We must not live such dotards on our pleasures,
As still to hug them, to the certain loss
Of profit and preferment.

Competent means Maintains a quiet bed; want breeds dissention, Even in good women.

Soph. Have you found in me, sir,

Any distaste, or sign of discontent,
For want of what's superfluous ?

Math. No, Sophia;

Nor shalt thou ever have cause to repent

Thy constant course in goodness, if heaven bless
My honest undertakings. 'Tis for thee
That I turn soldier, and put forth, dearest,
Upon this sea of action, as a factor,
To trade for rich materials to adorn

Thy noble parts, and shew them in full lustre.
I blush that other ladies, less in beauty
And outward form, but in the harmony
Of the soul's ravishing music, the same age

Not to be named with thee, should so outshine thee
In jewels, and variety of wardrobes;

While you, to whose sweet innocence both Indies
Compared are of no value, wanting these,
Pass unregarded.

Soph. If I am so rich, or

In your opinion, why should you borrow
Additions for me?

Math. Why! I should be censured
Of ignorance, possessing such a jewel
Above all price, if I forbear to give it
The best of ornaments: therefore, Sophia,
In few words know my pleasure, and obey me,
As you have ever done. To your discretion
I leave the government of my family,

And our poor fortunes; and from these command
Obedience to you, as to myself:

To the utmost of what's mine, live plentifully;
And, ere the remnant of our store be spent,
With my good sword I hope I shall reap for you
A harvest in such full abundance, as
Shall make a merry winter.

Soph. Since you are not

[not

To be diverted, sir, from what you purpose,
All arguments to stay you here are useless:
Go when you please, sir. Eyes, I charge you waste
One drop of sorrow; look you hoard all up
Till in my widow'd bed I call upon you,
But then be sure you fail not. You blest angels,
Guardians of human life, I at this instant
Forbear t'invoke you: at our parting, 'twere
To personate devotion. My soul
Shall go along with you, and, when you are
Circled with death and horror, seek and find you;
And then I will not leave a saint unsued to
For your protection. To tell you what

I will do in your absence, would shew poorly;
My actions shall speak for me: 'twere to doubt you,
To beg I may hear from you; where you are
You cannot live obscure, nor shall one post,
By night or day, pass unexamined by me.-
If I dwell long upon your lips, consider,

[Kisses him.

Math. O, farewell, girl.

Hil. A kiss well begg'd, Corisca.

Coris. 'Twas my

fee ;

[Kisses her.

Love, how he melts! I cannot blame my lady's
Unwillingness to part with such marmalade lips.
There will be scrambling for them in the camp;
And were it not for my honesty, I could wish now
I were his leaguer laundress; I would find
Soap of mine own, enough to wash his linen,
Or I would strain hard for't.

Hil. How the mammet twitters!
Come, come; my lady stays for us.

Coris. Would I had been

Her ladyship the last night!

Hil. No more of that, wench.

[Exeunt HILARIO, CORISCA, and the rest.

[nourish

Math. I am strangely troubled, yet why I should A fury here, and with imagined food, Having no real grounds on which to raise A building of suspicion she was ever Or can be false hereafter. I in this But foolishly enquire the knowledge of A future sorrow, which, if I find out, My present ignorance were a cheap purchase, Though with my loss of being. I have already Dealt with a friend of mine, a general scholar, One deeply read in nature's hidden secrets, And, though with much unwillingness, have won To do as much as art can, to resolve me [him My fate that follows-To my wish, he's come.

Enter BAPTISTA.

Julio Baptista, now I may affirm

Your promise and performance walk together;
And therefore, without circumstance, to the point:
Instruct me what I am.

Bapt. I could wish you had

Made trial of my love some other way.
Math. Nay, this is from the purpose.
Bapt. If you can

Proportion your desire to any mean,

I do pronounce you happy; I have found,
By certain rules of art, your matchless wife
Is to this present hour from all pollution
Free and untainted.

Math. Good.

Bapt. In reason, therefore,

You should fix here, and make no further search Of what may fall hereafter.

Math. O, Baptista,

"Tis not in me to master so my passions;

I must know further, or you have made good
But half your promise. While my love stood by,
Holding her upright, and my presence was
A watch upon her, her desires being met too
With equal ardour from me, what one proof
Could she give of her constancy, being untempted?
But when I am absent, and my coming back
Uncertain, and those wanton heats in women,
Not to be quench'd by lawful means, and she
The absolute disposer of herself,

Without control or curb; nay, more, invited
By opportunity, and all strong temptations,
If then she hold out-

Bapt. As, no doubt, she will.

Math. Those doubts must be made certainties,

Baptista,

By your assurance; or your boasted art
Deserves no admiration. How you trifle,
And play with my affliction! I am on
The rack, till you confirm me.

Bapt. Sure, Mathias,

I am no god, nor can I dive into

Her hidden thoughts, or know what her intents are;
That is denied to art, and kept conceal'd

E'en from the devils themselves: they can but guess,
Out of long observation, what is likely;
But positively to foretel that shall be,

You may conclude impossible. All I can,

I will do for you; when you are distant from her
A thousand leagues, as if you then were with her,
You shall know truly when she is solicited,
And how far wrought on.

Math. I desire no more.

Bapt. Take then this little model of Sophia, With more than human skill limn'd to the life;

[Gives him a picture.

Each line and lineament of it, in the drawing, So punctually observed, that, had it motion, In so much 'twere herself.

Math. It is, indeed,

An admirable piece! but if it have not
Some hidden virtue that I cannot guess at,
In what can it advantage me?

Bapt. I'll instruct you:

Carry it still about you, and as oft

As you desire to know how she's affected,
With curious eyes peruse it: while it keeps
The figure it now has, entire and perfect,
She is not only innocent in fact,
But unattempted; but if once it vary

From the true form, and what's now white and red
Incline to yellow, rest most confident

She's with all violence courted, but unconquer'd;
But if it turn all black, 'tis an assurance
The fort, by composition or surprise,

Is forced, or with her free consent surrender'd. Math. How much you have engaged me for this favour,

The service of my whole life shall make good.
Bapt. We will not part so, I'll along with you,
And it is needful: with the rising sun,
The armies meet; yet, ere the fight begin,
In spite of opposition, I will place you

In the head of the Hungarian general's troop,
And near his person.

Math. As my better angel,

You shall direct and guide me.

Bapt. As we ride

I'll tell you more.

Math. In all things I'll obey you.

[Exeunt.

Ubald. It concerns the lives

Of two great armies.

Ric. Was it cheerfully

Received by the king?

Ubald. Yes; for being assured

The armies were in view of one another,

Having proclaim'd a public fast and prayer

For the good success, [he] dispatch'd a gentleman Of his privy chamber to the general,

With absolute authority from him,

To try the fortune of a day.

Ric. No doubt then

The general will come on, and fight it bravely.
Heaven prosper him! This military art,

I grant to be the noblest of professions;
And yet, I thank my stars for't, I was never
Inclined to learn it; since this bubble honour
(Which is, indeed, the nothing soldiers fight for,)
With the loss of limbs or life, is, in my judgment,
Too dear a purchase.

Ubald. Give me our court warfare :
The danger is not great in the encounter
Of a fair mistress.

Ric. Fair and sound together

Do very well, Ubaldo; but such are,
With difficulty, to be found out; and when they

know

Their value, prized too high. By thy own report,
Thou wast at twelve a gamester, and, since that,
Studied all kinds of females, from the night-trader
I' the street, with certain danger to thy pocket,
To the great lady in her cabinet;

That spent upon thee more in cullises,
To strengthen thy weak back, than would maintain
Twelve Flanders mares, and as many running
horses:

Besides apothecaries and surgeons' bills,
Paid upon all occasions, and those frequent.

Ubald. You talk, Ricardo, as if yet you were A novice in those mysteries.

Ric. By no means;

My doctor can assure the contrary:

I lose no time. I have felt the pain and pleasure,
As he that is a gamester, and plays often,
Must sometimes be a loser.

Ubald. Wherefore, then,

Do you envy me?

Ric. It grows not from my want, Nor thy abundance; but being, as I am, The likelier man, and of much more experience, My good parts are my curses: there's no beauty, But yields ere it be summon'd; and, as nature Had sign'd me the monopoly of maidenheads, There's none can buy till I have made my market. Satiety cloys me; as I live, I would part with Half my estate, nay, travel o'er the world, To find that only phoenix in my search, That could hold out against me.

Ubald. Be not rapt so;

You may spare that labour. As she is a woman, What think you of the queen?

Ric. I dare not aim at

The petticoat royal, that is still excepted:

Yet, were she not my king's, being the abstract

Of all that's rare, or to be wish'd in woman,

sign'd

By the general, Ferdinand.

Ric. Nay, then, sans question,

It is of moment.

I would venture my neck to a halter-but we talk Impossibilities as she hath a beauty

[of

Would make old Nestor young; such majesty Draws forth a sword of terror to defend it,

Ric. She well knows

Her worth, and values it.

Ubald. And so far the king is

Indulgent to her humours, that he forbears

The duty of a husband, but when she calls for't.
Ric. All his imaginations and thoughts
Are buried in her; the loud noise of war
Cannot awake him.

Ubald. At this very instant,

When both his life and crown are at the stake,
He only studies her content, and when
She's pleased to shew herself, music and masques
Are with all care and cost provided for her.

Ric. This night she promised to appear.

. Ubald. You may

Believe it by the diligence of the king,

As if he were her harbinger.

Enter LADISLAUS, EUBULUS, and Attendants with perfumes. Ladis. These rooms

Are not perfumed, as we directed.

Eubu. Not, sir!

Thy gross comparison! When my Honoria,
The amazement of the present time, and envy
Of all succeeding ages, does descend
To sanctify a place, and in her presence
Makes it a temple to me, can I be

Too curious, much less prodigal, to receive her?
But that the splendor of her beams of beauty
Hath struck thee blind-

Eubu. As dotage hath done you.

Ladis. Dotage? O blasphemy! is it in me
To serve her to her merit? Is she not
The daughter of a king?

Eubu. And you the son

Of ours, I take it; by what privilege else,
Do
you reign over us? for my part, I know not
Where the disparity lies.

Ladis. Her birth, old man,

Old in the kingdom's service, which protects thee
Is the least grace in her: and though her beauties,
Might make the Thunderer a rival for her,
They are but superficial ornaments,

And faintly speak her: from her heavenly mind,
Were all antiquity and fiction lost,

Our modern poets could not, in their fancy,
But fashion a Minerva far transcending
The imagined one whom Homer only dreamt of.
But then add this, she's mine, mine, Eubulus !
And though she knows one glance from her fair eyes
Must make all gazers her idolaters,
She is so sparing of their influence
That, to shun superstition in others,
She shoots her powerful beams only at me.
And can I, then, whom she desires to hold
Her kingly captive above all the world,

Loud music. Enter HONORIA in state, under a Canopy; her train borne up by SYLVIA and ACANTHE,

Ric. Wonder! It is more, sir.

Ubald. A rapture, an astonishment.
Ric. What think you, sir?

Eubu. As the king thinks; that is the surest We courtiers ever lie at.-Was prince ever [guard So drown'd in dotage? Without spectacles

I can see a handsome woman, and she is so:
But yet to admiration, look not on her.
Heaven, how he fawns! and, as it were his duty,
With what assured gravity she receives it!
Her hand again! O she at length vouchsafes
Her lip, and as he had suck'd nectar from it,
How he's exalted! Women in their natures
Affect command; but this humility

In a husband and a king, marks her the way
To absolute tyranny. [The king seats her on his
throne.] So! Juno's placed

In Jove's tribunal: and, like Mercury,
(Forgetting his own greatness,) he attends
For her employments. She prepares to speak;
What oracles shall we hear now?

Hon. That you please, sir,

With such assurances of love and favour,

[Aside.

To grace your handmaid, but in being yours, sir,
A matchlesss queen, and one that knows herself so,
Binds me in retribution to deserve
The grace conferr'd upon me.

Ladis. You transcend

In all things excellent; and it is my glory,
Your worth weigh'd truly, to depose myself
From absolute command, surrendering up
My will and faculties to your disposure:
And here I vow, not for a day or year,
But my whole life, which I wish long to serve you,
That whatsoever I, in justice, may

Exact from these my subjects, you from me
May boldly challenge: and when you require it,
In sign of my subjection, as your vassal,
Thus I will pay my homage.

Hon. O forbear, sir!

Let not my lips envy my robe; on them
Print your allegiance often: I desire
No other fealty.

Ladis. Gracious sovereign!
Boundless in bounty!

Eubu. Is not here fine fooling!

He's questionless, bewitch'd. Would I were gelt, So that would disenchant him! though I forfeit My life for't, I must speak.-By your good leave, [Passing before the king.

sir

I have no suit to you, nor can you grant one, Having no power: you are like me, a subject,

Her more than serene majesty being present.
And I must tell you, 'tis ill manners in you,
Having deposed yourself, to keep your hat on,
And not stand bare, as we do, being no king,
But a fellow-subject with us. Gentlemen-ushers,

It does belong to your place, see it reform'd ;
He has given away his crown, and cannot challenge
The privilege of his bonnet.

Ladis. Do not tempt me.

Eubu. Tempt you! in what? in following your example?

If you are angry, question me hereafter,

As Ladislaus should do Eubulus,

On equal terms. You were of late my sovereign,
But weary of it, I now bend my knee

To her divinity, and desire a boon
From her more than magnificence.
Hon. Take it freely.

Nay, be not moved; for our mirth's sake let us hear him.

Eubu. 'Tis but to ask a question: Have you ne'er read

The story of Semiramis and Ninus ?

Hon. Not as I remember.

Eubu. I will then instruct you,

[me)

And 'tis to the purpose: This Ninus was a king,
And such an impotent loving king as this was,
But now he's none; this Ninus (pray you observe
Doted on this Semiramis, a smith's wife;
(I must confess, there the comparison holds not,
You are a king's daughter, yet, under your correc-
Like her, a woman;) this Assyrian monarch, [tion,
Of whom this is a pattern, to express
His love and service, seated her, as you are,
In his regal throne, and bound by oath his nobles,
Forgetting all allegiance to himself,

One day to be her subjects, and to put
In execution whatever she

Pleased to impose upon them :-pray you command
To minister the like to us, and then

You shall hear what follow'd.

Ladis. Well, sir, to your story.

[him

Eubu. You have no warrant, stand by; let me Your pleasure, goddess.

Hon. Let this nod assure you.

[know

Eubu. Goddess-like, indeed! as I live, a pretty idol!

She knowing her power, wisely made use of it;
And fearing his inconstancy, and repentance
Of what he had granted, (as, in reason, madam,
You may do his,) that he might never have
Power to recall his grant, or question her
For her short government, instantly gave order
To have his head struck off.

Ladis. Is't possible?

[wisdom

Eubu. The story says so, and commends her
For making use of her authority.
And it is worth your imitation, madam:
He loves subjection, and you are no queen,
Unless you make him feel the weight of it.
You are more than all the world to him, and that
He may be so to you, and not seek change,
When his delights are sated, mew him up
In some close prison, (if you let him live,
Which is no policy,) and there diet him
As you think fit, to feed your appetite;
Since there ends his ambition.

Ubald. Devilish counsel !
Ric. The king's amazed.

Ubald. The queen appears, too, full

Of deep imaginations; Eubulus Hath put both to it.

Ric. Now she seems resolved: I long to know the issue.

[HONORIA descends from the throne.

Hon. Give me leave,

Dear sir, to reprehend you for appearing
Perplex'd with what this old man, out of envy
Of your unequal graces shower'd upon me,
Hath, in his fabulous story, saucily
Applied to me. Sir, that you only nourish
One doubt Honoria dares abuse the power
With which she is invested by your favour;
Or that she ever can make use of it
To the injury of you, the great bestower,
Takes from your judgment. It was your delight
To seek to me with more obsequiousness
Than I desired: and stood it with my duty
Not to receive what you were pleased to offer?
I do but act the part you put upon me,

And though you make me personate a queen,
And you my subject, when the play, your pleasure,
Is at a period, I am what I was

Before I enter'd, still your humble wife,
And you my royal sovereign.

Ric. Admirable !

And say, however the event may plead

In your defence, you had a guilty cause;
Nor was it wisdom in you, I repeat it,
To teach a lady, humble in herself,
With the ridiculous dotage of a lover,
To be ambitious.

Hon. Eubulus, I am so;

'Tis rooted in me; you mistake my temper. I do profess myself to be the most

Ambitious of my sex, but not to hold

Command over my lord; such a proud torrent

Would sink me in my wishes: not that I
Am ignorant how much I can deserve,
And may with justice challenge.

Eubu. This I look'd for;

After this seeming humble ebb, I knew
A gushing tide would follow.

Hon. By my birth,

And liberal gifts of nature, as of fortune,

[Aside.