I have play'd the fool, the gross fool, to believe
The bosom of a friend will hold a secret,
Mine own could not contain; and my industry
In taking liberty from my innocent daughter,
Out of false hopes of freedom to myself,
Is, in the little help it yields me, punish'd.
She's absent, but I have her figure here;
And every grace and rarity about her,
Are, by the pencil of my memory,
In living colours painted on my heart.
My fires too, a short interim closed up,
Break out with greater fury. Why was I,
Since 'twas my fate, and not to be declined,
In this so tender-conscienced? Say I had
Enjoy'd what I desired, what had it been

But incest? and there's something here that tells
I stand accomptable for greater sins

[me

I never check'd at. Neither had the crime
Wanted a precedent: I have read in story,
Those first great heroes, that, for their brave

deeds,

Were in the world's first infancy styled gods,
Freely enjoy'd what I denied myself.
Old Saturn, in the golden age, embraced
His sister Ops, and, in the same degree,
The Thunderer Juno, Neptune Thetis, and,
By their example, after the first deluge,
Deucalion Pyrrha. Universal nature,
As every day 'tis evident, allows it

To creatures of all kinds: the gallant horse
Covers the mare to which he was the sire;
The bird with fertile seed gives new increase
To her that hatch'd him: why should envious
man then

Brand that close act, which adds proximity
To what's most near him, with the abhorred title
Of incest? or our later laws forbid,
What by the first was granted? Let old men,
That are not capable of these delights,
And solemn superstitious fools, prescribe
Rules to themselves; I will not curb my freedom,
But constantly go on, with this assurance,
I but walk in a path which greater men
Have trod before me. Ha! this is the fort :
Open the gate! Within, there!

Enter two Soldiers.

1 Sold. With your pardon We must forbid your entrance. Malef. Do you know me? 2 Sold. Perfectly, my lord. Malef. I am [your] captain's friend.

Malef. So punctual! pray you then, in my His presence.

2 Sold. That we shall do. Malef. I must use

[name entreat

[Exeunt Sold.

Some strange persuasions to work him to
Deliver her, and to forget the vows,

And horrid oaths I, in my madness, made him
Take to the contrary: and may I get her
Once more in my possession, I will bear her
Into some close cave or desert, where we'll end
Our lusts and lives together.

Enter MONTREVILLE and Soldiers upon the Walls.
Montr. Fail not, on

The forfeit of your lives, to execute
What I command.

[Exeunt Soldiers.
Malef. Montreville! how is't, friend?
Montr. I am glad to see you wear such cheerful
The world's well alter'd.

Malef. Yes, I thank my stars :

But methinks thou art troubled.
Montr. Some light cross,

But of no moment.

Malef. So I hope : beware

[looks;

Montr. Fix there then

Your constant peace, and do not try a second
Temptation from her.

Malef. Yes, friend, though she were

By millions of degrees more excellent

In her perfections; nay, though she could borrow
A form angelical to take my frailty,

It would not do: and therefore, Montreville,
My chief delight next her, I come to tell thee,
The governor and I are reconciled,

And I confirm'd, and with all possible speed,
To make large satisfaction to young Beaufort,
And her, whom I have so much wrong'd; and for

Thy trouble in her custody, of which

I'll now discharge thee, there is nothing in
My nerves or fortunes, but shall ever be
At thy devotion.

Montr. You promise fairly,

Nor doubt I the performance; yet I would not
Hereafter be reported to have been

The principal occasion of your falling
Into a relapse: or but suppose, out of
The easiness of my nature, and assurance

You are firm and can hold out, I could consent;
You needs must know there are so many lets
That make against it, that it is my wonder
You offer me the motion; having bound me,
With oaths and imprecations, on no terms,

Reasons, or arguments, you could propose,
I ever should admit you to her sight,
Much less restore her to you.
Malef. Are we soldiers,

And stand on oaths!

Montr. It is beyond my knowledge

In what we are more worthy, than in keeping
Our words, much more our vows.

Malef. Heaven pardon all !

How many thousands, in our heat of wine,
Quarrels, and play, and in our younger days,
In private I may say, between ourselves,
In points of love, have we to answer for,
Should we be scrupulous that way?

Montr. You say well:

And very aptly call to memory

Two oaths, against all ties and rights of friendship Broken by you to me.

Malef. No more of that.

Montr. Yes, 'tis material, and to the purpose: The first (and think upon't) was, when I brought

you

As a visitant to my mistress then, (the mother
Of this same daughter,) whom, with dreadful words,
Too hideous to remember, you swore deeply
For my sake never to attempt; yet then,
Then, when you had a sweet wife of your own,
I know not with what arts, philtres, and charms
(Unless in wealth and fame you were above me)
You won her from me; and, her grant obtain'd,
A marriage with the second waited on

The burial of the first, that to the world

Brought your dead son: this I sat tamely down by,
Wanting, indeed, occasion and power
To be at the height revenged.

Malef. Yet this you seem'd

Freely to pardon.

Montr. As perhaps I did.

Your daughter Theocrine growing ripe,

(Her mother too deceased,) and fit for marriage,
I was a suitor for her, had your word,
Upon your honour, and our friendship made
Authentical, and ratified with an oath,

She should be mine: but vows with you being like
To your religion, a nose of wax

To be turn'd every way, that very day
The governor's son but making his approaches
Of courtship to her, the wind of your ambition
For her advancement, scatter'd the thin sand
In which you wrote your full consent to me,
And drew you to his party. What hath pass'd
You bear a register in your own bosom,
That can at large inform you.

[since,

But in your own breast raise a monument Of pity to a wretch, on whom with justice You may express all cruelty.

Montr. You much move me.

Malef. O that I could but hope it! To revenge An injury, is proper to the wishes

Of feeble women, that want strength to act it:
But to have power to punish, and yet pardon,
Peculiar to princes. See! these knees, [Kneels.
That have been ever stiff to bend to heaven,
To you are supple. Is there aught beyond this
That may speak my submission? or can pride
(Though I well know it is a stranger to you)
Desire a feast of more humility,

To kill her growing appetite?

Montr. I required not

To be sought to this poor way; yet 'tis so far
A kind of satisfaction, that I will

Dispense a little with those serious oaths

You made me take: your daughter shall come to

[you,

[Exit.

I will not say, as you deliver'd her,
But, as she is, you may dispose of her
As you shall think most requisite.
Malef. His last words
Are riddles to me. Here the lion's force
Would have proved useless, and, against my nature,
Compell'd me from the crocodile to borrow
Her counterfeit tears: there's now no turning
backward.

May I but quench these fires that rage within me,
And fall what can fall, I am arm'd to bear it!

Enter Soldiers below, thrusting forth THEOCRINE; her garments loose, her hair dishevelled.

2 Sold. You must be packing.
Theoc. Hath he robb'd me of
Mine honour, and denies me now a room
To hide my shame!

2 Sold. My lord the admiral Attends your ladyship.

1 Sold. Close the port, and leave them.

[Exeunt Soldiers. Malef. Ha! who is this? how alter'd! how deform'd!

It cannot be and yet this creature has
A kind of a resemblance to my daughter,
My Theocrine! but as different

From that she was, as bodies dead are, in
Their best perfections, from what they were
When they had life and motion.

Theoc. 'Tis most true, sir ;

I am dead indeed to all but misery.
O come not near me, sir, I am infectious:
To look on me at distance, is as dangerous
As, from a pinnacle's cloud-kissing spire,
With giddy eyes to view the deep descent;
But to acknowledge me, a certain ruin.
O, sir.

Malef. Speak, Theocrine, force me not
To further question; my fears already
Have choked my vital spirits.

Theoc. Pray you turn away

Your face and hear me, and with my last breath
Give me leave to accuse you: What offence,

From my first infancy, did I commit,
That for a punishment you should give up
My virgin chastity to the treacherous guard
Of goatish Montreville?

Malef. What hath he done?

Theoc. Abused me, sir, by violence; and this told,

[Dies.

[spirit!

I cannot live to speak more: may the cause
In you find pardon, but the speeding curse
Of a ravish'd maid fall heavy, heavy on him !—
Beaufort, my lawful love, farewell for ever.
Malef. Take not thy flight so soon, immaculate
'Tis fled already.-How the innocent,
As in a gentle slumber, pass away!
But to cut off the knotty thread of life
In guilty men, must force stern Atropos
To use her sharp knife often. I would help
The edge of her's with the sharp point of mine,
But that I dare not die, till I have rent

This dog's heart piecemeal. O, that I had wings
To scale these walls, or that my hands were can-

Foul ravisher! as thou durst do a deed
Which forced the sun to hide his glorious face
Behind a sable mask of clouds, appear,
And as a man defend it; or, like me,
Shew some compunction for it.

Enter MONTREVILLE on the Walls, above.
Montr. Ha, ha, ha!

Malef. Is this an object to raise mirth?
Montr. Yes, yes.

Malef. My daughter's dead.

Montr. Thou hadst best follow her;

Or, if thou art the thing thou art reported,

Thou shouldst have led the way. Do tear thy hair, Like a village nurse, and mourn, while I laugh at Be but a just examiner of thyself,

[thee.

1 Sold. The sudden storm and darkness of the night

Forbids the knowledge; make up speedily, Or all is lost. [Exeunt. Montr. In the devil's name, whence comes this? [Exit.

[A storm; with thunder and lightning. Malef. Do, do rage on! rend open, Æolus, Thy brazen prison, and let loose at once Thy stormy issue! Blustering Boreas, Aided with all the gales the pilot numbers Upon his compass, cannot raise a tempest Through the vast region of the air, like that I feel within me: for I am possess'd

With whirlwinds, and each guilty thought to me is A dreadful hurricano. Though this centre

you?

For what come

Are your aerial forms deprived of language,
And so denied to tell me, that by signs

[The Ghosts use various gestures.
You bid me ask here of myself? 'Tis so :
And there is something here makes answer for you.
You come to lance my sear'd up conscience; yes,
And to instruct me, that those thunderbolts,
That hurl'd me headlong from the height of glory,
Wealth, honours, worldly happiness, were forged
Upon the anvil of my impious wrongs,

And cruelty to you! I do confess it;
And that my lust compelling me to make way
For a second wife, I poison'd thee; and that
The cause (which to the world is undiscover'd)
That forced thee to shake off thy filial duty
To me, thy father, had its spring and source
From thy impatience, to know thy mother,
That with all duty and obedience served me,
(For now with horror I acknowledge it,)
Removed unjustly: yet, thou being my son,
Wert not a competent judge mark'd out by heaven
For her revenger, which thy falling by
My weaker hand confirm'd.-[Answered still by
signs.]—'Tis granted by thee.
Can any penance expiate my guilt,
Or can repentance save me?—

[The Ghosts disappear.
They are vanish'd !
What's left to do then? I'll accuse my fate,
That did not fashion me for nobler uses :
For if those stars, cross to me in my birth,
Had not denied their prosperous influence to it,
With peace of conscience, like to innocent men,
I might have ceased to be, and not as now,
To curse my cause of being-

[He is kill'd with a flash of lightning. Enter BELGARDE, with Soldiers.

Belg. Here's a night

To season my silks! Buff-jerkin, now I miss thee:
Thou hast endured many foul nights, but never
One like to this. How fine my feather looks now!
Just like a capon's tail stol'n out of the pen,
And hid in the sink; and yet 't had been dishonour
To have charged without it.-Wilt thou never
cease?

Is the petard, as I gave directions, fasten'd
On the portcullis?

1 Sold. It hath been attempted

By divers, but in vain.

Belg. These are your gallants,

That at a feast take the first place, poor I
Hardly allow'd to follow; marry, in

These foolish businesses they are content

That I shall have precedence: I much thank

Their manners, or their fear. Second me, soldiers;