 | Rinaldo and Armida |  |
1
ACT I.
SCENE, A Delightful Wilderness on the top of a Mountain in the Canaries. Overture with Trumpets.Enter Urania, Ubaldo, and Carlo.
Ubald.
Thus Heav'n declares th'Importance of our Enterprise,
While Angels their Ætherial Trumpets sound,
To animate us in our glorious March.
Uran.
At length the Labours of that March are o're,
At length the sharpness of th'Ascent is conquer'd;
And we thro ways untractably abrupt
Have reach'd this Towring Sommet of the Mountain,
Where never Mortal yet, by Mortal Force,
Was known t'ascend, from whose commanding Height
At once Two Worlds lie subject to our view.
Ubald.
By its transcendent Beauty and its Height,
This sure must be the Paradise of Nature.
O Blest Retreat! O Fields belov'd by Heav'n!
O Island justly call'd the Fortunate,
And with High Reason by the Ancients thought
Th'Elysian Seat of Happy Heroes Souls!
Carl.
But, O Amazing Height!
At what Remote, and what Stupendous Distance,
Yon Tyrannizing Main below,
Insults the foaming Shore!
2
With flagging Wings the Painted Meteors fly
Thro all th'Infernal Regions of the Air!
How far below, Illustrious in its flight,
The nimble Lightning scowres along the Skye!
And hark how far, how very far beneath us,
Th'exasperated Thunder roars!
To plague the guilty World!
Ur.
But never Storm disturbs this Happy place,
The very pride and pomp of Wanton Nature,
The very Darling of Indulgent Heaven;
Which still the Sun, the Worlds great Eye, contemplates,
And never suffers Interposing Cloud
To bar th'Eternal prospect; 'Tis a Scene
Not unbecoming of the glorious Action,
Which Heaven's Almighty Will has chosen you
Its Ministers t'Accomplish; To this place
Armida's Magick pow'r conveyed Rinaldo.
Here the great Champion of the Christian Faith
Lies Languishing, and half dissolv'd in Love.
The Terrour of the Unbelieving World,
And of thy proud Oppressours, O Jerusalem;
Is here become an Impious Woman's Slave!
A Woman, who, like Lucifer of old,
Of all the Angels of her Sex created,
The Brightest and the nearest to Divinity,
Is faln, and lost by her excessive Pride:
And not contented with her Native Charms,
Holds guilty commerce with Infernal Spirits.
Here in th'Embraces of his young Enchantress
The Blooming Heroe passes all his days,
And his Luxurious Nights in Wanton Joys,
As wanton as the Wings of Western Winds,
Whose spicy breaths throughout these flowry Plains
Maintain Eternal spring. Him you must free,
Or thou must still be enthral'd, O Sacred City;
For on Rinaldo's Conquering Sword
Thy Destiny depends.
3
The very Place assists us in the Action,
The very Place inspires magnanimous Thoughts,
As by the help of so sublime a Station
Here on the Frontiers of the rowling Skies,
We stand and breath, the Borderers of Heaven;
So it exalts our very Souls, and lifts them
As far above the Level of Mankind
As here we walk above th'Inferiour World.
Ur.
So had it need, for Dangers are t'ensue,
Enough to shake the Constancy of Martyrs,
And move the Blest Inhabitants of Heav'n.
Carl.
What greater Dangers can Ensue,
Than what in reaching hither we Surmounted?
For, have we not by Heaven's supreme Decree
Transgrest the Bounds establish'd by Alcides?
Have we not insolently dar'd to Plow
The Worlds uncultivated waste, the Ocean,
And dauntlesly explor'd its dreadful Wonders?
And in Ascending this Ætherial Mountain
Stood firm against the fierce Assaults of Hell,
Repell'd more Monsters than Alcides vanquish'd,
And baffled Furies, who in horrid Shapes
With stormy Rage oppos'd our Steep Ascent?
And can we now be capable of Fear,
In the Great Cause of Heaven! And in a place
Intended for Delight, and not for Terror?
Ur.
But yet remember, Carlo, that Alcides
Who subdu'd Monsters, triumph'd over Hell,
Nay, and suppored Heaven, became a Slave
To Pleasure.
Ubal.
Things terrible are Enemies to Nature, Carlo,
Declar'd and open Eenemies,
And all that's Great and Noble in that Nature,
At their approach still Rouses to Resist them,
But Pleasure, tho' its secret Foe,
At least appears its Friend.
Carl.
Hark! What enchanting Sound salutes my Ear?
Uran.
Ay, now the dangerous Conflict must begin,
4
For know thou hear'st no Human Sounds, the skill
Of all that's exquisite in mortal Man,
Could nere produce such Harmony, the Work
Of Spirits which Usurp th'Ætherial Air,
Who formerly enjoy'd sublimer Stations,
And so Divinely touch'd Empyreall Lyres
As pleas'd, ev'n him who turns th'harmonious Spheres,
And sweetly Tunes the Universe. But see
How yonder Fabrick like a Meteor rises,
The Enchanted Palace rises to Musick.
Advancing thro' the Skies its pompous Front,
To this Enchanting Symphony.
Carl.
Hark! Voices in the Air.
A Song by the Spirits in the Air.
Lofty Musick.
Ye mighty Powers who Rule the Air,
Ye Gods who in the Ocean dwell,
And ye who at the Center govern Hell,
Hither at great Armida's Call repair;
And while by your Command these Tow'rs arise,
Till with unequal'd Pomp and State,
Their soaring Heads salute the Skies,
Shew those above that Hell can too create.
Ubald.
But why, O sacred Minister of Heaven,
Just at this Juncture does this Fabrick rise?
Ur.
Know to this Hour Rinaldo and Armida
Have loosely Revell'd in Enchanted Wilds,
And Wanton'd in the open Face of Heav'n.
But now the Enchantress who suspects his Constancy,
Has to Secure him, by th'advice of Hell
Rais'd this Majestick Structure.
Ubald.
But can the Heroe of our Age Rinaldo
The Champion of the Christian Cause, Rinaldo
Descend to love a Sorceress?
5
No, not a Sorceress, Rinaldo Loves
The Beauty, not th'Enchantress. He loves
The Master-piece of Heav'n, not that of Hell,
The most Accomplish'd Work of the Creator;
One who both Speaks and Looks above a Woman,
Whom Heaven design'd with more peculiar care,
A whole vast Species in one single Person;
And an Idea of Sublimer Beauty
Than that with which the Loveliest of our Sex
Ensnare and Captivat the Souls of Men,
Carl.
She is indeed a wonder.
Ur.
A Beauty, in the prime of her perfection,
On whom just Twenty blooming Eastern springs
Have shed their sweetest Influence;
Not an Asiatick Monarch but Adores her,
But Eastern Kings are soft as is their Climate.
Have you forgot the time when this Armida,
Leaving her Unckles Kingdom of Damascus,
With a dissembled Discontent, approached the Christian Camp
On the Pretence of asking Aid
Against the Oppression of a Tyrants power?
Ubel.
That curst design we never shall forget,
Which was to weaken and destroy the Army,
By drawing all our bravest Warriours after her.
Ur.
Tell me, one Heroe of you all, whose Virtue
And whose Religion did not melt at sight
Of this Triumphant Beauty? nay and melt,
Even as you stood upon the Sacred ground.
Where for your Lusts a God Expir'd in Torments:
Have you so soon forgot this?
Ubel.
Our blushes say we have not.
Ur.
The very rude Plebeians of the Camp
By Habitual hardship mortify'd to Pleasure,
By Sanguinary deeds inur'd to Cruelty,
Gazd all the fierceness of their Souls away,
And at that sight dissolv'd in soft desire;
Those brave Adventurers whom their fervent Zeal,
The flaming Love of Everlasting Glory,
6
Of this Renown'd Croisade Heavens darling cause,
Disbanded all with shamefull stealth by Night
And left the Field, their Glory and their God,
To follow this Enchanting fair, of all
Only Rinaldo still remain'd Invincible,
But I want time to say the rest—
E're yet approaching Night usurps the World,
Both thou and Carlo must once more behold Her,
And in a Cloud with me Converse before Her,
Unmov'd, unseen, unheard, unthought of by Her.
Such is the Will of the Most High, but Hark!
More Harmony, and this way it approaches.
Carl.
And see the Happy Natives of the place.
Ur.
These are by Heav'ns permission come to try you,
And with soft Sounds seduce your Souls to Pleasure,
Now stand upon your strongest Guards.
Spirits in the Shapes of Shepherds and Nymphs.
Shep.
Welcome to these Lovely Plains,
The happy Seats of Blissful Swains.
Nym.
Welcome to these blissful Shades,
The soft Retreats of Happy Maids.
Shep.
Here we feel no want nor Care,
And no inclemency of Air,
And Lovers never here Despair.
Shep.
Sorrow ever from us flies,
Pleasure revels in our Eyes.
If we pass an Hour in Courting
'Tis for more Delicious sporting,
Never cruel Nymph denies.
Nym.
If any thing like Sorrow's seen
In our Voice, or in our Meen,
7
'Tis with Pleasure that we languish;
And if ever Nymph denies,
'Tis like one in Love who's Wise;
'Tis like one who would invite
To more delicate Delight,
'Tis with wishing, dying Eyes.
Cho.
All about us and above
Gaiety and Love inspires;
All about us and above
Infuses Tenderness and Love,
And wanton fine Desires.
Shep.
The Jolly Breeze,
That comes whistling through the Trees,
From all the blissful Region brings
Perfumes upon its spicy Wings,
With its wanton motion curling.
The Crystal Rills,
Which down the Hills
Run o'er golden Gravel purling.
Nym.
All around Venereal Turtles
Cooing, Billing, on the Myrtles;
The more they shew their Amorous trouble,
More fiercely dart their piercing Kisses,
And more eagerly redouble
The Raptures of their murmuring Blisses.
8
Enough, ye Ministers of Hell be gone,
Behold the waving of this potent Wand,
Whose sight can make the fiercest of you tremble,
And whose least touch can with Ten thousand plagues
Transfix your Howling Furies; Hence, take hence
Your Lying Forms, the Mimick Shapes of Men.
Or, by the unutterable Name—they vanish.
Now, Heroes, I observ'd you well, and find,
That you unmov'd have past a dangerous tryal,
And gain'd a glorious Conquest o're your selves.
Ub.
Let us Advancing, our success pursue,
They who themselves o'recome can Hell subdue.
Ur.
Then as we move tow'rds yonder Magick Tow'rs,
Protect us in our March ye Guardian Powers;
Y' Immortal Ministers to whom by Heav'n
The Care and Charge of this great Action's giv'n,
Defend us from Hell's Terrible Alarms,
And guard our Hearts from Pleasure's fatal Charms;
Ye Angels strike your everlasting Lyres,
Sound, sound the Lofty Trumpet, which inspires
Th'exalted Soul with your Celestial Fires.
The End of the First Act.
| Rinaldo and Armida | |