At the new Choice the King has made of you;
But leave my Horses in your Keeper's Care,
And coming back alone, enter again
Thro' the back Gate, which you shall open privately,
So, going to my Chamber, which you know
Is opposite to Elfrid's—I unseen
Can mark all Night what passes worth observing,
And be your Ladies Guardian.—

Athel.
Friend indeed!
This is a proof of Love, which I wou'd pay
With Show'rs of Blessings, cou'd I claim from Heav'n,
What I can only pray for;—but the King,
The King, my Ordgar, will resent thy Absence.

Ordg.
Oh! let not that disturb you, Ordgar's Soul
Was never Pandar to his Person's Pride;
Courts may invite great Minds, but awe them not.
Farewell, and know I undertake this Task,
But to confute your Fears, not prove them just.
[Exit Ordgar.

Athel.
The Night advances with a heavy pace,
And hangs upon the Verge of Apprehension,
With such a deadly weight, and climbing slowness,
As in portentous Terror, speaks her Womb
Impregnated with Births of dreadful Mischief!
I must be gone with Steps more swift than hers,
But I will take a Kiss or two from Elfrid,
To live on in the Famine of my Absence;
And see she's here!—So after cloudy Storms
Outbreaks the glorious Sun to comfort Mariners.

Enter Elfrid.
Elf.
They tell me most unwelcome News, my Lord,
That you must leave me.

Athel.
Ay, this moment leave thee;
Leave thee perhaps for ever, ever Elfrid.
That's a long Date for ever, is't not Elfrid?

Elf.
The King's unkind to rob me of a moment,
Pray when returns my Love?

Athel.
Ah! when indeed?
If Love has left your Breast, ah! when returns it?

Elf.
I ask'd how long your Journey is to be?

Athel.
Alas! I cannot tell thee. This sad Night
Leads me to lye at my first Stage of Woe;
And Woes long Road has many, many Stages.

Elf.
For Heav'ns sake, my Dear Lord, answer not thus,
My Tears will drown me.

Athel.
Oh! my Souls best half,
Lose not one pearly Drop of that rich Dew,
Which, shed on Sorrow, wou'd make Sorrow Joy,
And Pleasure spring from Misery;—Oh Elfrid!
I must be some whole Days in mournful Absence,
And all the Hours in Lovers Days are Ages.

Elf.
Till you return, I shall be deaf to Joy,
As Adders are to Musick, pining Grief
Will tell away the sleepless Nights in Turnings;
I shall lie wishing for the Morning Light,
Yet curse its sad Arrival when it comes,
Because it cannot shew me Athelwold.

Athel.
Wilt thou not see the King when I am gone?

Elf.
Alas! I wou'd not longer wish for sight,
Than sight cou'd dwell on thee; when thou art gone
My Eyes, grown useless, shall be clos'd in Night;
As Swallows fly not when the Summer leaves them.

Athel.
And till my Arms again thus clasp thee to me,
If I embrace a Friend I long have lost,
Or throw me on the Neck of one more Dear
Than all, but thee, my Dearest Earthly Blessing,
Yet will thy Absence make my Joy a Shadow,
And I shall taste an Unsubstantial Bliss,
Like one who clasps a Ghost and hugs but Air.

Elf.
You'll find some other She, in your long Absence,
Whose greater Merit will make mine forgot.

Athel.
Alas! how can I see to find another
When I have lost my self? or being lost,
What cou'd the gaining others profit me?
Thou wilt not see the King?

Elf.
So bless me Heav'n,
As I shall keep, or break that Promise made!

Athel.
This Kiss shall seal the kind engaging Oath,
And this, and this, Oh! I cou'd linger Ages,
But Duty, barb'rous Duty, calls from Love.
Farewel, my Dear, I go, and yet I cannot,
I must return for one Kiss more, and now
Farewel, I go indeed,—Remember, Elfrid.
[Exit Athelwold.

Elf.
Remember, Elfrid, was the Word he left me,
Yes, Yes, I will remember, Athelwold,
I will remember, that the finding thee
Lost me an Empire; and in that Remembrance
A thousand Tongues bid me remember too,
How Heav'n, by calling thee away so strangely,
Has smil'd on Opportunity and me!
Oh, Opportunity, thou bane of Vertue!
What Woman can resist thee! I'll retire,
And wait a moment till my Husband's gone,
Then, when the King comes thro' the Gallery,
Borrow the Dress of Chance once more to friend me,
And finish the great Task begun so happily.
[Exit Elfrid.

Enter the King and Egbert.
King.
But to depart so strangely, and so soon,
Nor take a decent leave, is such a proof
Of proud Disgust, as I imagin'd Ordgar
Cou'd not have shewn me.

Egb.
It surpriz'd me too,
But by this happy Chance your Love-blest Fate
Has freed you from a watchful Man's Inspection.

King.
By all the Hopes of Love that's greatly thought!
But have you publish'd fully thro' the House,
The Illness 'twill be proper to pretend,
And the Command, that none shou'd stir this way?

Egb.
I gave the Orders with such feign'd Concern,
That the whole Family are struck with Terror;
The Wretches scarce durst breath for fear you hear them;
They walk below as if they trod on Glass,
And fear'd to wound their Feet by breaking thro' it;
They whisper to their Horses in the Stable,
If a Dog howls they stab him.

King.
All things then
Seem to invite me to the Throne of Pleasure;
And, to come thither, lead to Elfrid's Chamber.

Egb.
You cannot err, just now the lovely Fair,
Willing to be alone, dismis'd her Maids,
With charge to wait her Call, e'er they return'd.

King.
That's still another smiling Glance of Fortune;
Fail not to wait me at the time appointed.

Egb.
I shall be punctual, as the Sun to Time.

King.
Assist ye soft Desires that fan Loves Flame,
Vertue lye silent in fair Elfrid's Soul,
And let her snowy Breast be all inspir'd,
With the kind yielding Motives of Compliance.
Smile, God of Love! if such a God there be,
Smile from thy Heav'n on my vast Hopes and me;
Soft as her Bosom let her Passions prove,
And melt her Frosts of Fear to Floods of Love!
So shall Revenge, and Love thus jointly giv'n,
Make this vile Earth a momentary Heav'n.
[Exit the King.

Egb.
[Alone.]
Well did the King observe how Midwife Fortune,
Helps the great Birth of Love with which he labours,
And I shou'd be more blind to my good Fate
Than Owls to Noon, did not I see it shine
With Rays of happy Prospect; now Ordelia
Sits in her Chamber, like the Mate-left Turtle,
I'll tune my Falcon's Voice of Roughness to her,
And force her to one Passion by another;
But see, as if my Guardian Angel brought her,
She comes, oh! may the Omen prove propitious.
Enter Ordelia.
I'm well prevented, Lady, I was coming
To bring you an unwelcome Piece of News,
Ordgar has left his Mistress, and his King.

Ord.
I answer not, my Lord, for Ordgar's Actions;
But you might well have spar'd the Pains you take,
I heard, and have been sorry for't already.

Egb.
Can you be sorry for his Faults you love not?
Ah! fair Deceiver! you convince me now!

Ord.
Since the full Symptoms of a barb'rous Triumph
Swell on thy Eye-balls with a sparkling Joy,
To find, Lord Ordgar has incens'd the King,
Tho' he had Cause sufficient for Resentment,
Which, I believe, was owing to thy Counsel;
Know, that I love him more than I hate thee,
And sure! that speaks superlative Excess;
For thou hast such mean Artifice within thee,
As makes thee odious to the World, and me.

Egb.
Lovers who hope can bear far more than this.

Ord.
Can thy detested Love hope ought from me?
Thou art Love's Scare-Crow; Pleasure flies before thee,
As Doves before the Swoop of tow'ring Falcons.

Egb.
I can hear this, and more, disdainful Maid;
But know, I'll place it to your Ordgar's score,
He shall make large amends;—nay, do not frown,
For I can force him to it.—

Ord.
Thou force Ordgar!
The Mountain-Goat wou'd sooner force the Lion,
How wou'dst thou force him? With thy Sword thou dar'st not.

Egb.
I will not use my Sword, I need not, Madam,
His late Affront to Majesty suffices,
I can improve a Theme less copious far
To the Destruction of a favour'd Rival.

Ord.
Thou wilt not, dar'st not act a Deed so base,
He'll stab thee for't, and punish here on Earth
Thy Villain-body; then thy broiling Soul
Shall howl Atonement in a Hell of Torments.

Egb.
Nay, if your Ordgar's Ruin will not move you,
I have another Card of Fate to play;
I will betray the Secret to the King,
He can find means to punish your Deceit,
And Athelwold's base Robbery of Elfrid.

Ord.
Why, thou might'st keep a School of Villainy
For Devils to learn to sin in: Tell me, Fiend,
Dost thou not feel a thing call'd Conscience in thee?
Will not whole Houses Ruin move thy Pity?

Egb.
Yes, I have Pity, and a Conscience too;
But my Despair of you has froze them both,
Nothing but the warm Blessing of your Love
Can thaw their Influence in me.

Ord.
Nothing else!
Can nothing but my Love make thee less Villain,
Than Nature form'd thee for?—Tell me, dear Devil,
Say, wand'ring Prince of Hell, disguis'd in Courtier,
Can no less Sacrifice than Love content thee?

Egb.
No less than all your Love, or all your Person,
Person and Love with me have the same meaning;
Or if you can divide them to my liking,
I'll be content with either.

Ord.
Perish all—
Perish Ordelia in her self, and Friends,
Rather than stoop to perish in her Honour!
Avoid me, Hell-hound, as thou wou'dst thy Fate,
Thy sight, like Basilisks, destroys by looking;
Thy Touch infects like Poison, and thy Voice,
Like the foreboding Skriech Owls, sounds to Mischief;
Thy ev'ry Sense is venomous as Asps,
And brings Damnation with thee: Fly me, Monster.—
[Exit. Ord.

Egb.
[Alone.]
Not all this Rage shall shake the Hope within me,
'Tis but the Blaze before extinguish'd Hatred,
The loudest Blast, that speaks a Calm approaching:
I'll after her, she has the Hook within her,
And plunging will but weaken her Resistance.

[Exit after her.
Enter Ordgar alone.
Ordg.
I enter'd with such silence, and such haste,
That Notice neither met, nor overtook me;
I heard a Voice but now, methoughts Ordelia's,
She must not see me here, I'll to my Post;
For, having undertaken the fond Task,
Friendship commands my Reason to be blind
To the soft Folly of the thing design'd.
[Exit Ordgar.