Pis. He call’d me Spy, and I return’d th’affront,
But took no notice that he was my Prince:
It was a Folly I repented of;
But ‘twas in a damn’d melancholy Mood.
Alcip. Was it a going in or coming out?
Pis. From whence?
Alcip. Erminia’s Chamber; prithee let me know, For I have fears that take away my sleep, Fears that will make me mad, stark mad, Pisaro.
Pis. You do not well to fear without a cause.
Alcip. O Friend, I saw what thou canst ne’er conceive;
Last night I saw it when I came from thee:
And if thou go’st about t’impose upon me,
I’ll cast thee from my Soul. Come out with it,
I see thy breast heave with a generous ardour,
As if it scorn’d to harbour a reserve,
Which stood not with its Amity to me.
Could I but know my Fate, I could despise it:
But when ‘tis clad in Robes of Innocence,
The Devil cannot ‘scape it: Something
Was done last night that gnaws my heart-strings;
And many things the Princess too let fall,
Which, Gods! I know not how to put together.
And prithee be not thou a Ridler too:
But if thou knew’st of ought that may concern me,
Make me as wise as thou art.
Pis. Sir, you are of so strange a jealous Humour,
And I so strangely jealous of your Honour,
That ‘twixt us both we may make work enough;
But on my Soul I know no wrong you have.
Alcip. I must believe thee, yet methinks thy Face Has put on an unwonted gravity.
Pis. That, Alcippus, you’ll not wonder at, When you shall know you are my Rival.
Alcip. Nay, why shouldst thou delay me thus with stories? This shall not put me off.