University of Virginia Library

ACT the I.

Scene a Garden; Lucinda lying on a Bank of Flowers, a Grove near it; after the Song is over, Zarma, and She come forward.
Lucinda.
Cease Zarma, Cease to Charm me with a Song;
Tis not in Musick to relieve my Cares.
Such Griefs as mine are Deaf to ev'ry Voice,
Which talks of Comfort, or wou'd sooth Despair.
Oh! That the Winds had hurl'd me in the Deep,
My Honour then had been secure in Death,
And I had never dreamt of Love or Shame.

Zarma.
Your Honour in your Brother is secure,
Your Wishes in Virotto's Friendship Blest;
The Winds you blame, are wafting 'em to Cyprus,
And you will soon embrace 'em and be safe.

Lucin.
Oh never, never, 'tis but now I heard
From Issamenea of her Husbands Fate:
She told me; how; with Tears, or with Concern,
With Groans, with Horror, or in bitter Woe?
Did her Eyes Glow with Sorrow, or with Joy?

Zarm.
Her Husband too?

Lucin.
What means this Sudden Start?
Thou art no stranger to Phorsano's Crimes;
Few Days are past since I beheld his Wife,
Young, Healthy, Fair and Loving as a Bride;
Who now Lies bury'd in her Silent Tomb,
And whom She Cherish'd most, usurps her Bed.

Zarm.
Too well I Lov'd her, and was Lov'd too well,
Or not to know, or to forget her Wrongs:

Lucin.
Say then, tho thou perhaps art of their Plots,
A Spy upon my Actions and my Grief,
With thy false pitty to provoke my Rage,
And fit me for their future deeds of Murder.
Say by whose Hands thy Generous Mistress fell.

Zarm.
Why with those doubts will you encrease my torment?
Why with those hard suspicions rack my Soul?
Could my Hearts Blood have serv'd her when alive,
Or could I with my Life revenge her Head,
How freely would I Bleed?

Lucin.
Thy honest Tears convince me of thy Faith.
Oh thou who vilely hast abus'd thy Name,
Thou stain of Friendship, Gratitude and Honour,
How can thy Soul consent to taste of Joy,
While thy Friend scarce is in her Marble Cold!

Zarma.
When first I saw Phorsano Lov'd this Fair,
I watch'd his every glance, observ'd 'em both;
O'er heard his Promises and Guilty Vows,
Inform'd Emilia, she in Tears Complain'd
Of what my Lord with horrid Oaths Deny'd.
We who attended were Commanded forth;
And when to help him were recal'd, Oh Cruelty!
We found her Dying in his perjur'd Arms.

Luc.
Accurst Descent on this Unhappy Isle!
Better for thee, thou kindest of thy Sex
For Issamenea, for my self, for all,
That Seas had swallowd us, or Pyrates slain,
Before we Landed on this Fatal Shoar:
My Brother lost; my Sister, Oh my Soul,
To him, to me, to Vertue lost for ever.
Who will defend me from the pow'r of Lust?
Who guard my Innocence, and watch my Youth?
To whom shall I complain in my Distress?
Pitty is Deaf, and Heaven will only Hear.

Zarm.
May Heav'n, on whom you call, be your defence:
For now, even now, I hear Phorsano's Voice;
The sound of Musick in a Neighbouring Walk:
He ne'er retires but when the fever's high.
He comes, and 'twou'd be Death for me to stay.

[Exit
Luc.
Oh whither shall I fly?

[Phorsano enters, Musick at some distance, he takes hold of Lucinda, as she offers to rise and go off.
Phors.
Whither, my Love, but to my longing Arms?
Why art thou fond of Solitude and Shade?
Why dost thou shun the Pleasures of the Court?
I thy Apollo, and my Daphne Thou:
Why Fly'st while I pursue thee with a Song?
Begin, you Men of Art, your Tuneful Strains;
Let the soft Zephirs from the Citron Groves
Disperse their evening Sweets,
And every Sense be Charm'd.

Phors.
Hence! and attend my Will.
And now, my Lovely Charmer, see how much
Thy Virgin softness and resistless Beauty
Have won upon my Heart: But thou art blind
To what I do, and deaf to what I say;
Cold as the Regions of the Frozen North:
Come, let me melt thee on my panting Breast,
And warm thee with the Heat of Youthful Love.

Luc.
Is this for me, my Lord, to hear from you?
This from the Husband of my Brothers Wife
Oh IOpano, had thy Life been spar'd
Thou wou'dst not sure have suffer'd this to be.

Phors.
Not suffer'd it to be? He might as well
Have calm'd the Seas, and hush't the raging Winds:
While I behold thee thus divinely sair,
I must desire; and what desire, Enjoy.

Luc.
Oh Insolence! Is't thus you treat your Guests?
Thus that you shew your hospitable Mind?
Is't not enough my Sister has been ruin'd,
Been tempted to dishonour by your Wiles?
Wou'd you have me as Infamous as her?
The Scorn of Cyprus and her Sexes Shame.

Phors.
If like another Venus, to Command
This Paphian Isle, and be like her ador'd;
If this is ruin in a Womans eyes;
Thy Sister is undone, and so shalt thou be;
I'll set thee high above the Envious Croud,
Superiour as in Beauty so in State,
Selected thro' the World, a thousand Slaves
With me the humblest Creature of thy Will,
Shall wait upon thy Nod, and fill thy Train.

Luc.
Can Wealth or Grandeur give me back my Friend,
My Brother, and the honour of our House?
Urge me no more, The Sound of Love from thee
Strikes me with horror; and confounds my Soul.

Phor.
I know Virotto is your darling wish:
The Sound from him were pleasing to your Ear:
Oh Choice, most Elegant! The man indeed
Is Jealous, Faithless, Barbarous and Poor,
Rough as the Waves on which he has been bred;
But he is young and lusty, has been us'd
To guide the Sturdy Helm and ply the Oar;
He'll Crush thee with his iron Arms, and bruise
Thy tender Limbs with every rude embrace.

Luc.
While thou wert innocent, thy Friend was honest,
Brave, Noble, Generous, Gallant and Sincere;
None but Virotto then deserv'd my Heart:
How is it he so soon has lost his worth,
Is he since alter'd? Has he since abus'd
Another's Bed, or stain'd his own with Blood?

Phor.
Ha! Have a care, Ungrateful! to provoke me:
Love, like a Child, grows sullen at a Rod;
Yet may be sooth'd and flatter'd from his Toy.
Oh Woman! Proud, Fantastical and vain;
The brave mans Folly, and the boast of Fools,
Too nice this minute, and the next too fond;
If we should judge of you by those you bless,
Our worship and our praise wou'd sink to scorn.
Go, wander with thy Hero on the main,
Feed on course Dishes and the Scraps of war.
See thy poor Children begging at thy Feet
The Bread thou want'st thy self.
Another hanging at thy wither'd Pap,
Earnest for Life, and sucking it in vain;
While ev'n before thee this Belov'd enjoys
Some Common Wretch, and gives the Beast his pay.

Luc.
Better with him to feed on Beggars Fare,
To sip the running Stream, and dwell in Wilds:
Better, to see my little Infants cry,
Affrighted with the Waves and ratling Winds;
Or bear 'em thro' the World to live on alms,
Than hearken to thy Lust, thou worst of men!
I Sin to hear so much, I will no more.

[wou'd go, he stops her.
Phors.
Rail on a while, and let the Tempest roar,
The Storm will beat it self into a Calm:
Oh if there's something in thy Frowns so sweet,
What must it be to see thee smile, to hear
Thy Sighs, the murmurs of accomplisht Love?
I'll watch thy looser thoughts, thy morning wishes,
And when thy Heart is open to desire,
[Issamenea enters as he embraces
I'll seize, embrace, and bear thee thus to Joy.

Luc.
Save me ye Powers.

[Luc. Swoons
Issa.
Ha! By the anguish of my Soul, 'tis She;
She that has rob'd me of his Heart:
A Prize unsought, unworthy of my Charms.
I blush to own it, and deserve this Scorn,
For fearing Death, and yielding to his threats.
Oh had lie drencht his Dagger in my Blood,
My Soul e're this had been with IOpano
But now I dread to meet him, and prefer
A Life of Misery to Death and Rest.

Phor.
My Wife!

Issa.
My Traitor!

Phor.
Help, oh help; Lucinda faints;
Breathless and pale I met her in the Grove:
Help me she dies;

Issa.
But soon will live again;
Revive to transport, and repeat her Guilt.

Phor.
Hast thou no tenderness? No soft remains
Of melting pity for a dying Maid?
Thy Friend, thy Sister? Is there nought in these
To calm thy rage, and guide thy Soul to Truth?
Sure thou art grown distemper'd with thy Pride,
And giddy with the Fortune of my Love.

Issa.
Did I for this admit thee to my Bed?
Deaf to the voice of Friendship and of Love?
For this, Ungrateful, did I sell my Peace,
Forget my Griefs, and bless thee to thy Wish?
But clear me to the World, and own my Fear
Comply'd to give thee what my Heart deny'd:
Witness my Innocence to Earth and Heav'n;
And thou, Perfidious! Dread avenging Justice.

Luc.
Unhappy! canst thou talk of Heaven and Justice?
Think of thy Friend, who lov'd thee like a Sister.
Oh think of IOpano, and by whom
Thy Husband and thy Friend are now no more.

[weeps
Issa.
See how the Syren with dissembled tears
And Artful Sorrow gilds her loose Desires!
To thee, young Hypocrite, I owe my ruin,
Not to the Force of thy superiour Beauty;
By Spells thou hast seduc'd him.
Cou'd he else, warm with my embrace, forsake me,
And leave the rapture of my Arms for thine?
But why am I so much concern'd to Lose
A Conquest I ahorr?
Go perjur'd! and enjoy your guilty Loves.
Guilt, will enough avenge me, and Remorse.

[Exit
Luc.
What hast thou done Phorsano? By thy means
My Honour will become as foul as Hers.
More Cruel thou! than Renegades or Turks,
Than Affrick Robers, or a winter Storm;
Compar'd to thee, the Savages were Kind,
Humane and Gentle. Oh that I had faln
By Seas, or Pyrates! I shou'd then have dy'd
Possest of what is dearer than my Life.
A spotless Fame, like all my wishes, pure.—

Phor.
Malice nor Envy cannot hurt thy Vertue
O're me victorious, till I see thy Eyes,
And then the Feaver burns, and I relapse.
Peace to my lovely Innocence: For soon
Thy Sister of her Error shall repent,
Adore thee as a Saint, and on her Knees
Implore thy Pardon, and confess her sin.

[Exit
Luc.
In what a Maze of Misery I walk!
An Orphan and a Stranger in the World;
No Friend to be the Partner of my Woe.
Oh I Opano happy in thy Tomb
Coud'st thou have born to see thy Bed defil'd,
Thy House abus'd, and me the Sport of Fame?
An out-cast Living on a Tyrants alms
Sure 'twou'd have rackt thee worse than Want or Chains,
Than Whips, and Wheels, or all the Plagues of Life;
Driven thee to Madness as it works on me
Pierct thee with Wounds thy Nature could not bear,
And kill'd thee with the worst of Deaths, Despair.