Dor. All happiness attend you; go thy ways,
Thou hast a clear and noble soul; for thy sake
I'll hold that man mine enemy, who dares mutter,
The Court is not the sphere where vertue moves,
Humanity, and Nobleness waiting on her.
Enter Servant.
Serv. Two Gentlemen (but what they are I know not,
Their faces are so muffl'd) press to see you,
And will not be deny'd.
Dor. What e'r they are, I am too old to fear.
Serv. They need no Usher, they make their own way.
Enter Lisander, Alcidon.
Dor. Take you yours, Lisander; [Exit Servant.
My joy to see you, and my sorrow for
The danger you are in, contend so here,
Though different passions, nay oppos'd in Nature,
I know not which to entertain.
Lis. Your hate should win the victory from both, with justice,
You may look on me as a Homicide,
A man whose life is forfeited to the Law,
But if (howe'r I stand accus'd) in thought
I sin'd against Cleanders life, or live
Guilty of the dishonour of your Daughter,
May all the miseries that can fall on man
Here, or hereafter, circle me.
Dor. To me this protestation's useless, I embrace you,
As the preserver of my life, the man
To whom my son ows his, with life, his honour,
And howsoever your affection
To my unhappy Daughter, though it were
(For I have sifted her) in a noble way,
Hath printed some taint on her fame, and brought
Her life in question, yet I would not purchase
The wish'd recovery of her reputation,
With strong assurance of her innocence
Before the King her Judge, with certain loss
Of my Lisander, for whose life, if found,
There's no redemption; my excess of love,
(Though to enjoy you one short day would lengthen
My life a dozen years) boldly commands me,
Upon my knees, which yet were never bent,
But to the King and Heaven, to entreat you
To flye hence with all possible speed, and leave
Calista to her fortune.
Lis. O blessed Saints, forsake her in affliction? can you
Be so unnatural to your own bloud,
To one so well deserving, as to value
My safety before hers? shall innocence
In her be branded, and my guilt escape
Unpunish'd? does she suffer so much for me,
For me unworthy, and shall I decline
(Eating the bitter bread of banishment)
The course of Justice to draw out a life?
(A life? I style it false, a living death)
Which being uncompell'd, laid down will clear her,
And write her name anew in the fair legend
Of the best women? seek not to disswade me,
I will not, like a careless Poet, spoil
The last Act of my Play, till now applauded,
By giving the World just cause to say, I fear'd
Death more than loss of Honour.