PREFACE.

[This play was printed in 12^o, 1657 and 1661, with the name of Christopher Marlowe on the title as the author, than which few things are more improbable. Yet Dilke, who printed the piece in his series (1816), believed it to be really by Marlowe, and considered it superior to his "Faustus." He observes:] "In particular passages, and some whole scenes, 'Faustus' has great beauties; but it must have been principally indebted for its success to the superstitious ignorance of the times; 'Lust's Dominion' is a much better play." Dilke continues, "It was altered by Mrs Behn, and performed at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1671, under the title of 'Abdelazar;' and probably furnished hints for the admirable tragedy of 'The Revenge.' But, notwithstanding the luxuriance of imagery in the first scenes, the exquisite delicacy of the language that is throughout given to Maria, and the great beauty of parts, 'it has too much of "King Cambyses'" vein—rape, and murder, and superlatives;' and if the stage be intended as a portraiture of real character, such representations tend only to excite a disgust and abhorrence of human nature: with the exception of the innocent Maria, the fiery Philip, Isabella, Alvero, and Hortenzo, there is not one with whom our feelings hold communion. The open representation of the Devil in 'Faustus' is less offensive than the introduction of him here in the garb of a Moor; but the philanthropy of our ancestors was not shocked at any representation of an African or an Israelite."

Mr Collier [50] remarks, "Thomas Dekker, in partnership with William Haughton and John Day, was the author of 'The Spanish Moor's Tragedy,' which Malone, by a strange error, calls 'The Spanish Morris,' but he gives the right date, January 1599-1600. The mistake was more important than it may appear at first sight, as 'The Spanish Moor's Tragedy' was most likely the production called 'Lust's Dominion,' not printed until 1657, and falsely attributed to Marlowe. A Spanish Moor is the hero of it, and the date in Henslowe, of January 1599-1600, corresponds with that of a tract upon which some of the scenes are even verbally founded. That Marlowe, who was killed in 1593, and could not, therefore, be the author of it, requires no further proof."

LUST'S DOMINION
OR
THE LASCIVIOUS QUEEN.

ACT I., SCENE 1.

Enter Zarack, Balthazar, two Moors, taking tobacco; music sounding within. Enter Queen-Mother of Spain with two Pages. Eleazar, sitting on a chair, suddenly draws the curtain.[51]

Ele. On me does music spend this sound! on me,
That hate all unity! ah, Zarack! [ah,] Balthazar!

Queen-M. My gracious lord.

Ele. Are you there with your beagles! hark, you slaves!
Did not I bind you on your lives to watch
That none disturb'd us?

Queen-M. Gentle Eleazar.

Ele. There, off: is't you that deaf me with this noise?

[Exeunt two Moors.

Queen-M. Why is my love's aspèct so grim and horrid?
Look smoothly on me;
Chime out your softest strains of harmony,
And on delicious music's silken wings
Send ravishing delight to my love's ears,
That he may be enamoured of your tunes.
Come, let's kiss.

Ele. Away, away!

Queen-M. No, no says ay; and twice away says stay:
Come, come, I'll have a kiss; but if you strive,
For one denial you shall forfeit five.

Ele. Nay, prythee, good queen, leave me;
I am now sick and heavy, dull [52] as lead.

Queen-M. I'll make thee lighter by taking something from thee.

Ele. Do: take from me this ague and these fits
That, hanging on me,
Shake me in pieces, and set all my blood
A-boiling with the fire of rage: away, away!
Thou believ'st I jest,
And laugh'st to see
My wrath wear antic shapes! Begone, begone!

Queen-M. What means my love?
Burst all those wires, burn all those instruments;
For they displease my Moor. Art thou now pleas'd?
Or wert thou now disturb'd? I'll wage all Spain
To one sweet kiss, this is some new device
To make me fond and long. O, you men
Have tricks to make poor women die for you.

Ele. What, die for me? away!

Queen-M. Away, what way? I prythee, speak more kindly;
Why dost thou frown? at whom?

Ele. At thee.

Queen-M. At me!
O, why at me? For each contracted frown
A crooked wrinkle interlines my brow:
Spend but one hour in frowns, and I shall look
Like to a beldame of one hundred years.
I prythee, speak to me, and chide me not.
I prythee, chide, if I have done amiss;
But let my punishment be this and this.

[Kiss.

I prythee, smile on me, if but awhile,
Then frown on me, I'll die: I prythee, smile.
Smile on me, and these two wanton boys,
These pretty lads that do attend on me,
Shall call thee Jove, shall wait upon thy cup,
And fill thee nectar: their enticing eyes
Shall serve as crystal, wherein thou may'st see
To dress thyself, if thou wilt smile on me.
Smile on me, and with coronets of pearl
And bells of gold, circling their pretty arms,
In a round ivory fount these two shall swim,
And dive to make thee sport:
Bestow one smile, one little, little smile,
And in a net of twisted silk and gold
In my all-naked arms thyself shall lie.

Ele. Why, what to do? Lust's arms do stretch so wide
That none can fill them. I lie there? away![53]

Queen-M. Where hast thou learn'd this language, that can say
No more but two rude words, away, away?
Am I grown ugly now?

Ele. Ugly as hell.

Queen-M. Thou lov'dst me once.

Ele. That can thy bastards tell.

Queen-M. What is my sin? I will amend the same.

Ele. Hence, strumpet! use of sin makes thee past shame.

Queen-M. Strumpet!

Ele. Ay, strumpet.

Queen-M. Too true 'tis, woe is me;
I am a strumpet, but made so by thee.

Ele. By me!
No, no, by these young bawds: fetch thee a glass,
And thou shalt see the balls of both thine eyes
Burning in fire of lust. By me! There's here,
Within this hollow cistern of thy breast,
A spring of hot blood: have not I, to cool it,
Made an extraction to the quintessence
Even of my soul: melted all my spirits,
Ravish'd my youth, deflow'r'd my lovely cheeks,
And dried this, this to an anatomy,
Only to feed your lust?—these boys have ears—

[In a whisper.]

Yet wouldst thou murder me.

Queen-M. I murder thee!

Ele. I cannot ride through the Castilian streets
But thousand eyes, through windows and through doors,
Throw killing looks at me; and every slave
At Eleazar darts a finger out,
And every hissing tongue cries, "There's the Moor;
That's he that makes a cuckold of our king;
There goes the minion of the Spanish queen;
That's the black prince of devils; there goes he
That on smooth boys, on masques and revellings,
Spend the revenues of the King of Spain."
Who arms this many-headed beast but you?
Murder and lust are twins, and both are thine.
Being weary of me, thou wouldst worry me,
Because some new love makes thee loathe thine old.

~~Queen-M. Eleazar!~~

Ele. Harlot, I'll not hear thee speak.

Queen-M. I'll kill myself unless thou hear'st me speak.
My husband-king upon his deathbed lies,
Yet have I stol'n from him to look on thee:
A queen hath made herself thy concubine,
Yet dost thou now abhor me; hear me speak,
Else shall my sons plague thy adult'rous wrongs,
And tread upon thy heart for murdering me:
This tongue hath murder'd me. Cry murder, boys.

~~[The Queen shouts.]~~

~~Two Boys. Murder! the queen's murder'd!~~

Ele. Love, slaves, peace!

~~Two Boys. Murder! the queen's murder'd!~~

Ele. Stop your throats!
Hark! hush, you squaller. Dear love, look up:
Our chamber-window stares into the court,
And every wide-mouth'd ear, hearing this news,
Will give alarum to the cuckold king:
I did dissemble when I chid my love,
And that dissembling was to try my love.

~~Queen-M. Thou call'dst me strumpet.~~

Ele. I'll tear out my tongue
From this black temple for blaspheming thee.

Queen-M. And when I woo'd thee but to smile on me,
Thou cri'dst away, away, and frown'dst upon me.

Ele. Come, now
I will kiss thee; now I'll smile upon thee;
Call to thy ashy cheeks their wonted red;
Come, frown not, pout not; smile, smile upon me,
And with my poniard will I stab my flesh,
And quaff carouses to thee of my blood;
Whilst in moist nectar kisses thou dost pledge me.
How now, why star'st thou thus?

[Knock.

Enter Zarack.

Zar. The king is dead!

Ele. Ah, dead! [ah, dead!] You hear this?
Is't true, is't true? The king [is] dead!
Who dare knock thus?

Zar. It is the cardinal
Making inquiry if the queen were here.

Ele. See, she is here, [go] tell him; and yet [no—]
Zarack, stay.

Enter Balthazar.

Bal. Don Roderigo's come to seek the queen.

Ele. Why should Roderigo seek her here?

Bal. The king hath swooned thrice; and, being recovered,
Sends up and down the court to seek her grace.

Ele. The king was dead with you. [To Zarack.] Run, and with a voice
Erected high as mine, say thus, thus threaten,
To Roderigo and the cardinal:
Seek no queens here, I'll broach them, if they do,
Upon my falchion's point:

[Knock again.

~~Again! more knocking!~~

Zar. Your father is at hand, my gracious lord.

Ele. Lock all the chambers, bar him out, you apes:
Hither, a vengeance! stir, Eugenia,
You know your old walk underground; away!
So down, hie to the king; quick, quick, you squalls,
Crawl with your dam i' th' dark; dear love, farewell:
One day I hope to shut you up in hell.

~~[Eleazar shuts them in.~~

SCENE II.

Enter Alvero.

Alv. Son Eleazar, saw you not the queen?

Ele. Hah!

Alv. Was not the queen here with you?

Ele. Queen with me!
Because, my lord, I'm married to your daughter,
You, like your daughter, will grow jealous:
The queen with me! with me a Moor, a devil,
A slave of Barbary, a dog—for so
Your silken courtiers christen me. But, father,
Although my flesh be tawny, in my veins
Runs blood as red, as royal, as the best
And proudest in Spain; there does, old man.
My father, who with his empire lost his life,
And left me captive to a Spanish tyrant,—
O! Go tell him, Spanish tyrant; tell him, do.
He that can lose a kingdom, and not rave,
He's a tame jade; I am not: tell old Philip
I call him tyrant; here's a sword and arms,
A heart, a head, and so, pish!—'tis but death.
Old fellow, she's not here: but ere I die,
Sword, I'll bequeath thee a rich legacy.

Alv. Watch fitter hours to think on wrongs than now;
Death's frozen hand holds royal Philip's heart;
Half of his body lies within a grave;
Then do not now by quarrels shake that state,
Which is already too much ruinate.
Come, and take leave of him, before he die.

[Exit.

Ele. I'll follow you. Now, purple villany,
Sit like a robe imperial on my back,
That under thee I closelier may contrive
My vengeance; foul deeds hid do sweetly thrive.
Mischief, erect thy throne, and sit in state
Here, here upon this head; let fools fear fate,
Thus I defy my stars. I care not, I,
How low I tumble down, so I mount high:
Old Time, I'll wait bareheaded at thy heels,
And be a footboy to thy winged hours;
They shall not tell one minute out in sands,
But I'll set down the number; I'll still wake,
And waste these balls of sight by tossing them
In busy observations upon thee.
Sweet opportunity! I'll bind myself
To thee in base apprenticehood so long,
Till on thy naked scalp grow hair as thick
As mine; and all hands shall lay hold on thee,
If thou wilt lend me but thy rusty scythe,
To cut down all that stand within my wrongs
And my revenge. Love, dance in twenty forms
Upon my beauty, that this Spanish dame
May be bewitch'd and doat; her amorous flames
Shall blow up the old king, consume his sons,
And make all Spain a bonfire. This
Tragedy being acted, hers doth begin:
To shed a harlot's blood can be no sin.

[Exit.

SCENE III.

The Curtain being drawn, there appears in his bed King Philip, with his Lords; the Princess Isabella at the feet, Mendoza, Alvero, Hortenzo, Fernando, Roderigo; and to them enter Queen in haste.

Queen-M. Whose was that screech-owl's voice that, like the sound
Of a hell-tortur'd soul, rung through mine ears
Nothing but horrid shrieks, nothing but death?
Whilst I, vailing my knees to the cold earth,
Drowning my wither'd cheeks in my warm tears,
And stretching out my arms to pull from heaven
Health for the royal majesty of Spain,
All cried, the majesty of Spain is dead!
That last word dead struck through the echoing air
Rebounded on my heart, and smote me down
Breathless to the cold earth, and made me leave
My prayers for Philip's life; but, thanks to heaven,
I see him live, and lives (I hope) to see
Unnumber'd years to guide this empery.

King P. The number of my years ends in one day:
Ere this sun's down, all a king's glory sets,
For all our lives are but death-counterfeits.
Father Mendoza, and you peers of Spain,
Dry your wet eyes; for sorrow wanteth force
T' inspire a breathing soul in a dead corse;
Such is your king. Where's Isabella, our daughter?

Men. At your bed's feet, confounded in her tears.

King P. She of your grief the heaviest burthen bears;
You can but lose a king, but she a father.

Queen-M. She bear the heaviest burthen! O, say rather
I bear, and am borne down; my sorrowing
Is for a husband's loss, loss of a king.

~~King P. No more. Alvero, call the princess hither.~~

Alv. Madam, his majesty doth call for you.

King P. Come hither, Isabella, reach a hand,
Yet now it shall not need: instead of thine,
Death, shoving thee back, clasps his hands in mine,
And bids me come away: I must, I must,
Though kings be gods on earth, they turn to dust.
Is not Prince Philip come from Portugal?

Rod. The prince as yet is not return'd, my lord.

King P. Commend me to him, if I ne'er behold him.
This tells the order of my funeral;
Do it as 'tis set down; embalm my body;
Though worms do make no difference of flesh,
Yet kings are curious here to dig their graves;
Such is man's frailty: when I am embalm'd,
Apparel me in a rich royal robe,
According to the custom of the land;
Then place my bones within that brazen shrine,
Which death hath builded for my ancestors;
I cannot name death, but he straight steps in
And pulls me by the arm.

Fer. His grace doth faint;
Help me, my lords, softly to raise him up.

Enter Eleazar, and stands sadly by.

King P. Lift me not up, I shortly must go down.
When a few dribbling minutes have run out,
Mine hour is ended. King of Spain, farewell;
You all acknowledge him your sovereign?

~~All. When you are dead, we will acknowledge him.~~

King P. Govern this kingdom well; to be a king
Is given to many, but to govern well
Granted to few. Have care to Isabel;
Her virtue was King Philip's looking-glass;
Reverence the queen your mother; love your sister
And the young prince your brother: even that day,
When Spain shall solemnise my obsequies,
And lay me up in earth, let them crown you.
Where's Eleazar, Don Alvero's son?

Fer. Yonder, with cross'd arms, stands he malcontent.

King P. I do commend him to thee for a man
Both wise and warlike; yet beware of him:
Ambition wings his spirit; keep him down.
What will not men attempt to win a crown?
Mendoza is protector of thy realm,
I did elect him for his gravity;
I trust he'll be a father to thy youth.
Call help, Fernando, now I faint indeed.

Fer. My lords!

King. P. Let none with a distracted voice
Shriek out, and trouble me in my departure.
Heaven's hands, I see, are beckoning for my soul;
I come, I come; thus do the proudest die;
Death hath no mercy, life no certainty.

[Dies.

Men. As yet his soul's not from her temple gone:
Therefore forbear loud lamentation.

Queen-M. O, he's dead, he's dead! lament and die;
In her king's end begins Spain's misery.

Isa. He shall not end so soon. Father, dear father!

Fer. Forbear, sweet Isabella: shrieks are vain.

Isa. You cry forbear; you by his loss of breath
Have won a kingdom, you may cry forbear:
But I have lost a father and a king,
And no tongue shall control my sorrowing.

Hor. Whither, good Isabella?

Isa. I will go
Where I will languish in eternal woe.

Hor. Nay, gentle love.

Isa. Talk not of love to me,
The world and the world's pride henceforth I'll scorn.

[Exit.

Hor. My love shall follow thee; if thou deny'st
To live with poor Hortenzo as his wife,
I'll never change my love, but change my life.

Enter Philip hastily.

Phil. I know he is not dead; I know proud death
Durst not behold such sacred majesty.
Why stand you thus distracted? Mother, brother,
My Lord Mendoza, where's my royal father?

~~Queen-M. Here lies the temple of his royal soul.~~

Fer. Here's all that's left of Philip's majesty;
Wash you his tomb with tears: Fernando's moan,
Hating a partner, shall be spent alone.

[Exit.

Phil. O happy father! miserable son!
Philip is gone to joy, Philip's forlorn:
He dies to live, my life with woe is torn.

~~Queen-M. Sweet son.~~

Phil. Sweet mother: O, how I now do shame
To lay on one so foul so fair a name:
Had you been a true mother, a true wife,
This king had not so soon been robb'd of life.

~~Queen-M. What means this rage, my son?~~

Phil. Call not me your son.
My father, whil'st he liv'd, tir'd his strong arms
In bearing Christian armour 'gainst the Turks,
And spent his brains in warlike stratagems
To bring confusion on damn'd infidels:
Whilst you, that snorted here at home, betray'd
His name to everlasting infamy;
Whilst you at home suffer'd his bedchamber
To be a brothelry; whilst you at home
Suffer'd his queen to be a concubine,
And wanton red-cheek'd boys to be her bawds;
Whilst she, reeking in that lecher's arms——

Ele. Me!

Phil. Villain, 'tis thee;
Thou hell-begotten fiend, at thee I stare.

~~Queen-M. Philip, thou art a villain to dishonour me.~~

Phil. Mother, I am no villain: 'tis this villain
Dishonours you and me, dishonours Spain,
Dishonours all these lords; this devil is he,
That——

Ele. What! O, pardon me, I must throw off
All chains of duty, wert thou ten kings' sons;
Had I as many souls as I have sins,
As this from hence, so they from this should fly,
In just revenge of this indignity.

Phil. Give way, or I'll make way upon your bosoms.

Ele. Did my dear sovereign live, sirrah, that tongue——

~~Queen-M. Did but King Philip live, traitor, I'd tell——~~

Phil. A tale that should rid both your souls to hell.
Tell Philip's ghost, that Philip tells his queen,
That Philip's queen is a Moor's concubine;
Did the king live, I'd tell him how you two
Ripp'd up the entrails of his treasury
With masques and antic revellings.

Ele. Words insupportable! dost hear me, boy?

~~Queen-M. Stand you all still, and see me thus trod down?~~

Phil. Stand you all still, yet let this devil stand here?

Men. Forbear, sweet prince. Eleazar, I am now
Protector to Fernando, King of Spain;
By that authority, and by consent
Of all these peers, I utterly deprive thee
Of all those royalties thou holdst in Spain.

~~Queen-M. Cardinal, who lends thee this commission?~~

Ele. Cardinal, I'll shorten thee by the head for this.

Phil. Forward, my Lord Mendoza; damn the fiend.

Ele. Princes of Spain, consent you to this pride?

~~All. We do.~~

~~Queen-M. For what cause? Let his faith be tried.~~

Men. His treasons need no trial, they're too plain.
Come not within the court; for, if you do,
To beg with Indian slaves I'll banish you.

~~[Exeunt all but Alvero, Queen and Eleazar.~~

SCENE IV.

Alv. Why should my son be banished?

Enter Maria.

Queen-M. Of that dispute not now. Alvero,
I'll to the king my son; it shall be tried,
If Castile's king can cool a cardinal's pride.

~~[Exeunt Queen and Alvero.~~

Ele. If I digest this gall—O my Maria,
I am whipp'd, and rack'd, and torn upon the wheel
Of giddy Fortune; she and her minions
Have got me down, and treading on my bosom,
They cry, Lie still: the cardinal
(O rare!) would bandy me away from Spain,
And banish me to beg—ay, beg with slaves.

~~Maria. Conquer with patience these indignities.~~

Ele. Patience! ha, ha! yes, yes, an honest cardinal!

~~Maria. Yet smother [still] the grief, and seek revenge.~~

Ele. Ha! banish me! s'foot, why, say they do,
There's Portugal—a good air, and France—a fine country,
Or Barbary—rich, and has Moors; the Turk,
Pure devil, and allows enough to fat
The sides of villany—good living there!
I can live there, and there, and there;
Troth, 'tis a villain can live anywhere.
But say I go from hence: I leave behind me
A cardinal that will laugh; I leave behind me
A Philip that will clap his hands for joy.
And dance lavoltoes through the Castile court;
But the deep'st wound of all is this, I leave
My wrongs, dishonours, and my discontents—
O, unreveng'd; my bedrid enemies
Shall never be rais'd up by the strong physical
Curing of my sword; therefore stay still;
Many have hearts to strike, that dare not kill
Leave me, Maria. Cardinal, this disgrace
Shall dye thy soul as inky as my face.
Pish!—hence, Maria.

Enter Alvero.

Maria. To the king I'll fly,
He shall revenge my lord's indignity.

[Exit.

Alv. Mendoza woos the king to banish thee.
Startle thy wonted spirits, awake thy soul,
And on thy resolution fasten wings,
Whose golden feathers may outstrip their hate.

Ele. I'll tie no golden feathers to my wings.

Alv. Shall they thus tread thee down, which once were glad
To lacquey by thy conquering chariot-wheels?

Ele. I care not: I can swallow more sour wrongs.

Alv. If they triumph o'er thee, they'll spurn me down.

Ele. Look: spurn again!

Alv. What ice hath cool'd that fire,
Which sometimes made thy thoughts to heaven aspire?
This patience had not wont to dwell with thee.

Enter Fernando and Maria.

Ele. 'Tis right, but now the world is chang'd, you see;
Though I seem dead to you, here lives a fire——
No more, here comes the king and my Maria:
The Spaniard loves my wife; she swears to me
She's chaste as the white moon; well, if she be;
Well, too, if she be not, I care not, I;
I'll climb up by that love to dignity.

Fer. Thou woo'st me to revenge thy husband's wrong,
I woo thy fair self not to wrong thyself;
Swear but to love me, and to thee I'll swear
To crown thy husband with a diadem.

~~Maria. Such love as I dare yield, I'll not deny.~~

Fer. When in the golden arms of majesty—
I am broke off—yonder thy husband stands;
I'll set him free, if thou unite my bands;
So much for that. Durst then the cardinal
Put on such insolence? tell me, fair madam,
Where's your most valiant husband?

Ele. He sees me, and yet inquires for me.

~~Maria. Yonder, my lord.~~

Fer. Eleazar, I have in my breast writ down
From her report your late receiv'd disgrace;
My father lov'd you dearly, so will I.

Ele. True, for my wife's sake.

[Aside.

Fer. This indignity
Will I have interest in; for, being your king,
You shall perceive I'll curb my underling.
This morning is our coronation, and
[Our] father's funeral solemnised.
Be present, step into your wonted place,
We'll gild your dim disgraces with our grace.

[Exeunt.

Ele. I thank my sovereign that you love my wife;
I thank thee, wife, that thou wilt lock my head
In such strong armour to bear off all blows;
Who dare say such wives are their husbands' foes?
Let's see now, by her falling I must rise;
Cardinal, you die if the king bid me live;
Philip, you die for railing at me;
Proud lord, you die, that with Mendoza cried,
Banish the Moor.
And you, my loving liege, you're best sit fast:
If all these live not, you must die at last.

ACT II., SCENE 1.

Enter two Lords, Philip, Mendoza, Eleazar, with him the King crowned; Queen-Mother, Alvero, Zarack, Balthazar, and Attendants.

Men. Why stares this devil thus, as if pale death
Had made his eyes the dreadful messengers
To carry black destruction to the world?
Was he not banish'd Spain?

Phil. Your sacred mouth
Pronounc'd the sentence of his banishment:
Then spurn the villain forth.

Ele. Who spurns the Moor,
Were better set his foot upon the devil.
Do spurn me, and this confounding arm of wrath
Shall, like a thunderbolt breaking the clouds,
Divide his body from his soul! Stand back.
Spurn Eleazar!

Rod. Shall we bear this pride?

Alv. Why not? he underwent much injury.

Men. What injury have we perform'd, proud lord?

Ele. Proud cardinal, my unjust banishment.

Men. 'Twas we that did it, and our words are laws.

~~King. 'Twas we repeal'd him, and our words are laws.~~

Zar. Bal. If not, these are.

[All the Moors draw.

Phil. How! threaten'd and outdar'd!

King. Shall we give arm to hostile violence?
Sheathe your swords, sheathe them: it's we command.

Ele. Grant Eleazar justice, my dread liege.

Men. Eleazar hath had justice from our hands,
And he stands banish'd from the court of Spain.

King. Have you done justice? Why, Lord Cardinal,
From whom do you derive authority
To banish him the court without our leave?

Men. From this, the staff of our protectorship;
From this, which the last will of your dead father
Committed to our trust; from this high place,
Which lifts Mendoza's spirits beyond the pitch
Of ordinary honour, and from this——

~~[King takes the staff from Mendoza, and gives it to Eleazar.~~

King. Which too much overweening insolence
Hath quite ta'en from thee. Eleazar, up,
And from us sway this staff of Regency.

~~All. How's this!~~

Phil. Dare sons presume to break their father's will?

King. Dare subjects countercheck their sovereign's will?
'Tis done, and who gainsays it, is a traitor.

Phil. I do, Fernando, yet am I no traitor.

Men. Fernando, I am wrong'd; by Peter's chair,
Mendoza vows revenge. I'll lay aside
My cardinal's hat, and in a wall of steel,
The glorious livery of a soldier,
Fight for my late-lost honour.

~~King. Cardinal!~~

Men. King! thou shalt be no king for wronging me.
The Pope shall send his bulls through all thy realm,
And pull obedience from thy subjects' hearts,
To put on armour of the Mother Church.
Curses shall fall like lightnings on thy head,
Bell, book, and candle: holy water, prayers,
Shall all chime vengeance to the court of Spain,
Till they have power to conjure down that fiend,
That damn'd Moor, that devil, that Lucifer,
That dares aspire the staff the card'nal sway'd.

Ele. Ha, ha, ha! I laugh yet, that the cardinal's vex'd.

Phil. Laugh'st thou, base slave! the wrinkles of that scorn
Thine own heart's blood shall fill. Brother, farewell;
Since you disprove the will our father left
For base lust of a loathed concubine.

Ele. Ha! concubine! who does Prince Philip mean?

Phil. [To Eleazar.] Thy wife. [To Alvero.] Thy daughter. Base, aspiring lords,
Who to buy honour are content to sell
Your names to infamy, your souls to hell.
And stamp you now? Do, do, for you shall see
I go for vengeance, and she'll come with me.

Ele. Stay, for she's here already, see, proud boy.

[They both draw.

Queen-M. Hold! stay this fury; if you long for blood,
Murder me first. Dear son, you are a king;
Then stay the violent tempest of their wrath.

~~King. Shall kings be oversway'd in their desires?~~

Rod. Shall subjects be oppress'd by tyranny?

Queen-M. No state shall suffer wrong; then hear me speak:
Mendoza, you have sworn you love the queen;
Then by that love I charge you leave these arms.
Eleazar, for those favours I have given you,
Embrace the cardinal, and be friends with him.

Ele. And have my wife call'd strumpet to my face!

Queen-M. 'Twas rage made his tongue err; do you not know
The violent love Mendoza bears the queen?
Then speak him fair, for in that honey'd breath
I'll lay a bait shall train him to his death.

[Aside.

Come, come, I see your looks give way to peace;
Lord Cardinal, begin; and [Aside] for reward,
Ere this fair setting sun behold his bride,
Be bold to challenge love, yet be denied.

Men. That promise makes me yield. [Aside.] My gracious lord,
Though my disgrace hath graven its memory
On every Spaniard's eye, yet shall the duty
I owe your sacred highness, and the love
My country challengeth, make me lay by
Hostile intendments, and return again
To the fair circle of obedience.

King. Both pardon and our favour bids you welcome;
And for some satisfaction for your wrongs,
We here create you Salamanca's Duke:
But first, as a true sign all grudges die,
Shake hands with Eleazar, and be friends;
This union pleaseth us. Now, brother Philip,
You are included in this league of love,
So is Roderigo. To forget all wrongs,
Your castle for awhile shall bid us welcome;
Eleazar, shall it not? It is enough.
Lords, lead the way, that [Aside] whilst you feast yourselves,
Fernando may find time all means to prove,
To compass fair Maria for our love.

[Exeunt omnes.

SCENE II.

~~Queen-Mother and Eleazar.~~

Ele. Madam, a word: now have you wit or spirit?

~~Queen-M. Both.~~

Ele. Set them both to a most gainful task.
Our enemies are in my castle-work.

Queen-M. Ay; but the king's there too; it's dangerous pride
To strike at those that crouch by a lion's side.

Ele. Remove them.

~~Queen-M. How?~~

Ele. How! a thousand ways:
By poison, or by this [Points to his sword]; but every groom
Has skill in such base traffic; no, our policies
Must look more strange, must fly with loftier wings;
Vengeance, the higher it falls, more honour brings;
But you are cold—you dare not do.

~~Queen-M. I dare.~~

Ele. You have a woman's heart; look you, this hand—

[Takes her hand.

~~O, 'tis too little to strike home.~~

~~Queen-M. At whom?~~

Ele. Your son.

~~Queen-M. Which son? the king?~~

Ele. Angels of heaven
Stand like his guard about him! how, the king!
Not for so many worlds as there be stars
Sticking upon th' embroider'd firmament.
The king! he loves my wife, and should he die,
I know none else would love her; let him live
In heaven.[54]

~~[Aside.~~

~~Good Lord Philip——~~

~~Queen-M. He shall die.~~

Ele. How? good, good.

~~Queen-M. By this hand.~~

Ele. When? good, good; when?

~~Queen-M. This night, if Eleazar give consent.~~

Ele. Why, then, this night Philip shall not live
To see you kill him! Is he not your son?
A mother be the murd'rer of a brat
That liv'd within her! ha!

~~Queen-M. 'Tis for thy sake.~~

Ele. Pish! What excuses cannot damn'd sin make
To save itself! I know you love him well;
But that he has an eye, an eye, an eye.
To others, our two hearts seem to be lock'd
Up in a case of steel; upon our love others
Dare not look; or, if they dare, they cast
Squint, purblind glances. Who care, though all see all,
So long as none dare speak? But Philip
Knows that iron ribs of our villains
Are thin: he laughs to see them, like this hand,
With chinks and crevices; how [with] a villanous,
A stabbing, [a] desperate tongue the boy dare speak:
A mouth, a villanous mouth! let's muzzle him.

~~Queen-M. How?~~

Ele. Thus:
Go you, and with a face well-set do
In good sad colours, such as paint out
The cheek of that foul penitence, and with a tongue
Made clean and glib, cull from their lazy swarm
Some honest friars whom that damnation, gold,
Can tempt to lay their souls to the stake;
Seek such—they are rank and thick.

~~Queen-M. What then? I know such—what's the use?~~

Ele. This is excellent!
Hire these to write books, preach, and proclaim abroad
That your son Philip is a bastard.

~~Queen-M. How?~~

Ele. A bastard. Do you know a bastard? do't:
Say conscience spake with you, and cried out do't;
By this means shall you thrust him from all hope
Of wearing Castile's diadem, and, that spur
Galling his sides, he will fly out and fling,
And grind the cardinal's heart to a new edge
Of discontent; from discontent grows treason,
And on the stalk of treason, death: he's dead,
By this blow and by you; yet no blood shed.
Do't then; by this trick he is gone.
We stand more sure in climbing high;
Care not who fall, 'tis real policy: are you
Arm'd to do this, ha?

~~Queen-M. Sweet Moor, it is done.~~

Ele. Away then; work with boldness and with speed:
On greatest actions greatest dangers feed.

~~[Exit Queen-Mother.~~

Ha, ha! I thank thee, provident creation,
That seeing [55] in moulding me thou didst intend
I should prove villain; thanks to thee and nature,
That skilful workman: thanks for my face:
Thanks that I have not wit to blush!
What, Zarack! ho, Balthazar!

Enter the two Moors.

~~Both. My lord.~~

Ele. Nearer. So: silence!
Hang both your greedy ears upon my lips;
Let them devour my speech, suck in my breath, and in.
Who let's it break prison, here is his death.
This night the card'nal shall be murder'd.

~~Both. Where?~~

Ele. And to fill up a grave Philip dies.

~~Both. Where?~~

Ele. Here.

~~Both. By whom?~~

Ele. By thee, and, slave, by thee.
Have you [the] hearts and hands to execute?

~~Both. Here's both.~~

~~1st Moor. He dies, were he my father.~~

Ele. Ho, away.
Stay—go, go—stay; see me no more till night.
Your cheeks are black; let not your souls look white.

~~Both. Till night?~~

Ele. Till night: a word! the Mother-Queen
Is trying, if she can, with fire of gold
Warp the green consciences of two covetous friars
To preach abroad Philip's bastardy.

1st Moor. His bastardy! who was his father?

Ele. Who?
Search for these friars: hire them to work with you.
Their holy callings will approve the fact
Most good and meritorious: sin shines clear,
When her black face religion's mask doth wear.
Here comes the queen—good—and the friars.

SCENE III.

Enter two friars, Crab and Cole, and Queen-Mother.

Cole. Your son a bastard? say, we do;
But how then shall we deal with you?
I tell you, as I said before,
His being a bastard, you are so poor
In honour and in name, that time
Can never take away the crime.

Queen-M. I grant that, friar; yet rather I'll endure
The wound of infamy to kill my name,
Than to see Spain bleeding with civil swords.
The boy is proud, ambitious; he woos greatness;
He takes up Spanish hearts on trust to pay them,
When he shall finger Castile's crown. O, then,
Were it not better my disgrace were known,
Than such a base aspirer fill the throne?

~~Cole. Ha, brother Crab, what think you?~~

~~Crab. As you, dear brother Cole.~~

Cole.Then we agree.
Cole's judgment is as Crab's, you see.
Lady, we swear to speak and write
What you please, so all go right.

Queen-M. Then, as we gave directions, spread abroad
In Cadiz, Madrid, Granada, and Medina,
And all the royal cities of the realm,
Th' ambitious hopes of that proud bastard Philip:
And sometimes, as you see occasion,
Tickle the ears of the rude multitude
With Eleazar's praise; gild his virtues,
Naples' recovery, and his victories
Achiev'd against the Turkish Ottoman.
Will you do this for us?

Ele. Say, will you?

~~Both. Ay.~~

Ele. Why start you back and stare?
Ha! are you afraid?

Cole. O, no, sir, no! but, truth to tell,
Seeing your face, we thought of hell.

Ele. Hell is a dream.

~~Cole. But none do dream in hell.~~

Ele. Friars, stand to her and me; and by your sin
I'll shoulder out Mendoza from his seat,
And of two friars create you cardinals.
O, how would cardinals' hats on their heads sit?

Cole. This face would look most goodly under it.
Friar Crab and Cole do swear
In those circles still to appear,
In which she or you do charge us rise;
For you our lives we'll sacrifice.
Valete, gaudete:
Si pereamus, flete;
Orate pro nobis,
Oremus pro vobis.
Cole will be burnt and Crab be press'd,
Ere they prove knaves; thus are you cross'd and bless'd.

Ele. Away! you know. [Exeunt Friars.] Now, madam, none shall throw
Their leaden envy in an opposite scale,
To weigh down our true golden happiness.

~~Queen-M. Yes, there is one.~~

Ele. One! who?
Give me his name, and I will turn
It to a magic spell to bind
Him here, here. Who?

~~Queen-M. Your wife Maria.~~

Ele. Ha! my Maria!

Queen-M. She's
The Hellespont divides my love and me:
She being cut off——

Ele. Stay, stay; cut off!
Let's think upon't; my wife!
Humph! kill her too!

~~Queen-M. Does her love make thee cold?~~

Ele. Had I a thousand wives, down go they all.
She dies; I'll cut her off. Now, Balthazar!

Enter Balthazar.

Bal. Madam, the king entreats your company.

Queen-M. His pleasure be obey'd. Dear love, farewell;
Remember your Maria.

[Exit.

Ele. Dear,[56] adieu;
With this I'll guard her, whilst it stabs at you.

[Points to his sword.

My lord,[57] the friars are won to join with us.
Be prosperous! about it, Balthazar.

Bal. The watchword?

Ele. O, the word; let it be Treason.
When we cry treason, break ope chamber doors:
Kill Philip and the cardinal. Hence!

Bal. I fly.

[Exit.

Ele. Murder, now ride in triumph; darkness, horror,
Thus I invoke your aid; your act begin;
Night is a glorious robe for th' ugliest sin.

SCENE IV.

Enter Cole and Crab in trousers; the Cardinal in one of their weeds, and Philip putting on the other.

~~Friars. Put on, my lord, and fly, or else you die.~~

Phil. I will not, I will die first. Cardinal,
Prythee, good cardinal, pluck off, friars; slave!
Murder us two! he shall not, by this sword.

Car. My lord, you will endanger both our lives.

Phil. I care not; I'll kill some before I die.
Away! s'heart! take your rags! Moor, devil, come.

~~Friars. My lord, put on, or else——~~

Phil. God's foot! come, help.

Car. Ambitious villain! Philip, let us fly
Into the chamber of the mother-queen.

Phil. Thunder beat down the lodgings.

Car. Else
Let's break into the chamber of the king.

Phil. Agreed.
A pox upon these lousy gabardines.
Agreed; I am for you, Moor; stand side by side;
Come, hands off; leave your ducking.[58] Hell cannot fright
Their spirits that do desperately fight.

Cole. You are too rash, you are too hot;
Wild desperateness doth valour blot.
The lodging of the king's beset
With staring faces black as jet,
And hearts of iron: your deaths are vow'd,
If you fly that way; therefore shroud
Your body in friar Cole's grey weed;
For is't not madness, man, to bleed,
When you may 'scape untouch'd away?
Here's hell, here's heaven: here if you stay,
You're gone, you're gone; friar Crab and I
Will here dance friskin, whilst you fly.
Gag us, bind us, come put on;
The gag's too wide; so gone, gone, gone!

Phil. O, well, I'll come again. Lord Cardinal,
Take you the castle, I'll to Portugal.
I vow I'll come again, and if I do——

Car. Nay, good my lord.

Phil. Black devil, I'll conjure you.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

To the Friars making a noise, gagged and bound, enter Eleazar, Zarack, Balthazar, and other Moors, all with their swords drawn.

Ele. Guard all the passages. Zarack, stand there;
There Balthazar, there you. The friars?
Where have you plac'd the friars?

~~All. My lord, a noise![59]~~

Bal. The friars are gagg'd and bound.

Ele. 'Tis Philip and the cardinal; shoot:—ha! stay—
Unbind them. Where's Mendoza and the prince?

Cole. Santa Maria, who can tell!
By Peter's keys, they bound us well,
And having crack'd our shaven crowns,
They have escap'd you in our gowns.

Ele. Escap'd! escap'd away! I am glad, it's good;
I would their arms may turn to eagles' wings,
To fly as swift as time. Sweet air, give way:
Winds, leave your two-and-thirty palaces,
And meeting all in one, join all your might
To give them speedy and a prosperous flight.
Escaped, friars! which way?

~~Both. This way.~~

Ele. Good!
Alas, what sin is't to shed innocent blood?
For look you, holy men, it is the king:
The king, the king. See, friars, sulphury wrath
Having once entered into royal breasts,
Mark how it burns. The queen, Philip's mother.
O, most unnatural! will have you two
Divulge abroad that he's a bastard. O,
Will you do it?

~~Crab. What says my brother friar?~~

~~Cole. A prince's love is balm, their wrath is fire.~~

Crab. 'Tis true; but yet I'll publish no such thing;
What fool would lose his soul to please a king?

Ele. Keep there—good, there; yet, for it wounds my soul
To see the miserablest wretch to bleed,
I counsel you, in care unto your lives,
T' obey the mother-queen; for by my life,
I think she has been prick'd [in] her conscience.
O, it has stung her for some fact misdone,
She would not else disgrace herself and son.
Do't therefore; hark! she'll work your deaths else, hate
Bred in woman is insatiate. Do't, friars.

Crab. Brother Cole, zeal sets me in a flame:
I'll do't.

~~Cole. And I: his baseness we'll proclaim.~~

~~[Exeunt Friars.~~

Ele. Do, and be damn'd; Zarack and Balthazar,
Dog them at the heels; and when their poisonous breath
Hath scatter'd this infection on the hearts
Of credulous Spaniards, here reward them thus:

[Points to his sword.

Slaves too much trusted do grow dangerous.
Why this shall feed and fat suspicion
And my policy.
I'll ring through all the court this loud alarum,
That they contriv'd the murder of the king,
The queen, and me; and, being undermin'd,
To 'scape the blowing up, they fled. O, good!
There, there, thou there, cry treason; each one take
A several door; your cries my music make.

Bal. Where is the king? treason pursues him.

Enter Alvero in his shirt, his sword drawn.

Ele. Where is the sleeping queen?
Rise, rise, and arm against the hand of treason.

Alv. Whence comes this sound of treason?

Enter the King in his shirt, his sword drawn.

King. Who frights our quiet slumbers with
This heavy noise?

Enter Queen in her night attire.

Queen-M. Was it a dream, or did the sound
Of monster treason call me from my rest?

~~King. Who rais'd this rumour? Eleazar, you?~~

Ele. I did, my liege, and still continue it,
Both for your safety and mine own discharge.

~~King. Whence comes the ground then?~~

Ele. From the cardinal
And the young prince who, bearing in his mind
The true idea of his late disgrace
In putting him from the protectorship,
And envying the advancement of the Moor,
Determined this night to murder you;
And for your highness lodged within my castle,
They would have laid the murder on my head.

King. The cardinal and my brother! bring them forth:
Their lives shall answer this ambitious practice.

Ele. Alas! my lord, it is impossible;
For when they saw I had discovered them,
They train'd two harmless friars to their lodgings,
Disrob'd them, gagg'd them, bound them to two posts,
And in their habits did escape the castle.

King. The cardinal is all ambition,
And from him doth our brother gather heart.

Queen-M. Th' ambition of the one infects the other,
And, in a word, they both are dangerous:
But might your mother's counsel stand in force,
I would advise you, send the trusty Moor
To fetch them back, before they have seduc'd
The squint-ey'd multitude from true allegiance,
And drawn them to their dangerous faction.

King. It shall be so. Therefore, my state's best prop,
Within whose bosom I durst trust my life,
Both for my safety and thine own discharge,
Fetch back those traitors; and till your return
Ourself will keep your castle.

Ele. My liege, the tongue of true obedience
Must not gainsay his sovereign's impose.
By heaven! I will not kiss the cheek of sleep,
Till I have fetched those traitors to the court!

King. Why, this sorts right: he gone, his beauteous wife
Shall sail into the naked arms of love.

[Aside.

Queen-M. Why, this is as it should be; he once gone,
His wife, that keeps me from his marriage-bed,
Shall by this hand of mine be murdered.

[Aside.

King. This storm is well-nigh past; the swelling clouds
That hang so full of treason, by the wind
In awful majesty are scattered.
Then each man to his rest. Good night, sweet friend!
Whilst thou pursu'st the traitors that are fled,
Fernando means to warm thy marriage-bed.

[Exeunt.

Ele. Many good nights consume and damn your souls!
I know he means to cuckold me this night,
Yet do I know no means to hinder it:
Besides, who knows whether the lustful king,
Having my wife and castle at command,
Will ever make surrender back again?
But if he do not, with my falchion's point
I'll lance those swelling veins, in which hot lust
Does keep his revels; and with that warm blood,
Where Venus' bastard cooled his swelt'ring spleen,
Wash the disgrace from Eleazar's brow.

SCENE VI.

Enter Maria.

~~Maria. Dear Eleazar!~~

Ele. If they lock the gates,
I'll toss a ball of wildfire o'er the walls.

~~Maria. Husband! sweet husband!~~

Ele. Or else swim o'er the moat,
And make a breach th[o]rough the flinty sides
Of the rebellious walls.

~~Maria. Hear me, dear heart.~~

Ele. Or undermine the chamber where they lie,
And by the violent strength of gunpowder
Blow up the castle and th' incestuous couch,
In which lust wallows; but my labouring thoughts,
Wading too deep in bottomless extremes,
Do drown themselves in their own stratagems.

Maria. Sweet husband, dwell not upon circumstance,
When weeping sorrow, like an advocate,
Importunes you for aid; look in mine eye,
There you shall see dim grief swimming in tears,
Invocating succour. O, succour!

Ele. Succour! zounds! for what?

Maria. To shield me from Fernando's unchaste love,
Who with uncessant prayers importun'd me——

Ele. To lie with you! I know't.

~~Maria. Then seek some means how to prevent it.~~

Ele. 'Tis [im]possible:
For, to the end that his unbridled lust
Might have more free access unto thy bed,
This night he hath enjoined me
To fetch back Philip and the cardinal.

Maria. Then this ensuing night shall give an end
To all my sorrows; for before foul lust
Shall soil the fair complexion of mine honour,
This hand shall rob Maria of her life.

Ele. Not so, dear soul; for in extremities
Choose out the least: and ere the hand of death
Should suck this ivory palace of thy life,
Embrace my counsel, and receive this poison
Which, in the instant he attempts thy love,
Then give it him: do, do,
Do poison him. [Aside.] He gone, thou'rt next—
Be sound in resolution, and farewell.
By one and one I'll ship you all to hell.

~~[Aside.]~~

Spain, I will drown thee with thine own proud blood,
Then make an ark of carcases: farewell!
Revenge and I will sail in blood to hell.

[Exit.

Maria. Poison the king! alas! my trembling hand
Would let the poison fall; and through my cheeks
Fear, suited in a bloodless livery,
Would make the world acquainted with my guilt.
But thanks, prevention: I have found a means,
Both to preserve my royal sovereign's life
And keep myself a true and loyal wife.

[Exit.

ACT III., SCENE 1.

Enter Queen-Mother with a torch.

Queen-M. Fair eldest child of love, thou spotless night,
Empress of silence, and the queen of sleep,
Who with thy black cheeks' pure complexion,
Mak'st lovers' eyes enamour'd of thy beauty,
Thou art like my Moor; therefore will I adore thee
For lending me this opportunity,
O, with the soft-skinn'd negro. Heavens, keep back
The saucy staring day from the world's eye,
Until my Eleazar make return:
Then in his castle shall he find his wife
Transform'd into a strumpet by my son:
Then shall he hate her, whom he would not kill;
Then shall I kill her, whom I cannot love.
The king is sporting with his concubine.
Blush not, my boy; be bold like me thy mother.
But their delights torture my soul like devils,
Except her shame be seen: wherefore awake!
Christophero! Roderigo! raise the court;
Arise, you peers of Spain; Alvero, rise;
Preserve your country from base infamies.

Enter at several doors, with lights and rapiers drawn, Alvero, Roderigo, and Christophero, with others.

~~All. Who rais'd these exclamations through the court?~~

Queen-M. Sheathe up your swords; you need not swords, but eyes
To intercept this treason.

Alv. What's the treason?
Who are traitors? ring the larum-bell;
Cry Arm through all the city: once before
The horrid cry of treason did affright
Our sleeping spirits.

Queen-M. Stay;
You need not cry Arm, arm! for this black deed
Works treason to your king, to me, to you,
To Spain, and all that shall in Spain ensue.
This night Maria (Eleazar's wife)
Hath drawn the king by her lascivious looks
Privately to a banquet; I (unseen)
Stood and beheld him in her lustful arms;
O God! shall bastards wear Spain's diadem?
If you can kneel to baseness, vex them not;
If you disdain to kneel, wash off this blot.

Rod. Let's break into the chamber, and surprise her.

Alv. O miserable me! do, do, break in;
My country shall not blush at my child's sin.

Queen-M. Delay is nurse to danger, follow me;
Come you and witness to her villany.

Alv. Hapless Alvero, how art thou undone
In a light daughter and a stubborn son!

~~[Exeunt Omnes.~~

SCENE II.

Enter King, with his rapier drawn in one hand, leading Maria, seeming affrighted, in the other.

~~Maria. O, kill me, ere you stain my chastity.~~

King. My hand holds death; but love sits in mine eye.
Exclaim not, dear Maria; do but hear me.
Though thus in dead of night, as I do now,
The lustful Tarquin stole to the chaste bed
Of Collatine's fair wife, yet shall thou be
No Lucrece, nor thy king a Roman slave,
To make rude villany thine honour's grave.

~~Maria. Why from my bed have you thus frighted me?~~

~~King. To let thee view a bloody horrid tragedy.~~

Maria. Begin it, then; I'll gladly lose my life,
Rather than be an emperor's concubine.

King. By my high birth, I swear thou shalt be none;
The tragedy I'll write with my own hand;
A king shall act it, and a king shall die,
Except sweet mercy's beam shine from thine eye.
If this affright thee, it shall sleep for ever.
If still thou hate me, thus this noble blade
This royal purple temple shall invade.

~~Maria. My husband is from hence: for his sake spare me.~~

King. Thy husband is no Spaniard: thou art one:
So is Fernando; then for country's sake,
Let me not spare thee: on thy husband's face
Eternal night in gloomy shades doth dwell;
But I'll look on thee like the gilded sun,
When to the west his fiery horses run.

Maria. True, here you look on me with sunset eyes,
For by beholding you my glory dies.

King. Call me thy morning then; for, like the morn,
In pride Maria shall through Spain be borne.

[Music plays within.

This music was prepar'd to please thine ears:[60]
Love me, and thou shalt hear no other sounds.

[A banquet brought in.

Lo, here's a banquet set with mine own hands;
Love me, and thus I'll feast thee like a queen.
I might command thee, being thy sovereign;
But love me, and I'll kneel and sue to thee,
And circle this white forehead with the crown
Of Castile, Portugal, and Arragon,
And all those petty kingdoms which do bow
Their tributary knees to Philip's heir.

~~Maria. I cannot love you whilst my husband lives.~~

King. I'll send him to the wars, and in the front
Of some main army shall he nobly die.

~~Maria. I cannot love you if you murder him.~~

King. For thy sake then I'll call a parliament,
And banish by a law all Moors from Spain.

~~Maria. I'll wander with him into banishment.~~

King. It shall be death for any negro's hand
To touch the beauty of a Spanish dame.
Come, come, what needs such cavils with a king?
Night blinds all jealous eyes, and we may play.
Carouse that bowl to me: I'll pledge all this;
Being down, we'll make it more sweet with a kiss.
Begin, I'll lock all doors: begin, Spain's queen:

[Locks the doors.

~~Love's banquet is most sweet when 'tis least seen.~~

Maria. O thou conserver of my honour's life:
Instead of poisoning him, drown him in sleep.
Because I'll quench the flames of wild desire,
I'll drink this off—let fire conquer love's fire.

[Aside.

King. Were love himself in real substance here,
Thus would I drink him down; let your sweet strings
Speak louder: pleasure is but a slave to kings,
In which love swims. Maria, kiss thy king:
Circle me in this ring of ivory;
O, I grow dull, and the cold hand of sleep
Hath thrust his icy fingers in my breast,[61]
And made a frost within me. Sweet, one kiss
To thaw this deadness that congeals my soul.

Maria. Your majesty hath overwatch'd yourself.
He sleeps already—not the sleep of death,
But a sweet slumber, which the powerful drug
Instill'd through all his spirits. O bright day,
Bring home my dear lord ere his king awake,
Else of his unstain'd bed he'll shipwreck make.

[Offers to go.

Enter Oberon, and Fairies dancing before him; and Music with them.

~~Maria. O me! what shapes are these?~~

Ober. Stay, stay, Maria.

~~Maria. My sovereign lord awake, save poor Maria.~~

Ober. He cannot save thee: save that pain;
Before he wake, thou shalt be slain:
His mother's hand shall stop thy breath,
Thinking her own son is done to death:
And she that takes away thy life,
Does it to be thy husband's wife:
Adieu, Maria, we must hence:
Embrace thine end with patience.
Elves and fairies make no stand,
Till you come in fairyland.

[Exeunt dancing and singing.

Maria. Fairies or devils, whatsoe'er you be,
Thus will I hide me from your company.

[Offers to go.

SCENE III.

To her enter Queen-Mother suddenly, with Alvero and Roderigo with rapiers.

Queen-M. Lay hold upon the strumpet! where's the king?
Fernando! son! Ah me! your king is dead!
Lay hands upon the murd'ress.

Maria. Imperious queen,
I am as free from murder as thyself;
Which I will prove, if you will hear me speak.
The king is living.

Rod. If he liv'd, his breath would beat within his breast.

~~Queen-M. The life he leads, Maria, thou shalt soon participate.~~

~~Maria. O father, save me!~~

Alv. Thou'rt no child of mine.
Hadst thou been owner of Alvero's spirit,
Thy heart would not have entertain'd a thought
That had convers'd with murder: yet mine eyes,
Howe'er my tongue wants words, brimful with tears
Entreat her further trial.

Queen-M. To what end?
Here lies her trial; from this royal breast
Hath she stolen all comfort—all the life
Of every bosom in the realm of Spain.

Rod. She's both a traitor and [a] murd'ress.

~~Queen-M. I'll have her forthwith strangled.~~

Alv. Hear her speak.

Queen-M. To heaven let her complain, if she have wrong;
I murder but the murd'ress of my son.

~~All. We murder [but] the murd'ress of our king.[62]~~

Alv. Ah me! my child! O, O, cease your torturing!

Maria. Heaven ope your windows, that my spotless soul,
Riding upon the wings of innocence,
May enter Paradise. Fairies, farewell;
Fernando's death in mine you did foretell.

~~[She dies. King wakes.~~

King. Who calls Fernando? Love—Maria, speak;
O, whither art thou fled? Whence flow these waters,
That fall like winter-storms from the drown'd eyes?

Alv. From my Maria's death.

King. My Maria dead!
Damn'd be the soul to hell that stopp'd her breath.
Maria! O me! who durst murder thee?

Queen-M. I thought my dear Fernando had been dead,
And in my indignation murder'd her.

King. I was not dead, until you murder'd me
By killing fair Maria.

~~Queen-M. Gentle son——~~

King. Ungentle mother, you a deed have done
Of so much ruth, that no succeeding age
Can ever clear you of. O my dear love!
Yet heavens can witness thou wert never mine.
Spain's wonder was Maria.

~~Queen-M. Sweet, have done.~~

King. Have done! for what? For shedding zealous tears
Over the tomb of virtuous chastity?
You cry Have done, now I am doing good;
But cried Do on, when you were shedding blood.
Have you done, mother? Yes, yes, you have done
That which will undo your unhappy son.

Rod. These words become you not, my gracious lord.

King. These words become not me! no more it did
Become you, lords, to be mute standers-by,
When lustful fury ravish'd chastity:
It ill becomes me to lament her death;
But it became you well to stop her breath!
Had she been fair, and not so virtuous,
This deed had not been half so impious.

Alv. But she was fair in virtue, virtuous fair. O me!

King. O me! she was true honour's heir.
Hence, beldam, from my presence! all, fly hence;
You are all murderers. Come, poor innocent,
Clasp thy cold hand in mine; for here I'll lie,
And since I liv'd for her, for her I'll die.

SCENE IV.

Enter Eleazar with a torch, his rapier drawn.

Ele. Bar up my castle gates! fire and confusion
Shall girt these Spanish curs. Was I for this
Sent to raise power against a fugitive?
To have my wife deflower'd? Zounds! where's my wife?
My slaves cry out she's dallying with the king:
Stand by; where is your king? Eleazar's bed
Shall scorn to be an Emperor's brothelry.

~~Queen-M. Be patient, Eleazar; here's the king.~~

Ele. Patience and I am foes. Where's my Maria?

Alv. Here is her hapless corse, that was Maria.

King. Here lies Maria's body, here her grave,
Her dead heart in my breast a tomb shall have.

Ele. Now, by the proud complexion of my cheeks,
Ta'en from the kisses of the amorous sun,
Were he ten thousand kings that slew my love,
Thus should my hand, plum'd with revenge's wings,
Requite mine own dishonour and her death.

~~[Stabs the King.~~

~~Queen-M. Ah me! my son!~~

All. The king is murder'd!
Lay hold on the damn'd traitor.

Ele. In his breast,
That dares but dart a finger at the Moor,
I'll bury this sharp steel, yet reeking warm
With the unchas'd [63] blood of that lecher-king,
That threw my wife in an untimely grave.

Alv. She was my daughter, and her timeless grave
Did swallow down my joys as deep as yours.
But thus——

Ele. But what? Bear injuries that can:
I'll wear no forked crest.

Rod. Damn this black fiend! cry treason through the court:
The king is murder'd.

Ele. He that first opes his lips, I'll drive his words
Down his wide throat upon my rapier's point.
The king is murder'd, and I'll answer it.
I am dishonour'd, and I will revenge it.
Bend not your dangerous weapons at my breast;
Think where you are: this castle is the Moor's;
You are environ'd with a wall of flint,
The gates are lock'd, portcullises let down;
If Eleazar spend one drop of blood,

~~[Zarack and Balthazar above with calivers.[64]]~~

On those high turret-tops my slaves stand arm'd,
And shall confound your souls with murd'ring shot:
Or if you murder me, yet underground
A villain, that for me will dig to hell,
Stands with a burning linstock in his fist,
Who, firing gunpowder, up in the air
Shall fling your torn and mangled carcases.

Queen-M. O, sheathe your weapons: though my son be slain,
Yet save yourselves; choose a new sovereign.

~~All. Prince Philip is our sovereign, choose him king!~~

Ele. Prince Philip shall not be my sovereign.
Philip's a bastard, and Fernando's dead.
Mendoza sweats to wear Spain's diadem:
Philip has sworn confusion to this realm.
They both are up in arms; war's flames do shine
Like lightning in the air. Wherefore, my lords,
Look well on Eleazar; value me,
Not by my sunburnt cheeks, nor by my birth,
But by my loss of blood,
Which I have sacrific'd in Spain's defence.
Then look on Philip and the cardinal;
Look on those gaping curs, whose wide throats
Stand stretch'd wide open like the gates of death,
To swallow you, your country, children, wives.
Philip cries fire and blood: the cardinal
Cries likewise fire and blood. I'll quench those flames.
The Moor cries blood and fire, and that shall burn,
Till Castile, like proud Troy, to cinders turn.

Rod. Lay by these ambages; what seeks the Moor?

Ele. A kingdom, Castile's crown.

Alv. Peace, devil; for shame!

Queen-M. Peace, doating lord, for shame! O misery,
When Indian slaves thirst after empery!
Princes and peers of Spain, we are beset
With horror on each side; [if] you deny him,
Death stands at all our backs: we cannot fly him.
Crown Philip king: the crown upon his head
Will prove a fiery meteor; war and vengeance
And desolation will invade our land.
Besides, Prince Philip is a bastard born.
O, give me leave to blush at mine own shame;
But I, for love to you, love to fair Spain,
Choose rather to rip up a queen's disgrace
Than, by concealing it, to set the crown
Upon a bastard's head: wherefore, my lords,
By my consent, crown that proud blackamoor.
Since Spain's bright glory must so soon grow dim—
Since it must end, let it end all in him.

~~All. Eleazar shall be king!~~

Alv. O treachery!
Have you so soon ras'd out Fernando's love?
So soon forgot the duty of true peers?
So soon, so soon, buried a mother's name,
That you will crown him king that slew your king?

Ele. Will you hear him or me? who shall be king?

~~All. Eleazar shall be Castile's sovereign!~~

Alv. Do, do: make haste to crown him. Lords, adieu:
Here hell must be, when the devil governs you.

[Exit.

Ele. By heaven's great star, which Indians do adore,
But that I hate to hear the giddy world
Shame, that I waded to a crown through blood,
I'd not digest his pills: but since, my lords,
You have chosen Eleazar for your king,
Invest me with a general applause.

~~All. Live, Eleazar, Castile's royal king!~~

Rod. A villain and a base-born fugitive.

~~[Aside.]~~

Chris. A bloody tyrant and usurping slave.

~~[Aside.]~~

Ele. Thanks to you all: 'tis not the Spanish crown
That Eleazar strives for, but Spain's peace.
Amongst you I'll divide her empery:
Christofero shall wear Granada's crown;
To Roderigo I'll give Arragon;
Naples, Navarre, and fair Jerusalem
I'll give to other three; and then our viceroys
Shall shine about our bright Castilian crown,
As stars about the sun. Cry all, arm, arm;
Prince Philip and the cardinal do ride
Like Jove in thunder; in a storm we'll meet them.
Go, levy powers; if any man must fall,
My death shall first begin the funeral.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Enter Zarack and Balthazar, with calivers.

Bal. Is thy cock ready, and thy powder dry?

Zar. My cock stands perching like a cock o' the game, with a red coal for his crest, instead of a comb; and for my powder, 'tis but touch and take.

Bal. I have tickling gear too; anon I'll cry, here I have it, and yonder I see it. But, Zarack, is't policy for us to kill these bald-pates?

Zar. Is't policy for us to save ourselves? If they live, we die. Is't not wisdom then to send them to heaven, rather than be sent ourselves? Come, you black slave, be resolute. This way they come; here they will stand, and yonder will I stand.

Bal. And in yonder hole I.

Zar. Our amiable faces cannot be seen if we keep close; therefore hide your cock's head, lest his burning cock's-comb betray us. But soft; which of the two shall be thy white?[65]

Bal. That black villain friar Cole.

Zar. I shall have a sharp piece of service; friar Crab shall be my man. Farewell, and be resolute.

Bal. Zounds! Zarack, I shall never have the heart to do it.

Zar. You rogue, think who commands—Eleazar. Who shall rise—Balthazar. Who shall die—a lousy friar. Who shall live—our good lord and master, the negro-king of Spain.

Bal. Cole, thou art but a dead man, and shalt turn to ashes.

[Exit.

Zar. Crab, here's that shall make vinegar of thy carcase.

[Exit.

Enter Crab and Cole, two friars, with a rout of stinkards following them.

Crab. Ah! brother, 'tis best so. Now we have drawn them to a head, we'll begin here i' the market-place. Tut, so long as we be commanded by the mother-queen, we'll say her son is a bastard, an' he were ten Philips.

~~Cole. Take you one market-form, I'll take another.~~

~~Crab. No, God's-so',[66] we must both keep one form.~~

~~Cole. Ay, in oration, but not in station. Mount, mount.~~

~~1st Stink. Well, my masters, you know him not so well as I, on my word. Friar Crab is a sour fellow.~~

~~2d Stink. Yet he may utter sweet doctrine, by your leave. But what think you of friar Cole?~~

~~1st Stink. He? all fire: an' he be kindled once, a hot catholic.~~

~~3d Stink. And you mark him, he has a zealous nose, and richly inflamed.~~

~~1st Stink. Peace, you rogues! Now they begin.~~

Crab. Incipe, Frater.

Cole. Non ego, Domine.

Crab. Nec ego.

Cole. Quare?

Crab. Quia?

Cole. Quæso.

~~All. Here's a queasy beginning, methinks. Silence! silence!~~

~~Crab. Brethren, citizens, and market-folks of Seville.~~

~~Cole. Well-beloved and honoured Castilians.~~

~~Crab. It is not unknown to you.~~

~~Cole. I am sure you are not ignorant.~~

~~Crab. How villanous and strong!~~

~~Cole. How monstrous and huge!~~

~~Crab. The faction of Prince Philip is.~~

~~Cole. Philip, that is a bastard.~~

~~Crab. Philip, that is a dastard.~~

~~Cole. Philip, that killed your king.~~

~~Crab. Only to make himself king.~~

~~Cole. And, by Gad's blessed lady, you are all damned, and you suffer it.~~

~~1st Stink. Friar Cole says true: he speaks out to the heat of his zeal: look how he glows!~~

~~2d Stink. Well, friar Crab for my money; he has set my teeth an edge against this bastard.~~

~~1st Stink. O, his words are like vergis to whet a man's stomach.~~

~~All. Silence! silence!~~

~~Crab. Now contrariwise.~~

~~Cole. Your noble king the Moor——~~

~~Crab. Is a valiant gentleman;~~

~~Cole. A noble gentleman;~~

~~Crab. An honourable gentleman;~~

~~Cole. A fair black gentleman.~~

~~Crab. A friend to Castilians,~~

~~Cole. A champion for Castilians,~~

~~Crab. A man fit to be a king.~~

~~Cole. If he were not borne down by him that would be king, who (as I said before) is a bastard, and no king.~~

~~1st Stink. What think you, my masters? Do you mark his words well?~~

~~Crab. Further, compare them together.~~

~~All. S'blood! there's no comparison between them.~~

~~Cole. Nay, but hear us, good countrymen.~~

~~All. Hear friar Cole! hear friar Cole!~~

~~Cole. Set [67] that bastard and Eleazar together.~~

~~1st Stink. How? mean you by the ears?~~

~~Crab. No, but compare them.~~

~~Cole. Do but compare them.~~

~~2d Stink. Zounds! we say again, comparisons are odious.~~

~~1st Stink. But say on, say on.~~

[Pieces go off; friars die.

~~All. Treason! treason! every man shift for himself. This is Philip's treason. Arm, arm, arm!~~

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Enter Eleazar, Zarack, and Balthazar.

Ele. Zarack and Balthazar, are they despatch'd?

Zar. We saw 'em sprawl, and turn up the white of the eye.

Ele. So shall they perish that lay countermines
To cross our high designments: by their habits
The cardinal and Philip 'scap'd our nets,
And by your hands they tasted our revenge.

Enter Queen-Mother.

Here comes the queen; away! under our wings
You shall stand safe, and brave the proudest kings.

[Exeunt.

Queen-M. O, fly, my Eleazar; save thy life,
Else 'point a guard about thee; the mad people,
Tempestuous like the sea, run up and down,
Some crying kill the bastard, some, the Moor;
Some cry, God save King Philip; and some cry,
God save the Moor, some others, he shall die.

Ele. Are these your fears? Thus blow them into air.
I rushed amongst the thickest of their crowds,
And with a countenance majestical,
Like the imperious sun, dispers'd their clouds;
I have perfumed the rankness of their breath,
And by the magic of true eloquence
Transform'd this many-headed Cerberus,
This pied chamelion, this beast multitude,
Whose power consists in number, pride in threats,
Yet melt like snow when majesty shines forth,
This heap of fools who, crowding in huge swarms,
Stood at our court gates like a heap of dung,
Reeking and shouting out contagious breath
Of power to poison all the elements—
This wolf I held by th' ears, and made him tame,
And made them tremble at the Moor's great name:
No, we must combat with a grimmer foe;
That damn'd Mendoza overturns our hopes.
He loves you dearly.

Queen-M. By his secret letters
He hath entreated me to leave the court,
And fly into his arms.

Ele. The world cannot devise a stratagem
Sooner to throw confusion on his pride.
Subscribe to his desires, and in dead night
Steal to his castle; swear to him his love
Hath drawn you thither; undermine his soul,
And learn what villanies are there laid up;
Then for your pleasure walk to take the air:
Near to the castle I'll in ambush lie,
And seem by force to take you prisoner:
This done, I have a practice (plotted here)
Shall rid him of his life and us of fear.
About it, madam, this is all in all;
We cannot stand, unless Mendoza fall.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV., SCENE 1.

Enter Emanuel, King of Portugal, Prince Philip, Mendoza, Alvero, with drums and soldiers marching.

K. of Port. Poor Spain! how is the body of thy peace
Mangled and torn by an ambitious Moor.
How is thy prince and councillors abus'd,
And trodden under the base foot of scorn.
Wrong'd lords, Emanuel of Portugal partakes
A falling share in all your miseries;
And though the tardy hand of slow delay
Withheld us from preventing your mishaps
Yet shall revenge dart black confusion
Into the bosom of that damned fiend.

Phil. But is it possible our mother-queen
Should countenance his ambition?

Alv. Her advice is as a steersman to direct his course;
Besides, as we by circumstance have learnt,
She means to marry him.

Phil. Then, here upon my knees,
I pluck allegiance from her; all that love,
Which by innative duty I did owe her,
Shall henceforth be converted into hate.
This will confirm the world's opinion
That I am base-born, and the damned Moor
Had interest in my birth; this wrong alone
Gives new fire to the cinders of my rage;
I may be well transform'd from what I am,
When a black devil is husband to my dam.

K. of Port. Prince, let thy rage give way to patience,
And set a velvet brow upon the face
Of wrinkled anger: our keen swords
Must right these wrongs, and not light airy words.

Phil. Yet words may make the edge of rage more sharp,
And whet a blunted courage with revenge.

Alv. Here's none wants whetting, for our keen resolves
Are steel'd unto the back with double wrongs;
Wrongs that would make a handless man take arms:
Wrongs that would make a coward resolute.

Car. Why, then, join all our several wrongs in one,
And from these wrongs assume a firm resolve
To send this devil to damnation.

[Drums afar off.

Phil. I hear the sound of his approaching march.
Stand fair; Saint Jacques for the right of Spain!

Enter the Moor, Roderigo, Christofero, with drums, colours, and soldiers marching bravely.

Ele. Bastard of Spain!

Phil. Thou true-stamp'd son of hell,
Thy pedigree is written in thy face.

~~[Alarum and a battle; the Moor prevails: all exeunt.~~

SCENE II.

Enter Philip and Cardinal.

Phil. Move forward with your main battalion,
Or else all's lost.

Car. I will not move a foot.

Phil. S'heart! will you lose the day?

Car. You lose your wits,
You're mad; it is no policy.

Phil. You lie.

Car. Lie!

Phil. Lie! a pox upon't, cardinal, come on,
Second the desperate vanguard which is mine,
And where I'll die or win. Follow my sword
The bloody way I lead it, or, by heaven,
I'll play the devil, and mar all! we'll turn our backs
Upon the Moors, and set on thee; ay, thee,
Thee, cardinal! s'heart! thee.

Car. Your desperate arm
Hath almost thrust quite through the heart of hope:
Our fortunes lie a-bleeding by your rash
And violent onset.

Phil. O, O, s'life! s'foot! will you [not] fight?

Car. We will not hazard all upon one cast.

Phil. You will not?

Car. No.

Phil. Coward!

Car. By deeds I'll try.
Whether your venomous tongue says true. Farewell;
Courage shines both in this and policy.

[Exit.

Phil. To save thy skin whole, that's thy policy.
You whoreson fat-chapp'd guts, Ill melt away
That larded body by the heat of fight,
Which I'll compel thee to, or else by flying:
To work which I'll give way to the proud foe.
Whilst I stand laughing to behold you run.
Cardinal, I'll do't, I'll do't; a Moor, a Moor!
Philip cries a Moor! holla! la! whoo!

Enter King of Portugal.

K. of Port. Prince Philip! Philip!

Phil. Here: plague, where's the Moor?

K. of Port. The Moor's a devil: never did horrid fiend,
Compell'd by some magician's mighty charm,
Break through the prisons of the solid earth
With more strange horror than this prince of hell,
This damned negro, lion-like doth rush
Through all, and spite of all knit opposition.

Phil. Puh, puh! where, where?
I'll meet him: where? You mad me!
'Tis not his arm
That acts such wonders, but our cowardice.
This cardinal, O, this cardinal is a slave.

Enter Captain.

Capt. Sound a retreat, or else the day is lost!

Phil. I'll beat that dog to death that sounds retreat.

K. of Port. Philip!

Phil. I'll tear his heart out that dares name that sound.

K. of Port. Sound a retreat.

Phil. Who's that? you tempt my sword, sir;
Continue this alarum, fight pell-mell;
Fight, kill, be damn'd. This fat-back, coward cardinal
Lies heavy on my shoulders; this, ay, this,
Shall fling him off. Sound a retreat? Zounds! you mad me!
Ambition plumes the Moor, whilst black despair,
Offering to tear from him the diadem
Which he usurps, makes him to cry at all,
And to act deeds beyond astonishment.
But Philip is the night that darks his glories:
This sword, yet reeking with his negro's blood,
Being grasp'd by equity and this strong arm,
Shall through and through.

~~All. Away, then!~~

Phil. From before me.
Stay, stand, stand fast: fight. A Moor, a Moor.

SCENE III.

Enter Eleazar, Zarack, Balthazar, Roderigo, Christofero, and others; they fight: Moors are all beat in. Exeunt omnes. Manet Eleazar, weary; a Moor lies slain.

Ele. O, for more work, more souls to post to hell,
That I might pile up Charon's boat so full,
Until it topple o'er! O, 'twould be sport
To see them sprawl through the black slimy lake.
Ha, ha! there's one going thither: sirrah! you,
You slave, who kill'd thee? How he grins! this breast,
Had it been temper'd and made proof like mine,
It never would have been a mark for fools
To hit afar off with their dastard bullets.
But thou didst well; thou knew'st I was thy lord,
And out of love and duty to me here,
Where I fell weary, thou laidst down thyself
To bear me up thus: God-a-mercy, slave,
A king for this shall give thee a rich grave.

As he sits down, enter Philip with a broken sword.

Phil. I'll wear thee to the pommel, but I'll find
The subject of mine honour and revenge.
Moor, 'tis for thee I seek! come, now, now take me
At good advantage. Speak! where art thou?

Ele. Here!

Phil. Fate and revenge, I thank you. Rise!

Ele. Leave and live.

Phil. Villain, it is Philippo that bids rise.

Ele. It had been good for thee to have hid thy name;
For the discovery, like to a dangerous charm,
Hurts him that finds it. Wherefore do those bloodhounds,
Thy rage and valour, chase me?

Phil. Why? to kill thee.

Ele. With that? what, a blunt axe! Think'st thou, I'll let
Thy fury take a full blow at this head,
Having these arms? Be wise, go change thy weapon.

Phil. O sir!

Ele. I'll stay thy coming.

Phil. Thou'lt be damn'd first.

Ele. By all our Indian gods——

Phil. Puh! never swear.
Thou know'st 'tis for a kingdom which we fight,
And for that who'll not venture to hell-gates?
Come, Moor, I'm arm'd with more than complete steel—
The justice of my quarrel: when I look
Upon my father's wrongs, my brother's wounds,
My mother's infamy, Spain's misery,
And lay my finger here; O, 'tis too dull
To let out blood enough to quench them all.
But when I see your face, and know what fears
Hang on thy troubled soul, like leaden weights,
To make it sink, I know this finger's touch
Has strength to throw thee down; I know this iron
Is sharp and long enough to reach that head.
Fly not, devil; if thou do——

Ele. How? fly? O, base!

Phil. Come then.

Ele. Stay, Philip; whosoe'er begat thee——

Phil. Why, slave, a king begat me.

Ele. May be so;
But I'll be sworn thy mother was a queen;
For her sake will I kill thee nobly.
Fling me thy sword; there's mine. I scorn to strike
A man disarm'd.

Phil. For this dishonouring me,
I'll give thee one stab more.

Ele. I'll run away,
Unless thou change that weapon, or take mine.

Phil. Neither.

Ele. Farewell.

Phil. S'heart! stay; and if you dare,
Do as I do, oppose thy naked breast
Against this poniard; see! here's this for thine.

Ele. I am for thee, Philip.

Phil. Come, nay, take more ground,
That with a full career thou may'st strike home.

Ele. Thou'lt run away then?

Phil. Ha!

Ele. Thou'lt run away then?

Phil. Faith I will; but first on this I'll bear
Thy panting heart, thy head upon thy spear.

Ele. Come.

Enter Cardinal and King of Portugal on the one, and Moors on the other side.

Car. Side, upon the Moors.

~~1st Moor. Side, upon the cardinal.~~

Phil. Hold, cardinal; strike not any of our side.

Ele. Hold, Moors; strike not any of our side.

Phil. We two will close this battle.

Ele. Come, agreed.
Stand, armies, and give aim, whilst we two bleed.

Car. With poniards! 'tis too desperate, dear Philip.

Phil. Away! have at the Moor! s'heart! let me come.

King of P. Be arm'd with manly weapons: 'tis for slaves
To dig their own and such unworthy graves.

Ele. I am for thee any way: thus or, see, thus;
Here try the vigour of thy sinewy arm.
The day is ours already; brainless heads
And bleeding bodies, like a crown, do stand
About the temples of our victory.
Yet, Spaniards, if you dare, we'll fight it out
Thus, man to man alone. I'll first begin
And conquer, or in blood wade up to the chin.

Phil. Let not a weapon stir but his and mine.

Ele. Nor on this side; conquest in blood shall shine.

[Alarum; they fight, the Moor is struck down, which his side seeing, step all in and rescue him; the rest join, and drive in the Moors. Alarum continuing, Spaniards and Moors, with drums and colours, fly over the stage, pursued by Philip, Cardinal, King of Portugal, and others.

Enter Zarack, Christofero, and Eleazar, at several doors.

Chris. Where is my lord?

Zar. Where is my sovereign?

Ele. What news brings Zarack and Christofero?

Zar. O, fly, my lords, fly, for the day is lost!

Ele. There are three hundred and odd days in a year,
And cannot we lose one of them? come, fight.

Chris. The lords have left us, and the soldiers faint;
You are round-beset with proud fierce enemies;
Death cannot be prevented but by flight.

Ele. He shall, Christofero. I have yet left
One stratagem that, in despite of fate,
Shall turn the wheel of war about once more.
The mother-queen hath all this while sat sadly
Within our tent, expecting to whose bosom
White-winged peace and victory will fly:
Her have I us'd as a fit property
To stop this dangerous current; her have I sent,
Arm'd with love's magic, to enchant the cardinal,
And bind revenge down with resistless charms;
By this time does she hang about his neck,
And by the witchcraft of a cunning kiss
Has she disarm'd him. Hark! they sound retreat;
She has prevail'd; a woman's tongue and eye
Are weapons stronger than artillery.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Enter Cardinal, Queen-Mother, Soldiers, drums and colours.

Queen-M. By all those sighs which thou, like passionate tunes,
Hast often to my dull ears offered,
By all thy hopes to enjoy my royal bed,
By all those mourning lines which thou hast sent,
Weeping in black, to tell thy languishment;
By love's best, richest treasure, which I swear
I will bestow, and which none else shall wear,
As the most prized jewel, but thyself;
By that bright fire which, flaming through thine eyes,
From thy love-scorched bosom does arise,
I do conjure thee, let no churlish sound,
With war's lewd horror my desires confound.
Dear, dear Mendoza; thus I do entreat,
That still thou wouldst continue this retreat;
I'll hang upon thee, till I hear thee say,
Woman, prevail; or chiding, cri'st Away.

Car. Is there no trick in this, forg'd by the Moor?

Queen-M. I would the Moor's damnation were the ransom
Of all the innocent blood that has been shed
In this black day: I care not for the Moor;
Love to my kingdom's peace makes me put on
This habit of a suppliant; shall I speed?

Car. You shall, were it to have my bosom bleed;
I have no power to spare the negro's head,
When I behold the wounds which his black hand
Has given mine honour: but when I look on you,
I have no power to hate him; since your breath
Dissolves my frozen heart, being spent for him;
In you my life must drown itself or swim.
You have prevail'd: drum, swiftly hence; call back
Our fierce-pursuing troops, that run to catch
The laurel wreath of conquest: let it stand
Awhile untouch'd by any soldier's hand.

[Exit drum.

Away! stay you and guard us. Where's the Moor?
I'll lose what I have got, a victor's prize,
Yielding myself a prisoner to your eyes.

Queen-M. Mine eyes shall quickly grant you liberty.
The Moor stays my return; I'll put on wings,
And fetch him; to make peace belongs to kings.

As she goes out, enter Eleazar, Zarack, Balthazar, and Soldiers well armed; at sight of each other, all draw.

Car. Soldiers, call back the drum: we are betray'd.

Ele. Moors, stand upon your guard; avoid, look back.

Queen-M. What means this jealousy? Mendoza, Moor,
Lay by your weapons and embrace; the sight
Of this and this begets suspicion.
Eleazar, by my birth, he comes in peace:
Mendoza, by mine honour, so comes he.

Car. Discharge these soldiers then.

Ele. And these.

[Soldiers stand aloof.

Car. Away!

Ele. Go!

~~Queen-M. Soul, rejoice, to see this glorious day.~~

[She joins them together; they embrace.

Car. Your virtues work this wonder. I have met
At her most dear command: what's your desires?

Ele. Peace and your honour'd arms: how loathingly
I sounded the alarums, witness heaven.
'Twas not to strike your breast, but to let out
The rank blood of ambition. That Philip
Makes you his ladder, and being climb'd so high
As he may reach a diadem, there you lie.
He's base-begotten,—that's his mother's sin.

~~Queen-M. God pardon it.~~

Ele. Ah! amen. But he's a bastard,
And rather than I'll kneel to him, I'll saw
My legs off by the thighs, because I'll stand
In spite of reverence: he's a bastard, he's!
And to beat down his usurpation
I have thrown about this thunder: but, Mendoza,
The people hate him for his birth;
He only leans on you, you are his pillar;
You gone, he walks on crutches, or else falls.
Then shrink from under him; are not they
Fools that, bearing others up, themselves seem low,
Because they above sit high; why, you do so.

Car. 'Tis true.

~~Queen-M. Behold this error with fix'd eyes.~~

Car. 'Tis true. Well?

Ele. O, have you found it? Have you smelt
The train of powder that must blow you up,
Up into air? What air? Why this, a breath;
Look you; in this time may a king meet death.
[Have] an eye to't, check it, check it.

Car. How?

Ele. How? thus—
Steal from the heat of that incestuous blood,
Where ravish'd honour and Philippo lies;
Leave him; divide this huge and monstrous body
Of armed Spaniards into limbs thus big:
Part man from man, send every soldier home;
I'll do the like: peace with an olive branch
Shall fly with dovelike wings about all Spain;
The crown, which I as a good husband keep,
I will lay down upon the empty chair;
Marry you the queen, and fill it: for my part,
These knees are yours, sir.

Car. Is this sound?

Ele. From my heart.

Car. If you prove false——

Ele. If I do, let fire fall——

Car. Amen.

Ele. Upon thy head [Aside]; and so it shall.

Car. All of myself is yours; soldiers, begone.

Ele. And that way you.

Car. The rest I will divide:
The lords shall be convented.

Ele. Good.

Car. Let's meet.

~~Queen-M. Where?~~

Ele. Here anon: this [Aside] is thy winding-sheet.

[Exit Cardinal. The Moor walks up and down musing.

Queen-M. What shape will this prodigious womb bring forth,
Which groans with such strange labour?

Ele. Excellent!

Queen-M. Why, Eleazar, art thou rapt with joys,
Or does thy sinking policy make to shore?

Ele. Ha!

~~Queen-M. Eleazar, madman! hear'st thou, Moor?~~

Ele. Well so; you turn my brains; you mar the face
Of my attempts i' the making; for this chaos,
This lump of projects, ere it be lick'd over,
'Tis like a bear's conception; stratagems,
Being but begot and not got out, are like
Charg'd cannons not discharg'd—they do no harm
Nor good. True policy, breeding in the brain,
Is like a bar of iron, whose ribs being broken
And soften'd in the fire, you then may forge it
Into a sword to kill, or to a helmet to defend,
Life. 'Tis therefore wit to try all fashions,
Ere you apparel villany. But—but
I ha' suited him; fit, fit, O, fit!

~~Queen-M. How, prythee, how?~~

Ele. Why, thus;—yet, no;—let's hence
My heart is nearest of my council, yet
I scarce dare trust my heart with't; what I do,
It shall look old the hour wherein 'tis born;
Wonders twice seen are garments overworn.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Enter Cardinal at one door; Philippo half-armed, and two Soldiers following him with the rest of the armour; the Cardinal, seeing him, turns back again.

Phil. Sirrah! you, cardinal! coward! run away!
So ho, ho! what, cardinal!

Car. I am not for your lure.

[Exit.

Phil. For that then, O, [Touching his sword] that it had nail'd thy heart
Up to the pommel to the earth; come, arm me.
Ha! 'sfoot! when all our swords were royally gilt with blood,
When with red sweat, that trickled from our wounds,
We had dearly earn'd a victory; when hell
Had from their hinges heav'd off her iron gates,
To bid the damn'd Moor and the devils enter,
Then to lose all, then to sound base retreat;
Why, soldiers, ha!

~~1st Sol. I am glad of it, my lord.~~

Phil. Ha, glad! art glad I am dishonoured,
That thou and he [have me] dishonoured?

1st Sol. Why, my lord,
I am glad that you so cleanly did come off.

Phil. Thou hast a lean face and a carrion heart;
A plague on him and thee too: then, 'sheart! then
To crack the very heart-strings of our army—
To quarter it in pieces—I could tear my hair,
And in cursing spend my soul;
Cardinal! what, Judas! come, we'll fight,
Till there be left but one; if I be he,
I'll die a glorious death.

~~1st Sol. So will I, I hope, in my bed.~~

~~[Aside.]~~

2d Sol. Till there be but one left, my lord? Why, that's now; for all our fellows are crawled home; some with one leg, some ne'er an arm, some with their brains beaten out, and glad they 'scaped so.

Phil. But, my dear countrymen, you'll stick to me?

~~1st Sol. Stick! ay, my lord, stick like bandogs, till we be pulled off.~~

Phil. That's nobly said: I'll lead you but to death,
Where I'll have greatest share; we shall win fame
For life, and that doth crown a soldier's name.

~~1st Sol. How! to death, my lord? Not I, by Gad's-lid: I have a poor wife and children at home, and, if I die, they beg: and do you think I'll see her go up and down the wide universal world?~~

Phil. For every drop of blood which thou shalt lose,
Coward, I'll give thy wife a wedge of gold.

~~2d Sol. Hang him, meacock! my lord, arm yourself; I'll fight for you, till I have not an eye to see the fire in my touch-hole.~~

Phil. Be thou a king's companion; thou and I
Will dare the cardinal and the Moor to fight
In single combat; shall we, ha?

2d Sol. Agreed.

Phil. We'll beat'm to hell-gate; shall we, ha?

2d Sol. Hell-gate's somewhat too hot, somewhat too hot; the porter's a knave: I'd be loth to be damned for my conscience; I'll knock any body's costard, so I knock not there, my lord; hell-gates!

Phil. A pox upon such slaves!

1st Sol. Hang him, a peasant! my lord, you see I am but a scrag; my lord, my legs are not of the biggest, nor the least, nor the best that e'er were stood upon—nor the worst; but they are of God's making; and for your sake, if ever we put our enemies to flight again, by Gad's-lid, if I run not after them like a tiger, hough [68] me.

Phil. But wilt thou stand to't ere they fly, ha, wilt thou?

~~1st Sol. Will I, quoth-a! by this hand and the honour of a soldier.~~

Phil. And by a soldier's honour I will load thee
With Spanish pistolets: to have this head,
Thy face, and all thy body stuck with scars,
Why 'tis a sight more glorious than to see
A lady hung with diamonds. If thou lose
A hand, I'll send this after; if an arm,
I'll lend thee one of mine; come then, let's fight.
A mangled, lame, true soldier is a gem
Worth Cæsar's empire, though fools spurn at them.

1st Sol. Yet, my lord, I have seen lame soldiers not worth the crutches they leant upon; hands and arms, quoth-he! Zounds! not I. I'll double my files, or stand sentry, or so; but I'll be hanged and quartered, before I'll have my members cut off.

2d Sol. And I too: hold thee there.

Phil. Hold you both there; away, you rogues, you dirt!

[Beats them both in.

Thus do I tread upon you; out, begone!
One valiant is an host: fight then alone.

Enter Cardinal, Alvero, Christofero, and Soldiers.

Car. Prince Philip.

Phil. For the crown of Spain, come all.

Car. We come in love and peace.

Phil. But come in war;
Bring naked swords, not laurel boughs, in peace!
Plague on your rank peace! will you fight and cry,
Down with the Moor? and then I'm yours; I'll die.
I have a heart, two arms, a soul, a head;
I'll lay that down; I'll venture all—'sfoot, all!
Come, tread upon me, so that Moor may fall.

Car. By heaven, that Moor shall fall.

Phil. Thy hand and thine.

[Flings down his weapons.

Give me but half your hearts, you have all mine;
By heaven, shall he fall?

Car. Yes, upon thee,
Like to the ruins of a tower, to grind
Thy body into dust. Traitor and bastard,
I do arrest thee of high treason.

Phil. Ha!
Traitor and bastard! and by thee? my weapons!

Car. Lay hands upon him!

Phil. Ah! you're best do so.

Car. Alvero, there's the warrant; to your hands
The prisoner is committed. Lords, let's part:
Look to him, on your life.

[Exeunt Cardinal, &c.

Manent Philip and Alvero.

Phil. Heart! heart! heart! heart!

[Tears the warrant.

The devil and his dam, the Moor and my mother,
Their warrant I will not obey: old greybeard,
Thou shalt not be my jailer; there's no prison,
No dungeon deep enough, no grates so strong,
That can keep in a man so mad with wrong.
What, dost thou weep?

Alv. I would fain shed a tear,
But from mine eyes so many show'rs are gone;
Grief drinks my tears so fast, that here's not one.
You must to prison.

Phil. Dost thou speak to me?

Alv. You must to prison.

Phil. And from thence to death.
I thought I should have had a tomb hung round
With tatter'd colours, broken spears; I thought
My body should have fallen down full of wounds;
But one can kill an emperor, fool; then why
Wouldst thou have many? Curse, be mad, and die.

[Exeunt.

ACT V., SCENE 1.

Enter Roderigo and Christofero, two bare-headed before them; Cardinal alone; Zarack and Balthazar bearing the crown on a cushion; Eleazar next; Queen-Mother after him; other Lords after her; Alvero, sad, meets them.

Car. Alvero, 'tis the pleasure of the king,
Of the queen-mother, and these honoured states,
To ease you of Philippo; there's a warrant
Sent to remove him to a stronger guard.

Alv. I thank you; you shall rid me of much care.

Ele. Sit down, and take your place.

Alv. If I might have the place I like best,
It should be my grave.

~~[Sits down. The Moors stand aside with the crown: Eleazar, rising, takes it.~~

Ele. Stand in voice-reach, away!

~~Both Moors. We are gone.~~

[Exeunt.

Ele. Princes of Spain, if in this royal court
There sit a man that, having laid his hold
So fast on such a jewel, and dare wear it
In the contempt of envy, as I dare,
Yet uncompell'd (as freely as poor pilgrims
Bestow their prayers) would give such wealth away;
Let such a man step forth; what, do none rise?
No, no, for kings indeed are deities;
And who'd not (as the sun) in brightness shine?
To be the greatest is to be divine.
Who, among millions, would not be the mightiest,
To sit in godlike state: to have all eyes
Dazzled with admiration, and all tongues
Shouting loud prayers: to rob every heart
Of love: to have the strength of every arm:
A sovereign's name? why, 'tis a sovereign charm
This glory roundabout me hath thrown beams:
I have stood upon the top of fortune's wheel,
And backward turn'd the iron screw of fate.
The destinies have spun a silken thread
About my life; yet, noble Spaniards, see
Hoc tantum tanti, thus I cast aside
The shape of majesty, and on my knee

~~[Kneels: the Cardinal fetches the crown, and sets it on the chair.~~

To this imperial state lowly resign
This usurpation: wiping off your fears,
Which stuck so hard upon me; let a hand,
A right and royal hand, take up this wreath,
And guard it; right is of itself most strong;
No kingdom got by cunning can stand long.

Car. Proceed to new election of a king.

~~All. Agreed.~~

Ele. Stay, peers of Spain: if young Philippo
Be Philip's son, then is he Philip's heir;
Then must his royal name be set in gold;
Philip is then the diamond to that ring.
But if he be a bastard, here's his seat,
For baseness has no gall, till it grow great.
First, therefore, let him blood, if he must bleed,
Yet in what vein you strike him, best take heed;
The Portugal's his friend; you saw he came,
At holding up a finger, arm'd: this peace
Rid hence his dangerous friendship; he's at home.
But when he hears that Philip is tied up.
Yet hears not why, he'll catch occasion's lock,
And on that narrow bridge make shift to lead
A scrambling army through the heart of Spain:
Look to't; being in, he'll hardly out again.
Therefore first prove and then proclaim him bastard.

Alv. How shall we prove it?

Ele. He that put him out to making,
I am sure can tell; if not,
Then she that shap'd him can: here's the queen-mother,
Being prick'd in conscience, and preferring Spain
Before her own respect, will name the man.
If he be noble, and a Spaniard born,
He'll hide th' apparent scars of their infamies
With the white hand of marriage; that and time
Will eat the blemish off: say, shall it?

~~All. No.~~

Car. Spaniard or Moor, the saucy slave shall die.

Hor. Death is too easy for such villany.

Ele. Spaniard or Moor, the saucy slave shall die?
I would he might; I know myself am clear,
As is the new-born infant. Madam, stand forth.
Be bold to speak: shame in the grave wants sense,
Heaven with sin's greatest forfeits can dispense.

Queen-M. Would I were cover'd with the veil of night,
You might not see red shame sit on my cheeks;
But being Spain's common safety stands for truth,
Hiding my weeping eyes, I blush and say,
Philippo's father sits here.

Rod. Here! name him.

Queen-M. The Lord Mendoza did beget that son;
O, let not this dishonour further run.

Alv. What, Cardinal Mendoza?

~~Queen-M. Yes, yes, even he.~~

Ele. Spaniard or Moor, the saucy slave shall die.

Car. I Philip's father?

[Comes down, the rest talk.

Queen-M. Nay, deny me not;
Now may a kingdom and my love be got.

Car. Those eyes and tongue bewitch me, shame lie here;
That love has sweetest taste that is bought dear.

Chris. What answers Lord Mendoza to the queen?

Car. I confess guilty, Philip is my son;
Her majesty hath nam'd the time and place.

Alv. To you, but not to us; go forward, madam.

Queen-M. Within the circle of twice ten years since,
Your deceas'd king made war in Barbary,
Won Tunis, conquer'd Fez, and hand to hand
Slew great Abdela, King of Fez, and father
To that Barbarian prince.

Ele. I was but young, but now methinks
I see my father's wounds: poor Barbaria!
No more—

Queen-M. In absence of my lord, mourning his want,
To me alone, being in my private walk—
I think at Salamanca:—yes, 'twas there;
Enters Mendoza, under show of shrift,[69]
Threatens my death if I denied his lust;
In fine, by force he won me to his will:
I wept, and cried for help, but all in vain.
Mendoza there abus'd the bed of Spain.

Ele. Spaniard or Moor, that saucy slave shall die.

Alv. Why did you not complain of this vile act?

Queen-M. Alas! I was alone, young, full of fear,
Bashful and doubtful of my own defame;
Knowing King Philip rash and jealous,
I hid his sins, thinking to hide my shame.

Hor. What says the cardinal?

Car. Such a time there was;
'Tis pass'd: I'll make amends with marriage,
And satisfy with trentals,[70] dirges, prayers,
The offended spirit of the wronged king.

~~[Queen and they talk.~~

Ele. Spaniard or Moor, the saucy slave shall die.
O, 'twould seem best it should be thus, Mendoza;
She to accuse, I urge, and both conclude
Your marriage, like a comic interlude.
Lords, will you hear this hateful sin confess'd,
And not impose upon the ravisher death,
The due punishment? O, it must be so.

Alv. What does the queen desire?

Queen-M. Justice, revenge,
On vile Mendoza for my ravishment.
I kiss the cold earth with my humble knees,
From whence I will not rise, till some just hand
Cast to the ground the traitor cardinal.

~~All. Stand forth, Mendoza.~~

Ele. Swells your heart so high?
Down, lecher; if you will not stand, then lie.

Car. You have betray'd me by my too much trust;
I never did this deed of rape and lust.

Rod. Your tongue confess'd it.

Car. True, I was entic'd.

Ele. Entic'd! do you believe that?

Queen-M. Justice, lords;
Sentence the cardinal for his hateful sin.

Alv. We will assemble all the states of Spain,
And as they judge, so justice shall be done.

Ele. A guard! To prison with the cardinal.

Enter Zarack, Balthazar, and others.

Car. Damn'd slave, my tongue shall go at liberty
To curse thee, ban that strumpet; dogs, keep off.

Ele. Hist, hist! on, on!

~~Queen-M. I cannot brook his sight.~~

Alv. You must to prison, and be patient.

Car. Weep'st thou, Alvero? all struck dumb? My fears
Are that those drops will change to bloody tears.
This woman and this serpent——

~~Queen-M. Drag him hence.~~

Car. Who dares lay hands upon me? Lords of Spain,
Let your swords bail me: this false queen did lie.

Ele. Spaniard or Moor, the saucy slave shall die.

Car. I'll fight thee, damned hellhound, for my life.

Ele. Spaniard or Moor, the saucy slave shall die.

Car. I'll prove upon thy head——

Ele. The slave shall die.

Car. Lords, stop this villain's throat.

Ele. Shall die, shall die.

Car. Hear me but speak.

Ele. Away.

Alv. Words are ill-spent,
Where wrong sits judge; you're arm'd, if innocent.

Car. Well then, I must to prison: Moor, no more.
Heavens, thou art just! Prince Philip I betray'd,
And now myself fall; guile with guile is paid.

[Exit.

Queen-M. Philip being prov'd a bastard, who shall sit
Upon this empty throne?

Ele. Strumpet, not you.

~~Queen-M. Strumpet! and I not sit there, who [shall] then?~~

Ele. Down!
Back! if she touch it, she'll bewitch the chair;
This throne belongs to Isabel the fair.
Bring forth the princess dress'd in royal robes,
The true affecter of Alvero's son,
Virtuous Hortenzo. Lords, behold your queen.

SCENE II.

Enter Isabella in royal robes, and Hortenzo.

~~Queen-M. Thou villain, what intend'st thou, savage slave?~~

Ele. To advance virtue thus, and thus to tread
On lust, on murder, on adultery's head.
Look, lords, upon your sovereign Isabel;
Though all may doubt the fruits of such a womb,
Is she not like King Philip? Let her rule.

~~Queen-M. She rule!~~

Ele. She rule: ay, she.

Queen-M. A child
To sway an empire? I am her protectress;
I'll pour black curses on thy damned head
If thou wrong'st me. Lords, lords!

Ele. Princes of Spain,
Be deaf, be blind; hear not, behold her not;
She kill'd my virtuous wife.

~~Queen-M. He kill'd your king.~~

Ele. 'Twas in my just wrath.

~~Queen-M. 'Twas to get his crown.~~

Ele. His crown! why, here 'tis: thou slew'st my Maria,
To have access to my unstained bed.

~~Queen-M. O heaven!~~

Ele. 'Tis true: how often have I stopp'd
Thy unchaste songs from passing through mine ears.
How oft, when thy luxurious arms have twin'd
About my jetty neck, have I cried out:
Away, those scalding veins burn me—'tis true.

~~Queen-M. Devil, 'tis a lie!~~

Ele. Thou slew'st my sweet Maria;
Alvero, 'twas thy daughter, 'twas; Hortenzo,
She was thy sister; justice, Isabella;
This serpent poison'd thy dear father's bed,
Setting large horns on his imperial head.

~~Queen-M. Hear me!~~

Ele. Ha, why?

Alv. Madam, you shall be heard
Before the courts, before the courts of Spain.

Ele. A guard! a guard!

~~Enter two Moors and others.~~

~~Queen-M. A guard! for what? for whom?~~

Hor. To wait on you;
So many great sins must not wait with few.

~~Queen-M. Keep me in prison! dare you, lords?~~

Alv. O no!
Were your cause strong, we would not arm you so;
But honour fainting needeth many hands;
Kingdoms stand safe when mischief lies in bands.
You must to prison.

[Exeunt.

Queen-M. Must I! must I! Slave,
I'll damn thee, ere thou triumph'st o'er my grave.

[Exit with a guard.

SCENE III.

Manet Eleazar.

Ele. Do, do, my jocund spleen
It does, it will, it shall. I have at one throw
Rifled away the diadem of Spain;
'Tis gone, and there's no more to set but this
At all. Then, at this last cast, I'll sweep up
My former petty losses, or lose all,
Like to a desperate gamester.

Enter Zarack.

~~Ha, how? fast?~~

Zar. Except their bodies turn to airy spirits,
And fly through windows, they are safe, my lord:
If they can eat through locks and bars of iron,
They may escape; if not, then not.

Ele. O Zarack!
Wit is a thief; there's picklock policy,
To whom all doors fly open; therefore go;
In our name charge the keeper to resign
His office; and if he have tricks of cruelty,
Let him bequeath 'em at his death—for kill him.
Turn all thy body into eyes,
And watch them; let those eyes, like fiery comets,
Sparkle out nothing but the death of kings.
And ah! now thus: thou know'st I did invent
A torturing iron chain.

Zar. O, for necks, my lord?

Ele. Ay; that, that, that; away, and yoke them. Stay,

Enter Balthazar.

Here's Balthazar: go both, teach them to preach
Through an iron pillory. I'll spread a net
To catch Alvero; O, he is old and wise;
They are unfit to live that have sharp eyes.
Hortenzo, Roderigo, to't to't: all
They have supple knees, sleek'd brows, but hearts of gall;
The bitterness shall be wash'd off with blood:
Tyrants swim safest in a crimson flood.

Bal. I come to tell your grace that Isabella
Is with Hortenzo arm in arm at hand;
Zarack and I may kill them now with ease.
Is't done? and then 'tis done.

Zar. Murther thou the man,
And I'll stab her.

Ele. No, I'll speed [71] her myself.
Arm in arm? so, so; look upon this ring;
Whoever brings this token to your hands,
Regard not for what purpose, seize on them,
And chain them to the rest: they come—away!
Murder, be proud; and, tragedy, laugh on,
I'll seek a stage for thee to jet [72] upon.

Enter Isabella and Hortenzo; seeing the Moor, they turn back.

Ele. My lord, my Lord Hortenzo.

Hor. Ah, is't you?
Trust me, I saw you not.

Ele. What makes your grace so sad?

Hor. She grieves for the imprison'd queen her mother
And for Philippo; in the sandy heap
That wait upon an hour, there are not found
So many little bodies, as those sighs
And tears which she hath every minute spent,
Since her lov'd brother felt imprisonment.

Ele. Pity, great pity; would it lay in me
To give him liberty.

Isa. It does.

Ele. In me!
Free him, your mother-queen and cardinal too.
In me? alas! not me; no, no, in you!
Yet, for I'll have my conscience white and pure,
Here, madam, take this ring; and if my name
Can break down castle-walls and open gates,
Take it, and do't; fetch them all forth,—and yet
'Tis unfit you should go.

Hor. That happy office I'll execute myself.

Ele. Will you? Would I
Stood gracious in their sight! Well, go:
Do what you will: Hortenzo, if this charm
Unbinds them, here 'tis: lady, you and I
Aloof will follow him, and when we meet,
Speak for me, for I'll kiss Philippo's feet.

Hor. I shall be proud to see all reconcil'd.

[Exit.

Ele. Alas, my lord! why, true; go, go.

Isa. Make haste, dear love.

Ele. Hortenzo is a man
Compos'd of sweet proportion; has a foot,
A leg, a hand, a face, an eye, a wit—
The best, Hortenzo, in the Spanish court.
O, he's the nonpareil.

Isa. Your tongue had wont
To be more sparing in Hortenzo's praise.

Ele. Ah! I may curse his praises, rather ban
Mine own nativity: why did this colour
Dart in my flesh so far! O, would my face
Were of Hortenzo's fashion; else would yours
Were as black as mine is.

Isa. Mine like yours? why?

Ele. Hark,
I love you; yes, faith, I said this—I love you.
I do—leave him.

Isa. Damnation! vanish from me.

Ele. Coy!
Were you as hard as flint, O, you should yield
Like soften'd wax; were you as pure as fire,
I'd touch you; yes, I'll taint you: see you this?
I'll bring you to this lure.

Isa. If I want hands
To kill myself, before thou dost it, do.

Ele. I'll cut away your hands. Well, my desire
Is raging as the sea, and mad as fire.
Will you?

Isa. Torment me not, good devil.

Ele. Will you.

Isa. I'll tear mine eyes out, if they tempt thy lust.

Ele. Do.

Isa. Touch me not; these knives——

Ele. Ha, ha! kill yourself,
Because I jest with you! I wrong Hortenzo.
Settle your thoughts, 'twas but a trick to try
That which few women have, true constancy.

Isa. If then my speeches taste of gall——

Ele. Nay, faith,
You are not bitter; no; you should have rail'd,
Have spit upon me, spurn'd me; you're not bitter:
Why, do you think that I would nurse a thought,
To hurt your honour? If that thought had brains,
I'd beat them out. But come; by this Hortenzo
Is fast.

Isa. Ha! fast?

Ele. Ay, fast—in Philip's arms;
Wrestling together for the prize of love;
By this they're on the way: I'll be your guard;
Come, follow me; I'll lead you in the van,
Where [Aside] thou shalt see four chins upon one chain.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

~~Hortenzo, Queen-Mother, Cardinal, and Philip, chained by the necks. Zarack and Balthazar busy about fastening Hortenzo.~~

Hor. You damned ministers of villany,
Sworn to damnation by the book of hell;
You maps of night, you element of devils,
Why do you yoke my neck with iron chains?

Bal. Many do borrow chains, but you have this
Gratis for nothing.

Car. Slaves, unbind us.

~~Both. No.~~

[Exeunt the two Moors.

Phil. I am impatient; veins, why crack you not,
And tilt your blood into the face of heaven,
To make red clouds, like ensigns in the sky,
Displaying a damn'd tyrant's cruelty!
Yet can I laugh in my extremest pangs
Of blood and spirit to see the cardinal
Keep rank with me, and my vile mother-queen,
To see herself where she would have me seen.
Good fellowship, i' faith!

Hor. And I can tell,
True misery loves a companion well.

Phil. Thou left'st me to the mercy of a Moor
That hath damnation dyed upon his flesh;
'Twas well; thou, mother, didst unmotherly
Betray thy true son to false bastardy;
Thou left'st me then: now thou art found and staid,
And thou, who didst betray me, art betray'd.
A plague upon you all!

Car. Thou cursest them
Whom I may curse: first, may I curse myself,
Too credulous of loyalty and love;
Next may I curse the Moor, more than a devil;
And last thy mother, mother of all evil.

Queen-M. All curses and all crosses light on thee!
What need I curse myself, when all curse me?
I have been deadly impious, I confess:
Forgive me, and my sin will seem the less.
This heavy chain, which now my neck assaults,
Weighs ten times lighter than my heavy faults.

Phil. Hortenzo, I commend myself to thee;
Thou that are near'st, stand'st furthest off from me.

Hor. That mould of hell, that Moor, has chain'd me here;
'Tis not myself, but Isabel I fear.

SCENE V.

Enter Eleazar, Isabella, Zarack, and Balthazar.

Ele. It's strange!
Will not Prince Philip come with Hortenzo?

Zar. He swears he'll live and die there.

Ele. Marry, and shall.

~~[Aside.~~

I pray, persuade him, you, to leave the place.
A prison! why, it's hell. 'Las, here they be!
Ha! they are they, i' faith; see, see, see, see.

~~All. Moor, devil, toad, serpent!~~

Ele. O sweet airs, sweet voices!

Isa. O my Hortenzo!

Ele. Do not these birds sing sweetly, Isabella?
O, how their spirits would leap aloft and spring,
Had they their throats at liberty to sing!

Phil. Damnation dog thee!

Car. Furies follow thee!

~~Queen-M. Comets confound thee!~~

Hor. And hell swallow thee!

Ele. Sweeter and sweeter still. O harmony!
Why, there's no music like to misery.

Isa. Hast thou betrayed me thus?

Ele. Not I, not I.

Phil. Sirrah hedgehog.

Ele. Ha! I'll hear thee presently.

Isa. Hear me then, hellhound; slaves, unchain my love,
Or by——

Ele. By what? Is't not rare walking here?
Methinks this stage shows like a tennis-court;
Does it not, Isabel? I'll show thee how—
Suppose that iron chain to be the line,
The prison-doors the hazard, and their heads,
Scarce peeping o'er the line, suppose the balls!
Had I a racket now of burnish'd steel,
How smoothly could I bandy every ball
Over this globe of earth, win set, and all.

Phil. How brisk the villain jets in villany!

Ele. Prating! he's proud because he wears a chain:
Take it off, Balthazar, and take him hence.

[They unbind him.

Phil. And whither then, you dog?

Isa. Pity my brother.

Ele. Pity him! no; away!

Phil. Ay, come, do come.[73] I pray thee kill me: come.

Ele. I hope to see
Thy own hands do that office. Down with him!

Phil. Is there another hell?

~~Two Moors. Try, try; he's gone.~~

Ele. So him next, he next, and next him; and then——

~~All. Worse than damnation! fiend, monster of men!~~

Ele. Why, when! Down, down!

Car. Slave, as thou thrust me down
Into this dungeon, so sink thou to hell.

~~Queen-M. Amen, amen.~~

Ele. Together so; and you—

Isa. O, pity my Hortenzo!

Hor. Farewell, my Isabel; my life, adieu.

~~All. Mischief and horror let the Moor pursue!~~

Ele. A concert! that amain;[74] play that amain;
Amain, amain. No; so soon fallen asleep!
Nay, I'll not lose this music; sirrah, sirrah,
Take thou a drum, a trumpet thou; and hark,
Mad them with villanous sounds.

Zar. Rare sport; let's go.

~~[Exeunt Zarack and Balthazar.~~

Ele. About it: music will do well in woe.
How like you this?

Isa. Set my Hortenzo free,
And I'll like anything.

Ele. A fool, a fool.
Hortenzo free! why, look you, he free! no;
Then must he marry you; you must be queen,
He in a manner king; these dignities,
Like poison, make men swell; this ratsbane honour,
O, 'tis so sweet! they'll lick it, till all burst:
He will be proud; and pride, you know, must fall.
Come, come, he shall not; no, no, 'tis more meet
To keep him down safe standing on his feet.

Isa. Eleazar!

Ele. Mark, the imperial chair of Spain
Is now as empty as a miser's alms:
Be wise, I yet dare sit in't; it's for you,
If you will be for me; there's room for two.
Do—meditate—muse on't: its best for thee
To love me, live with me, and lie with me.

Isa. Thou know'st I'll first lie in the arms of death.
My meditations are how to revenge
Thy bloody tyrannies. I fear thee not,
Inhuman slave, but to thy face defy
Thy lust, thy love, thy barbarous villany.

Ele. Zarack.

Enter Zarack.

Zar. My lord.

Ele. Where's Balthazar?

Zar. A-drumming.

Ele. I have made them rave and curse, and so guard her.
Your court shall be this prison; guard her, slaves,
With open eyes: defy me! see my veins
Struck't out, being overheated with my blood,
Boiling in wrath; I'll tame you.

Isa. Do, do.

Ele. Ha,
I will! and once more fill a kingdom's throne.
Spain, I'll new-mould thee: I will have a chair
Made all of dead men's bones; and the ascents
Shall be the heads of Spaniards set in ranks:
I will have Philip's head, Hortenzo's head,
Mendoza's head, thy mother's head, and this—
This head, that is so cross, I'll have't.
The scene wants actors; I'll fetch more, and clothe it
In rich cothurnal pomp: a tragedy
Ought to be grave: graves this shall beautify.
Moor, execute to th' life my dread commands;
Vengeance, awake, thou hast much work in hand.

[Exit.

Zar. I am weary of this office and this life;
It is too thirsty, and I would your blood
Might 'scape the filling out. By heaven, I swear,
I scorn these blows and his rebukes to bear.

Isa. O Zarack, pity me; I love thee well;
Love deserves pity; pity Isabel.

Zar. What would you have me do?

Isa. To kill this Moor.

Zar. I'll cast an eye of death upon my face;
I'll be no more his slave. Swear to advance me,
And, by yon setting sun, this hand and this
Shall rid you of a tyrant.

Isa. By my birth,
No Spaniard's honour'd place shall equal thine.

Zar. I'll kill him then.

Isa. And Balthazar?

Zar. And he.

Isa. I pray thee, first fetch Philip and Hortenzo
Out of that hell; they two will be most glad
To aid thee in this execution.

Zar. My Lord Philippo and Hortenzo, rise.
Your hands; so, talk to her: at my return
This sword shall reek with blood of Balthazar.

[Exit.

Phil. Three curses (like three commendations
To their souls) I send: thy tortured brother;
Does curse the cardinal, the Moor, thy mother.

Isa. Curse not at all! dear souls, revenge is hot,
And boils in Zarack's brains; the plot is cast
Into the mould of hell: you freemen are:
Zarack will kill the Moor and Balthazar.

Hor. How can that relish?

Isa. I'll tell you how:
I did profess, ay, and protested too,
I lov'd him well; what will not sorrow do!
Then he profess'd, ay, and protested too,
To kill them both; what will not devils do!

Phil. Then I profess, ay, and protest it too,
That here's for him; what will not Philip do!

Hor. See where he comes.

~~Enter the two Moors.~~

Bal. Zarack, what do I see?
Hortenzo and Philippo? who did this?

Zar. I, Balthazar.

Bal. Thou art half-damn'd for it;[75]
I'll to my lord.

Zar. I'll stop you on your way;
Lie there, thy tongue shall tell no tales to-day.

[Stabs him.

Phil. Nor thine to-morrow: this revenge was well.

[Stabs him.

~~By this time both the slaves shake hands in hell.~~

Isa. Philippo and Hortenzo, stand you still?
What, doat you both? Cannot you see your play?
Well fare a woman then to lead the way.
Once rob the dead; put the Moors' habits on,
And paint your faces with the oil of hell:
So, waiting on the tyrant——

Phil. Come, no more,
'Tis here and here: room there below; stand wide,
Bury them well, since they so godly died.

Hor. Away then, fate: now let revenge be plac'd.

Phil. Here.

Hor. And here; a tyrant's blood doth sweetly taste.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Enter Eleazar, Alvero, Roderigo, Christofero, and other Lords.

Ele. What, I imprison! Who?

~~All. Philip and Hortenzo.~~

Ele. Philip and Hortenzo! ha, ha, ha!

Rod. Why laughs the Moor?

Ele. I laugh, because you jest:
Laugh at a jest. Who, I imprison them?
I prize their lives with weights, their necks with chains,
Their hands with manacles! do I all this?
Because my face is in night's colour dyed,
Think you my conscience and my soul is so?
Black faces may have hearts as white as snow;
And 'tis a general rule in moral schools,[76]
The whitest faces have the blackest souls.

Alv. But touching my Hortenzo——

Ele. Good old man,
I never touch'd him; do not touch me then
With thy Hortenzo.

Chris. Where's Philip too?

Ele. And where is Philip too?
I pray, I pray, is Philip a tame Spaniard?
What, can I Philip him hither, hither make him fly?
First, where's Hortenzo? Where's Philip too?

Rod. And where is Isabel? She was with you.

Ele. And where is Isabel? She was with me!

Enter Philip and Hortenzo, like Moors.

And so are you; yet are you well, you see:
But in good time, see where their keepers come.
Come hither, Zarack; Balthazar, come hither:
Zarack, old Lord Alvero asks of thee
Where young Hortenzo is.

Hor. My lord, set free.

Ele. O, is he so? Come hither, Balthazar:
Lord Christofero here would ask of thee
Where Prince Philippo is.

Phil. My lord, set free.

Ele. O, is he so?
Roderigo asketh me for Isabel.

Phil. I say, my lord, she's free.

Ele. O, is she so?

Phil. Believe me, lords.

Hor. And me.

Phil. I set Philippo——

Hor. I, Hortenzo free.

Ele. My lords, because you shall believe me too,
Go to the castle: I will follow you.

Alv. Thanks to the mighty Moor; and, for his fame,
Be more in honour than thou art in name:
But let me wish the other prisoners well,
The queen and cardinal: let all have right,
Let law absolve them, or dissolve them quite.

Ele. Grave man, thy grey hairs paint out gravity,
Thy counsels wisdom, thy wit policy.
There let us meet, and with a general brain
Erect the peace of spirit and of Spain.

Alv. Then will Spain flourish.

Ele. Ay, when it is mine.

Rod. O heavenly meeting!

Ele. We must part in hell.

[Aside.

Chris. True peace of joy.

[Exeunt.

Manent Eleazar, Philip, and Hortenzo.

Ele. 'Tis a dissembling knell;
Farewell, my lords; meet there; so, ha, ha, ha!

[Draws his rapier.

Now, tragedy, thou minion of the night,
Rhamnusia's [77] pew-fellow, to thee I'll sing
Upon a harp made of dead Spanish bones,
The proudest instrument the world affords;
When thou in crimson jollity shalt bathe
Thy limbs, as black as mine, in springs of blood
Still gushing from the conduit-head of Spain.
To thee, that never blushest, though thy cheeks
Are full of blood—O Saint Revenge, to thee
I consecrate my murders, all my stabs,
My bloody labours, tortures, stratagems,
The volume of all wounds that wound from me;
Mine is the stage, thine is the tragedy.
Where am I now? O, at the prison; true.
Zarack and Balthazar, come hither; see,
Survey my library. I study, ha,
Whilst you two sleep; marry, 'tis villany.
Here's a good book, Zarack, behold it well,
It's deeply written, for 'twas made in hell:
Now, Balthazar, a better book for thee;
But for myself, this, this, the best of all;
And therefore do I claim it every day,
For fear the readers steal the art away.
Where thou stand'st now, there must Hortenzo hang,
Like Tantalus in a maw-eating pang.
There, Balthazar, must Prince Philip stand,
Like damn'd Prometheus; and to act his part,
Shall have a dagger sticking at his heart.
But in my room I'll set the cardinal,
And he shall preach repentance to them all.
Ha, ha, ha!

Phil. Damnation tickles him; he laughs again.
Philip must stand there, and bleed to death.
Well, villain, I only laugh to see
That we shall live to outlaugh him and thee.

Ele. O, fit, fit, fit! stay, a rare jest, rare jest!
Zarack, suppose thou art Hortenzo now;
I pray thee stand in passion of a pang,
To see, by thee, how quaintly he would hang.

Hor. I am Hortenzo; tut, tut, fear not, man;
Thou lookest like Zarack.

[Aside.

Ele. Ay, Hortenzo,
He shall hang here, i' faith; come, Zarack, come,
And, Balthazar, take thou Philippo's room:
First let me see you plac'd.

Phil. We're plac'd.

Ele. Slaves; ha, ha, ha!
You are but players, that [78] must end the play;
How like Hortenzo and Philippo! ha!
Stand my two slaves, were they as black as you.
Well, Zarack, I'll unfix thee first of all,
Thou shalt help me to play the cardinal:
This iron engine on his head I'll clap,
Like a pope's mitre or a cardinal's cap;
Then manacle his hands, as thou dost mine;
So, so, I pray thee, Zarack, set him free,
That both of you may stand and laugh at me.

Phil. 'Tis fine, i' faith; call in more company;
Alvero, Roderigo, and the rest:
Who will not laugh at Eleazar's jest?

Ele. What? Zarack, Balthazar!

Phil. Ah! anon, anon;
We have not laugh'd enough: it's but begun.

[Knocking.

~~Who knocks?~~

Ele. Unmanacle my hands, I say.

Phil. Then shall we mar our mirth, and spoil the play.

[Knocking again.

~~Who knocks?~~

Alv. [Within.] Alvero.

Phil. Let Alvero in.

Ele. And let me out.

~~Enter all below.~~

Phil. I thank you for that flout,[79]
To let Alvero in, and let you out.

Ele. Villains! slaves! am not I your lord, the Moor?
And Eleazar?

Queen-M. And the devil of hell;
And more than that, and Eleazar too.

Ele. And, devil's dam, what do I here with you?

~~Queen-M. My tongue shall torture thee.~~

Ele. I know thee then;
All women's tongues are tortures unto men.

Queen-M. Spaniards, this was the villain; this is he
Who, through enticements of alluring lust
And glory, which makes silly women proud
And men malicious, did incense my spirit
Beyond the limits of a woman's mind
To wrong myself and that lord cardinal;
And (that which sticks more near unto my blood),
He that was nearest to my blood, my son,
To dispossess him of his right by wrong:
O, that I might embrace him on this breast,
Which did enclose him, when he first was born:
No greater happiness can heav'n show'r upon
Me than to circle in these arms of mine
That son, whose royal blood I did defame,
To crown with honour an ambitious Moor.

Phil. Thus then thy happiness is complete;

[Embraces her.

Behold thy Philip ransom'd from that prison,
In which the Moor had cloistered him.

Hor. And here's Hortenzo.

Ele. Then am I betrayed and cosen'd in
My own designs: I did contrive
Their ruin; but their subtle policy
Hath blasted my ambitious thoughts. Villains!
Where's Zarack? Where's Balthazar?
What have you done with them?

Phil. They're gone to Pluto's kingdom, to provide
A place for thee, and to attend thee there.
But, lest they should be tired with too long
Expecting hopes, come, brave spirits of Spain,
This is the Moor, the actor of these evils;
Thus thrust him down to act among the devils.

[Stabs him.

Ele. And am I thus despatch'd!
Had I but breath'd the space of one hour longer,
I would have fully acted my revenge:
But O, now pallid death bids me prepare,
And haste to Charon for to be his fare.
I come, I come: but ere my glass is run,
I'll curse you all, and, cursing, end my life.
May'st thou, lascivious queen, whose damned charms
Bewitch'd me to the circle of thy arms,
Unpiti'd die, consum'd with loathed lust,
Which thy venereous mind hath basely nurs'd:
And for you, Philip, may your days be long,
But clouded with perpetual misery:
May thou, Hortenzo, and thy Isabel
Be fetch'd alive by furies into hell,
There to be damn'd for ever. O, I faint;
Devils, come claim your right, and when I am
Confin'd within your kingdom, then shall I
Outact you all in perfect villany.

[Dies.

Phil. Take down his body, while his blood streams forth;
His acts are pass'd, and our last act is done.
Now do I challenge my hereditary right
To the roy'l Spanish throne, usurp'd by him,
In which, in all your sights, I thus do plant myself.
Lord Cardinal, and you the queen my mother,
I pardon all those crimes you have committed.

Queen-M. I'll now repose myself in peaceful rest,
And fly unto some solitary residence,
Where I'll spin out the remnant of my life
In true contrition for my pass'd offences.

Phil. And now, Hortenzo, to close up your wound,
I here contract my sister unto thee,
With comic joy to end a tragedy.
And, for the barbarous Moor and his black train,
Let all the Moors be banished from Spain.

ANDROMANA
OR
THE MERCHANT'S WIFE.

EDITION.

~~Andromana; or, The Merchant's Wife. The Scene Iberia. By J. S. London: Printed for John Bellinger; and are to be sold at his shop, in Clifford's Inn Lane, in Fleet-street. 1660. 4^o.~~

This play was printed in the year 1660, and has the letters J. S. in the title-page. Chetwood, in his "British Theatre," p. 47, says that it was revived in 1671, when a prologue was spoken before it, in which were the following lines—

"'Twas Shirley's muse that labour'd for its birth,
Though now the sire rests in the silent earth."

~~[But there is in fact no authority whatever for believing it to be from Shirley's pen; nor is it included in Gifford and Dyce's edition of that writer.[80]]~~

~~The plot is taken from the story of Plangus, in Sir Philip Sydney's "Arcadia." The same subject had before been made use of by Beaumont and Fletcher in their play of "Cupid's Revenge."~~

PREFACE.

LUST'S DOMINIONORTHE LASCIVIOUS QUEEN.

ACT I., SCENE 1.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

SCENE IV.

ACT II., SCENE 1.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

SCENE IV.

SCENE V.

SCENE VI.

ACT III., SCENE 1.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

SCENE IV.

SCENE V.

SCENE VI.

ACT IV., SCENE 1.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

SCENE IV.

SCENE V.

ACT V., SCENE 1.

SCENE II.

SCENE III.

SCENE IV.

SCENE V.

SCENE VI.

ANDROMANAORTHE MERCHANT'S WIFE.

EDITION.

LUST'S DOMINION
OR
THE LASCIVIOUS QUEEN.

ANDROMANA
OR
THE MERCHANT'S WIFE.