Since then alone the hero's deeds Theaf. Nay, Pyrrha, I won't take these romantic notions of yours for an anfwer. Deidamia is fo much your friend, that, I am fure, fhe must be happy with this alliance: fo, while I make the propofal to my nephew, I leave you two to talk over the affair together. And however coy you may appear at present, Pyrrha, when my nepher throws himself at your feet, I dare fay you prove of his addrefjes. AIR XXXIV. How oft the fair will speak with fcorn, She bears him plead, and feels his pain. Might maidens but speak out, They'd fhew, beyond all doubt, will ap They, more than enough, can love again. [Exit. Ach. Was there ever a man in fo whimsical a circumftance! Deid. Was there ever a woman in fo happy and fo unhappy a one as mine! Ach. Why did I fubmit? Why did I plight my faith, thus infamoufly to conceal myfelf? What is become of my honour? Deid. Ah, Pyrrha, Pyrrha! what is become of mine? • Ach. When fhall I behave myself as a man? 'Deid. Would you had never behaved yourself as one! 'AIR XXXV. Fy gar rub her o'er with ftraw. • Think what anguish tears my quiet, 'Since I fuffer'd fhame for thee: Man at large may rove and riot, We are bound, but you are free. Are thy vows and oaths mistaken ? See the birds that wing the fky; These their mates have ne'er forfaken, Till their young at least can fly.' Ach. Ach. Peftered and worried thus from every quarter, 'tis impoffible, much longer, to prevent discovery. Deid. Dear, dear Pyrrha, confide in me. Any other discovery, but to me only, would be inevitable perdition to us both. Am I treated like a common prostitute?" Can your gratitude (would I might fay love!) refuse to let me know the man to whom I owe my ruin? Ach. You must rely, my dear princefs, upon my honour; for I am not, like a fond, weak husband, to be 'teazed into the breaking my refolution. AIR XXXVI. Beggar's Opera. Hornpipe. Ach. • Deid. • Ach. • Deid. • Ach. • Deid. Ach. • Deid. Can then nothing move thee? Ask not, fince denial gives me pain. What's a fecret in a woman's breast? Ach. For Heaven's fake, Deidamia, if you regard my love, give me quiet-Intreaties, fondnets, tears, rage, and the whole matrimonial' rhetoric of woman, to gain her ends, are all thrown away upon me; for, by the gods, my dear Deidamia, I am inexorable. Deid. But, my dear Pyrrha, (for you oblige me ftill to call you by that name) only imagine what must be the confequence of a month or two.' Think of my unhappy condition. To fave my fhame (if you are a man of honour) you must then come to fome refolution. AIR XXXVII. My time, Oh, ye Mufes! Ach. Ach. Till I deferve these fufpicions, Deidamia, methinks it would be more becoming your profeffions of love, to fpare them. I have taken my refolutions, and when the time comes, you fhall know them: till then, be easy, and press me no farther. Deid. My life, my honour, then, I implicitly intrust with you. Ach. Who would have the trouble of putting on a character that does not naturally belong to him! The life of a hypocrite must be one continual fcene of anxiety. When fhall I appear as I am, and extricate myfelf out of this chain of perplexities! I have no fooner efcaped being ravished, but I am immediately to be 'made a wife. Deid. But, dear Pyrrha, for my fake, for your owu, have a particular regard to your behaviour, till your refolution is ripe for execution. You, now and then, • take fuch intolerable ftrides, that I vow you have set me a blushing. • Ach. Confidering my continual restraint, and how ⚫ much the part I act differs from my inclinations, I am furprized at my own behaviour. • AIR XXXVIII. I am come to your house. • Your drefs, your converfations, All these are affectations 'We never can attain. The fex fo often varies, 'Tis nature more than art : To play their whole vagaries, We must have wonan's heart. 'Deid. Your fwearing, too, upon certain occafions, founds fo very mafculine; an oath startles me. Would I could cure myself of these violent apprehenfions! Ach. As for that matter, there are ladies, who, in their paffions, can take all the liberties of fpeech. • Deid. Then, too, you very often look fo agreeably impudent upon me, that, let me die, if I have not been ⚫ mortally afraid my fisters would find you out. • Ach. Ach. Impudent! Are women fo cenforious, that looks cannot escape them? May not one woman look kindly upon another without scandal ? • Deid. But fuch looks-Nay, perhaps, I may be 'particular, and it may be only my own fears; for (notwithstanding your drefs) whenever I look upon you, I have always the image of a man before my eyes. Ach. Do what we will, love, at fome moments, will ' be unguarded.' But what fhall I do about this Periphas? I have no fooner efcaped being ravished, but I am immediately to be made a wife. Deid. His heart is fo fet upon the fiege, that I know you can have but very little perfecution upon his ac count. Ach. Would I could go with him! Deid. And could you leave me thus ? Ach. Have you only a womanish fondness? I thought, • Deidamia, you loved me. And you cannot truly love and esteem, if, in every circumftance of life, you have not a just regard for my honour. Deid. Dear Pyrrha, don't mention it; the very thought of it kills me. You have fet my heart, in a most violent palpitation. Let us talk no more upon this difagreeable fubject. My fifters will grow very impatient. Should we stay longer together, I might again be importunate, and ask to know you; and I had rather bear the eter⚫nal plague of unfatisfied curiofity, than give you a mo ment's difquiet.' They are now expecting us in the garden, and, confidering my prefent circumftances,' I would not give them occafion to be impertinent: for, of late, they have been horridly prying and inquifitive. Let us go to them. Ach. I envy that Periphas. His honour, his fame, his glory is not fhackled by a woman. AIR XXXIX. The Clarinette. Ah, why is my heart fo tender! Deid Deid. How can I bear the reflection? END of the SECOND ACT. [Exeunt. THEASPE. ERIPHAS, I have a favour to ask of you, and pofitively I will not be refused. PE Per. Your majefty may command. Theafp. Nay, nephew, 'tis for your own good. Per. To obey your commands, Madam, muit be so. Theaf. I am not, Periphas, talking to you as a queen, but as a relation, a friend. I must have no difficulties; therefore I infift upon your abfolute promise. 'Per. I am not in my own power, Madam. Lyco'medes, you know, hath acceded to the treaty of alliance; that to furnifh his quota, his troops are already embarked, and that I have engaged myfelf in his • fervice. Theaf. Why will you raife obftacles before you know the conditions? 'Tis a thing I have fet my heart 6 upon; and I tell you, 'tis what, in honour, you can ' comply with.' Per. My duty, my obligations, put me entirely in your difpofal. Theaf. You promife, then, folemnly, faithfully- Theaf. I have remarked, Periphas, that you are prodigioufly fond of the princefs Califta's daughter. Per. I fond of her, Madam! Theaf. Nay, Periphas, are not you eternally at • her ear? Art. How have I feen that formidable hero, General Ajax, fuffer upon your account! Of all his rivals, you * In the reprefentation, the fecond Act begins here. |