ACT IV.
Reading edition
Enter Bellman and Sings.
Good Morn, good Morn, my Masters all good Morn! Whilst I poor Mortal wander here below, You what’s most pleasing know, No Charm’s so deep, how charming, how sweet It is to fall within the fair Enchantress Arms asleep; But if I chance to wake you with my Bell, Be sure you let my Mistress know you’re well; And if you please her, as you ought to do, She’ll thank you, Master, and the Bellman too.
[Exit.
Enter Sementory and Seringo.
Sem. I have had no Rest this Night, my flustrated Spirits, my troubled Soul rais’d me from my Couch to my Terrass, where I beheld all Nature in Confusion, the City 26in Uproar, the Brave in Distress; Spears of Fire, fighting in the Elements; the King’s Solitaries scrambling up the lofty Hills, by the Light of the Moon; they prostrated themselves on the Ground, and invoke Heaven for good towards their Master.
Ser. I laid me down, and could not rest, I am uneasy for want of Sleep.
Sem. Who can sleep when a Lover’s false! This Morning Cademore intreated for the Life of the King; and as she kneel’d before Darony, her Sighs, her Tears, her Beauty has made him passionately in Love with her; yet chear up thy self, and still have hopes; when a Woman has a mind to gain a Man, she may study his Constitution, and what he likes.
Ser. Oh Sementory, I have had cruel Dreams.
Enter Hurlothrumbo.
Hurlo. Ladies, what are you upon now?
Sem. Dreams my Lord.
Hurlo. Can you interpret, Madam?
Sem. You’re sure of my best Endeavours, my Lord.
Hurlo. As I was alone in my Chair, I slumber’d, I thought myself mounted before a beautiful Wife upon the solemn Desarts of Arabia, where a dark, black Cloud overwhelm’d the Desart; a stormy, tempestuous Wind arose, and ripped up ragged Rocks, then drove them furiously over the Plain, like tremendous Bullets of Thunder; and all the dreadful Engines of eternal Misery rose up in Arms; I was in a Moment surrounded with wild Monsters, fighting with one another which should devour me first; my Horse tired, my Wife fell in Labour, the Element opened her fiery Mouth, and pour’d out Cataracts of Lightning and Hail; all the Pile of Building in the other World was tumbling down upon my Head, and how I came into my Body, I know not.
Sem. You’re happy you had a Body to shelter you: this prognosticates you’ll endure great Calamities, and at the last lose your Mistress.
27Hurlo. This is my Mistress; Darony, my Rival, is dead in Love to thee; since he’s cruel and inconstant, pour out thy Grief in merry Sounds; you must part.
Ser. Part, and never meet no more:
How can I bear to see that gloomy Day, No, no, no, no, I’ll be a Soul, and fly away, In merry Sounds, I will pour out my Pain, And never think of Man again.
[Ex. Sem. and Ser.
Enter Primo.
Hurlo. Honest Solitary, what brings thee to Court to-day?
Primo. I am come in hopes to see our Lord and Master Darony.
Hurlo. He will be here instantly, and desires you will be Counsel to him, as you was to Soarethereal.
Primo. When he is King, I will be his Subject; till then, I am fervently so to my Soveraign.
Enter Darony.
Hurlo. Much Joy to your Majesty; I perceive Heaven’s Frowns are departed from your Dominions: what an Alteration in the Elements! and all Nature seems to rejoice; Phœbus till now hath ceas’d to shine upon the foggy Globe for many Weeks.
Dar. This Morning I perceiv’d the bright Angel in the Sun, that water and warms this lower World, drive away swiftly the Clouds from his Presence; he open’d high the Casement of Heaven, and sweetly smiled upon me.
Hurlo. Primo, what thinkest thou of that?
Primo. When I gaze upon the Sun, I sink into myself, full of Humility; I also learn Lowliness of the Moon; when she looks over the Brow, and begins to rise, she’s huge and dull; she swells like an outstretch’d Hero; but as she climbs, she clears, she soars aloft diminutive, that she may shine among the Stars.
Hurlo. Mr. Humility, your humble Servant.
28Primo. Every one that petitions must be humble, or else his Petition will not be granted.
Dar. Art thou a Petitioner?
Primo. In the Name of Soarethereal I am, who fervently desires the Life of Theorbeo.
Dar. He shall not perish by the Hands of Man; but I have sworn a mighty Thirst of Revenge; he shall take his Chance in the Room of burning Glass: be thou humble still, and petition Heaven; cry aloud in Vocal Perspiration of thy Soul; thy Words, like Thunder, sound in the Elements, and alarm the Angels on high; then if thou hast Power above, let Phœbus cease to shine, or Theorbeo cease to live.
Primo. Then he must not live.
Dar. No, he shall not live.
Primo. Oh how Men condemn themselves!
[Ex. Primo.
Dar. Compassion is a Weakness in Man, it may become a Woman; not but I feel the Failing in myself, tho’ I conquer it and keep it under, lest it should appear to the World.
Hurlo. That’s true, my Lord.
Dar. I am inform’d Soarethereal is in a Wood with 20000 Men, and designs to conquer there or die; and I myself will be there present at the Slaughter.
Hurlo. There is no danger of him, my Lord; he is surrounded with 60000 Men, and was he a Grashopper, he could not escape your Armour.
Dar. Then I’m at peace within; yet Cademore still runs in my Mind: let us haste to her Apartment, and if she will not consent to marry, I’ll force her.
[Exeunt.
33
SCENE, a Prison.
Enter Theorbeo, and Dologodelmo looking on his Watch.
Theor. Our Time is almost expired.
Dolo. I think this Finger is like the Dart of Death, upon the Figure of Twelve sits my Life; Oh how it steals to sting!
Theor. Those are melancholly Thoughts, think not of Death, but of Life, or of any thing that will divert thee most.
Dolo. When I think my King is in misery, and Darony upon his Throne; when the Noble suffer, and Miscreants are blest, then my Faculties within me rejoice; there is a secret Thought in that, which revives my very Soul.
Theor. A small Offence unthrones the Noble, but infamous Actions raise a Tyrant.
Enter Guards and Executioner.
Theor. After what manner must we suffer?
Dolo. In the Room of burning glass.
Theor. Then what means this Executioner?
Dolo. If the Sun destroys us not, as he rides along the Meridian Course, by this Man we must be slaughtered.
Offic. My Lord, your Time’s expired; Guards attend here.
Enter Flame.
Fla. But hold, I’m come to give you a Description of your happy Flight to the Elysian: Your Neck’s no sooner laid to the Block, but the Stroke’s given; immediately your Soul begins a March through all the Elements: in the Body first, you’re confin’d five Minutes in the Regions of Fire, amazed, amidst the verdant green Climes of Water and Air; you pass then heavily through the solemn Gloom of 34Earth; you go, you faint, the Soul bows, farewel to Nature; you fall into a dark, black Slumber, a Trance; and when the Spirit touches you upon the Elbow, you wake surpriz’d in a World of Light; there you see Shakespear, Milton, Homer, sprightly, alert, alive, flying swiftly through the radiant Climes, to visit the Wits of every Generation; the Rich, Poor, the Merry, Mournful; the pamper’d, hungry Souls are there. Alas, the Scene is chang’d, you’ll not pity them; Queen Eliz. is in her Hut, selling of fry’d Fritters; Pompey and Alexander carry Charcoal to feed her Fires; the Great Mogul, the Czar, the grim Bashaw, the Emperor, the Grand Turk and Cæsar, are scrambling for the Drops of the Pan, and as they are wont, are scuffling for Trifles, till it raises their inextinguishable Rage to Loggerheads, cutting, flashing, carbonading Nero’s Buttocks; nay, they’re all fighting in Blood up to the Ears, and there is the Devil to do amongst them.
[Exit Flame.
Theo. Dologodelmo farewell.
Dolo. Our Time is come to part.
Theo. Farewell, my Lord farewell, this World is all Departure; Oh that I could appoint a Place to meet thee after Death; yet through the ranging of my Soul at Liberty, I’ll surely ken thee afar; methinks I see thee shine upon the brightest Mountain in the highest Orb, stretching forth thy self, and pluming thy immortal Wings, preparing to take thy everlasting and eternal Flight; and when we meet to part no more, may all our Song be Love, in Divine Tranquility.
Dolo. This lofty, sublime Speculation, proceeds from your own Virtue, not from my Merit; for if the Work of this Life, makes a Garment for the Soul, mine will be stain’d with Avarice, Debauchery and Revenge; you are Innocent: O Innocence! thou only Traveller to Heaven, farewell for ever.
[Ex.
35
SCENE, a Wood.
Thunder and Lightning. Enter King.
King. What a Smell of Sulphur is here? Was ever Day like this? surely all the Infernals are rising up in Arms, in Thunder, Lightning, and Hail; the Air’s in a Flame; I think my self in the Sun, expecting every Moment to be dissolv’d, and Conscience smiles.
[Ex. King.
A Genius descends in a Cloud, and Death enters upon a pale-dun Horse.
Death. Thou Genius of the King, confront me not.
Genius. Oh Death, thou long-liv’d Mortal, say for what art thou come, thus proudly aloft, and hieroglyphick mounted?
Death. To Wars, Victory, Revenge, with Stings from Lucifer my imperial Grandfather; I drive my Parent Man from Nature; I’ll die, be born again, and pursue him in Eternity.
Genius. Thus when Man commits a Crime, he creates a Fiend to fight against him: remember thou Toad of Hell, all the Elements that compound the Nature of Mortals, are now conspiring against thee.
Death. Discord horrid!
Genius. Thou Off-spring of Sin, that is, of that Nature that will draw upon it all the eternal Vengeance of Heaven!
Death. Thou mak’st me tremble.
Genius. Tremble thou, when yon marble Sky shall rent, flashing swift as the Lightning glimpse away; when crimson Elements appear, and Fury rides on flaming Winds, and spreads himself abroad, deep in the Bowels of this Globe shall wake, nay twice ten thousand Thunders, renting the rocky Mountains, and hurling Kingdoms to the 36Sky; Cataracts of Fire, and purple Storms shall rage, and hurricane thy infernal Soul.
Death. Discord horrid!
[Ex. Death.
Enter King.
King. Man, what is thy Business here to interrupt my Solitude?
Genius. I follow the Oppress’d, where I often find Relief.
King. What is thy Name?
Genius. My Name is secret, I was Tutor to a young Man, and when I corrected him to cure Pride, he resisted and rose up against me, and for that Reason I have left him for a Season.
King. And will Calamity cure Pride?
Genius. Behold yon pamper’d high-fed Colt, unoppress’d, at ease, unbroke, he leap’d his Mounds, and sported all abroad; he saw a Lamb, a Nightingale, a Dove; he started, snorted, and bridled with Disdain, with twisted Neck and cocking Tail, with bended Knee he bounds away, disdaining all he sees; but now his Back is stain’d with Saddle-marks, his Mouth is gaul’d with Bridle-bit; and he that despis’d the Lamb, the Dove, the Nightingale before, now is tam’d, and feeding with a Goose and Boar.
King. Alas! I pity thee; here is all the Money I have, and this Ring; ’twas given me by one I most admire.
Genius. But why do you give me all?
King. I am distress’d my self, and design to ask Relief of Heaven.
Genius. I will speak of thy Generosity, and force my Words to the highest Heaven; Angels will love and long for thy coming on high; rapp’d with thy Fame will wing away, warbling as the Swift, to meet thee in thy flight.
[Ex. Genius.
King. From whence this inward Joy, as if the Musick of the Spheres, and heavenly Song, penetrate the Sky, and eccho in my Soul.
37Enter Officer.
Offic. I am inform’d from the City, that Darony has taken Possession of all, and is now crown’d, and the People greatly rejoice: Lomporhomock and Hurlothrumbo are come down with an Army of 60000 Men, and threaten in a Moment to destroy you and your Troops.
[Ex. Officer.
King. The excessive Storm blows up the Fire of my Soul, and makes me long to fight; every String of my Heart is firm, is stony as the Lion’s Nerve; it rises in my Breast, it leaps, it yearns; Oh great is my Desire! I am all athirst, not for the Blood of my Adversaries, but for the Freedom of my Friends.
Enter Officer.
Offic. Theorbeo is at the Place of Execution; he desires to be interr’d under his Statue in the Grove, that if you ever come to your Kingdom, you may sometimes walk and think of him.
[Exit Officer.
King. Oh when shall this Dramatick World be done! but yet with me indeed it is. Oh when shall the End of all Things come! When shall the Musick of the Spheres break out! like Trumpets found Alarms, and Thunder in Bases roar? Oh when shall the glittering Crouds of Angels tread the Stages of the Sky, to sing the Chorus at the End of Time! Sing, oh Chant, with Sounds to metamorphose Man; and make me, oh make me any thing but what I am!
Enter Officer.
King. Why do you pause?
Offic. I fear to speak.
King. Speak, for I dread not to hear; this Moment I will fight and die with my Army.
Offic. The Princess Cademore is now forc’d in Marriage to Darony.
[Exit Officer.
King. O there is the Sting! Have I lost, for ever lost, every thing that’s dear to me in Life, my Crown, my Mistress, 38and my Friends? Rise up now, thou Strength of Reason, and pull down the Passion of my Soul; oh let the Curtain of the Clouds be lifted up, the Scenes, the Elements depart asunder; and may some piercing penetrating Eye in tender Pity gaze upon me!
Enter Officer.
Offic. The Enemies assaults us in our Trenches, we must either fight or die, and only wait for your Majesty’s Commands.
King. Depart, I’ll instantly be with you. [Exit Officer.] Yet hold, 20000 to engage with 60000, there must be great Courage or Contrivance, tho’ I have known brave Men naked have beaten Cowards in Armour; I have also heard of the Grecian Contrivance, their Horse: I scorn to overcome by Stratagem, no, I’ll raise up the Spirit of my Army; I’ll give them to drink Brandy mix’d with Gun-powder, and in the Anguish and Bitterness of my Soul, I’ll slash it through the Veins, and mingle it in the Blood of every Man, that they altogether may be one in the Image of a Dragon.
With fiery Heart and flaming Eyes, To every Part the Sulphur flies; The Wings extend, the thorny Points display, The Sting from Mouth ascends, and shuts for happy Day: The Heart, the Eyes, the Sting, the Feet, the furious Claws, Mount all up on the Wing, and fly amidst the Foes; Then Lightning from the Nostrils flies. Swift Thunder-bolts from Anus, and the Mouth will break, With Sounds to pierce the Skies, and make the Earth to quake: And if one Part should chance to fail, I’ll prick him on with speary Tail.
39
SCENE, Cademore’s Apartment.
Enter Cademore and Seringo.
Cad. See who comes here?
Serin. ’Tis the Lord Flame.
Enter Flame.
Flame. My Soul is outrageous in Pursuit of my Rivals, and mounts my Body Upon the Wing; flies through the Woods, rips up the lofty Oaks, splits the Rocks, plows up the Seas. Oh this scandalizing World! disgrace the noble Oliver, and say, that he is Gunpowder-maker to the Devil; and that Lucifer reads the Scriptures, that he may plead against Mortals. See, see those two glow-worms how they glitter; these are Cleopatra’s radiant Eyes, just scrall’d up from her Body, ambitious to vie against the Stars: How vain is Woman! veil thy Bosom, those heaving Monsters fire me; oh that I was a Child again, that I might suck!
[Exit Flame.
Cad. I pity this poor unfortunate Man, I feel his Distemper approach my Brain.
Enter Darony, Cademore turns from him.
Daro. Dear Lady fly me not, stay and hear me speak; Ovid’s Words in Bonon’s Sound, cannot describe the Passion of my Love.
Cad. Cruel Man, follow me not; if you love me, do not augment my Torment.
Daro. I am come with Comforts to feed the distressed Soul, I love.
Cad. What in me, do you admire?
Daro. Your Person, Madam.
Cad. They are Brutes that marry Bodies; the Mind is all that can be loved; the other is a Desire proceeds from 40Nature vicious, urged by Food and Wine: Live low, and you’ll not love me.
Daro. Oh ’tis in my Soul, I admire the Mind!
Cad. Then if you converse, you enjoy; what can you ask for more?
Enter Hurlothrumbo, and a Parson.
Hurlo. Come along, Sir, the King will make you a Bishop.
Daro. My Love, my Life, my Fire, to thee shall all be given; I’ll make thee taste of earthly Joys, and fetch thee down from Heaven: A Power that will without controul, Knock down all the Centrys of the Soul.
Sir, perform your Office.
[Speaking to the Parson.
Par. Madam, are you willing to be married?
Cad. I am not.
Hurlo. Never mind that.
Par. ’Tis my Sovereign, and I must obey.
Enter Flame, with Pistols, and a drawn Sword.
Fla. This Dagger will I heat red-hot in the crimson Blood of Darony, with which I’ll spear the Heart of Seringo, that Weather-cock; I’ll raise it upon some Pinacle or Spire; it shall ever whirl about with every Blast; myself I’ll dissolve into Air; I’ll make the stormy Winds to blow, the petty Breezes shall have no Power; but I’ll reign King of Tempest.
Hurlo. My Lord, can I serve you? Do you please to accept of Assistance?
Flame. Hurlothrumbo, what hast thou done with Seringo, hid her in thy Belly? Speak, in a moment speak, or I’ll rip it open, and let her out.
Hurlo. O no! ah hold! oh pray give me leave, and I’ll answer you!
Fla. Speak! quickly speak! or like a Griffin stuff’d with Fire and Gunpowder, I’ll blow thy Limbs and Stings to every Part of the Globe!
41Hurlo. Oh ye Powers inspire me with Madness, that I may answer him in his own Language! [Aside.] If you please to let us go, my Lord, we’ll this Moment mount her upon the Back of the Sun; in the mean while, you get a stradling upon the Moon, there you’ll be mounted aloft, and ride after her, spur and whip, whip and spur, and you’ll be sure to overtake her in the Eclipses; there you’ll be clapp’d together, Face to Face, one upon another; and all the World will shout and say, he has her, he has her, he has her! huzza!
[Darony, Hurlothrumbo, and the Parson, shout and Ex.
Fla. Ride on, Lightning, to perform, or I’ll drive you on with Thunder.
Serin. Dear Lady keep him in Discourse, for your own Security.
Cad. My Lord, you seem to be in Distress, is it in my Power to assist you?
Fla. No; my Soul, like a Jocky, is mounted and riding his eternal Race; I have slackned the Reins of Nature, and the Beast pulls, is pampered with too many Beans and Oats, and is running away with me to the Devil.
[Exit Flame and Seringo.
Cad. Pity! I have heard of Pity, surely Pity now is banish’d from the Earth, and all the Spirits of Love are lock’d up fast in Heaven. Was I once free from this miserable Cave of Nature, I think I could deny myself even of Paradise, to fly about within this lower World, to cure all the Sick, and heal the Broken-hearted: If there be a Maid on Earth whose Grief is like to mine, O ye sublimer Genius of the Air! in tender Pity direct her here to me, that I may lay my Face down to her Feet, and wash them clean with Tears; then will I rise, and gaze, and give her all that’s mine, that Generosity may please my Soul, and Love will rise up in my Heart, and conquer all my Grief.
Enter Seringo and Sementory.
Sem. I am full of sympathetick Confusion; there is nothing to be seen upon the Terrass, but Flashes of Lightning, flying through Clouds of Gun-powder Smoak.
Cad. Oh I tremble!
42Enter Servant.
Serv. Hurlothrumbo is taken Prisoner, and the Dutch Horse begin to fly.
[Exit Servant.
Enter Flame.
Flame. The King has gain’d the Victory; I’ll fly to the Elysian Fields, and provoke them all to dance.
Serin. Shall I go with you, my Lord?
Flame. Oh! no, Seringo, Coquets can never alarm me.
[A Song.
I’ll to the simple Fair incline, Constant Love, full of Jove, all divine, All, all, all divine, she’s rais’d, touch’d, rap’d, and only mine: O lead me, lead me to one like thee! Yet mighty Fate from happy State, Leads us all from Ruin, Through jealous Discords oh, And parting worse than Death, Death, oh.
[Exeunt.
The End of the Fourth Act.
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