Act 5 — Scene II. The Dressing-Room. Discovers the Prince at his Toylet, dressing. Musick and a Song.
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Enter George, waits till the Song is ended. The Prince sees him, comes to him with Joy, and falls about his Neck.
SONG, by Mr. Gildon. I.
Ah Charmion! shroud those killing Eyes,
That dart th’ extremes of Pleasure,
Else Celidon, though favour’d, dies
As well as him that you despise,
Though with this diff’rent measure:
While lingring Pains drag on his Fate, Dispatch is all th’ Advantage of my State; For ah! you hill with Love, as well as Hate.
II.
Abate thy Luxury of Charms,
And only Part discover;
Your Tongue, as well as Eyes, has Arms
To give a Thousand fatal Harms
To the poor listening Lover:
Thy Beams, like Glorys veil’d shou’d be,
And like the Front of Heav’n, unseen, pass by;
For to behold ’em, in full force, we die.
Prince. Mirtilla, O! I faint, I die with thy Beauty’s Luxury! by Heaven, I’m all Rapture, Love, and Joy: Such a dear Night, Lejere!—Poets may fancy pressing Goddesses, on downy Beds of Clouds—But oh, Lejere!—Those Gods were never half so blest as I!
Geo. What pity ’twere to wake you from this Dream.
Prince. It is not in the power of Time nor Age: For even then Mirtilla will have Charms! Oh, how she speaks! how well she’ll grace a Story!
Geo. How gay her Wit! how movingly she writes!
Prince. I do believe she does. A little seriously.
Geo. Would it displease you, should you see a Billet from her?
Prince. That’s as it were directed. Gravely.
Geo. You would not credit what you saw last Night.
Prince. Nor wou’d have lost that Night for all the Treasure the vast Ocean hides.
Geo. I wou’d not have a Man, so good and great, be made a Woman’s Property—There, Sir. Gives him the Billet.
Prince. I’ll not believe it her’s; there are a thousand ways to ruin Innocence; if she be false—she’s damn’d. Confirm me, and of course I shall despise her. You cure me, when you shew her worth my Scorn.
Geo. Will you be rul’d then, and believe it Friendship in me?
Prince. I will.
Geo. Give her, by Absence, but an Opportunity; feign some Excuse to leave the Town to day.
Prince. See where she comes—
Enter Mirtilla.
Adorn’d with all the beauteous Wonders of her Sex. The Gods of Love are playing in her Eyes, and give us Wounds from ev’ry graceful Motion. Ah, my Mirtilla! how shall I support the Absence of a many coming Hours, that languish, being from thee but a Moment?
Mir. I hope, my Lord, Fate is not so unkind, to let me live without you many Hours.
Prince. Can all this be dissembl’d? Aside to George.
Geo. How much more have I heard? yet all was false.
Prince. I must this Day—this tedious live-long Day, be absent from thy Sight—but shall be back i’th’ Evening: I’ll leave Lejere to wait on your Commands.
Mir. Lejere shall ever, Sir, be dear to me—But I’ll retire, and sigh till your Return—that World affords no Pleasure where you are not.
Prince. Do you hear that, Sir? Aside to George.
Till Night, thou dearest Blessing of my Life—Adieu. Mirtilla going out, pulls Lejere by the Sleeve.
Mir. Thou little, mischievous informing Thing, how vainly hast thou lavish’d out Invention! Smiling. Exit.
Prince. By Heaven, methinks ’twere Sin but to suspect her.
Geo. Think so; I’ll trouble your Repose no more: I’ve done my Duty, and I wou’d not see you made a—
Prince. Property—Ha—A loath’d convenient Tool—A Woman’s Implement—’Sdeath! she that off—Loose to the nasty Love of every Fool, that will be flatter’d, cozen’d, jilted, cuckolded—No more—I will, unseen, convey my self into the Closet in my Dressing-Room; ’tis near her Bed—and if I find her wanton—
Geo. If you find her—the Youth is waiting now that shall convince you.
Prince. Where?—Oh, set the happy Slave but in my View, and—
Geo. No, faith, Sir, be convinc’d before you strike, for fear she jilt you out of Sense and Reason—
Prince. Come to my Closet, from thence we may observe all that passes in her Chamber; from whence I’ll break upon the perjur’d Fair, like Thunder from a Cloud, and more destructive.
Exeunt.