King. Who rais’d this Rumour, Abdelazer, you?
Abd. I did, Great Sir.
King. Your Reasons.
Abd. Oh Sir, your Brother Philip, and the Cardinal,
Both animated by a Sense of Wrongs,
(And envying, Sir, the Fortune of your Slave)
Had laid a Plot this Night, to murder you:
And ‘cause they knew it was my waiting Night,
They wou’d have laid the Treason, Sir, on me.
King. The Cardinal, and my Brother! bring them forth, Their Lives shall answer it.
Abd. Sir, ‘tis impossible: For when they found their Villany discover’d, They in two Friers Habits made escape.
King. That Cardinal is subtle, and ambitious, And from him Philip learnt his dangerous Principles.
Qu. The Ambition of the one infects the other,
And they are both too dangerous to live—
But might a Mother’s Counsel be obey’d,
I wou’d advise you, send the valiant Moor
To fetch ‘em back, e’er they can reach the Camp:
For thither they are fled—where they will find
A Welcome fatal to us all.
King. Madam, you counsel well; and, Abdelazer,
Make it your Care to fetch these Traitors back,
Not only for my Safety, and the Kingdom’s,
But as they are your Enemies; and th’ envious World
Will say, you made this story to undo ‘em.
Abd. Sir, I’ll obey; nor will I know repose, Till I have justify’d this fatal Truth. [Abd. goes to the Queen, and talks to her.