No More Learning

--'Twas fortune's work,
And fortune take the praise.

_Bert. _ Yet happiness
Is the first fame. Virtue without success
Is a fair picture shewn by an ill light;
But lucky men are favourites of heaven:
And whom should kings esteem above heaven's darlings?
The praises of a young and beauteous queen
Shall crown your glorious acts.

_Ped. _ [_To Alph. _] There sprung the mine.

_Torr. _ The queen! that were a happiness too great!
Named you the queen, my lord?

_Bert. _ Yes: you have seen her, and you must confess,
A praise, a smile, a look from her is worth
The shouts of thousand amphitheatres.
She, she shall praise you, for I can oblige her:
To-morrow will deliver all her charms
Into my arms, and make her mine for ever. --
Why stand you mute?

_Torr. _ Alas! I cannot speak.

_Bert. _ Not speak, my lord! How were your thoughts employed?

_Torr. _ Nor can I think, or I am lost in thought.

_Bert. _ Thought of the queen, perhaps?

_Torr. _ Why, if it were,
Heaven may be thought on, though too high to climb.

_Bert. _ O, now I find where your ambition drives!
You ought not to think of her.

_Torr. _ So I say too,
I ought not; madmen ought not to be mad;
But who can help his frenzy?

_Bert. _ Fond young man!
The wings of your ambition must be clipt:
Your shame-faced virtue shunned the people's praise,
And senate's honours: But 'tis well we know
What price you hold yourself at. You have fought
With some success, and that has sealed your pardon.

_Torr. _ Pardon from thee! --O, give me patience, heaven! --
Thrice vanquished Bertran, if thou dar'st, look out
Upon yon slaughtered host, that field of blood;
There seal my pardon, where thy fame was lost.

_Ped. _ He's ruined, past redemption!

_Alph. _ [_To_ TORR. ] Learn respect
To the first prince of the blood.

_Bert. _ O, let him rave!
I'll not contend with madmen.

_Torr. _ I have done:
I know, 'twas madness to declare this truth:
And yet, 'twere baseness to deny my love.
'Tis true, my hopes are vanishing as clouds;
Lighter than children's bubbles blown by winds:
My merit's but the rash result of chance;
My birth unequal; all the stars against me:
Power, promise, choice, the living and the dead;
Mankind my foes; and only love to friend:
But such a love, kept at such awful distance,
As, what it loudly dares to tell a rival,
Shall fear to whisper there. Queens may be loved,
And so may gods; else why are altars raised?
Why shines the sun, but that he may be viewed?
But, oh! when he's too bright, if then we gaze,
'Tis but to weep, and close our eyes in darkness. [_Exit. _

_Bert. _ 'Tis well; the goddess shall be told, she shall,
Of her new worshipper. [_Exit. _

_Ped. _ So, here's fine work!
He has supplied his only foe with arms
For his destruction. Old Penelope's tale
Inverted; he has unravelled all by day,
That he has done by night. What, planet struck!

_Alph. _ I wish I were; to be past sense of this!

_Ped. _ Would I had but a lease of life so long,
As 'till my flesh and blood rebelled this way,
Against our sovereign lady;--mad for a queen?
With a globe in one hand, and a sceptre in t'other?
A very pretty moppet!

_Alph. _ Then to declare his madness to his rival!
His father absent on an embassy;
Himself a stranger almost; wholly friendless!
A torrent, rolling down a precipice,
Is easier to be stopt, than is his ruin.

_Ped. _ 'Tis fruitless to complain; haste to the court;
Improve your interest there for pardon from the queen.

_Alph. _ Weak remedies;
But all must be attempted. [_Exit. _


SCENE II.

_Enter_ LORENZO.

_Lor. _ Well, I am the most unlucky rogue! I have been ranging over
half the town; but have sprung no game. Our women are worse infidels
than the Moors: I told them I was one of the knight-errants, that
delivered them from ravishment; and I think in my conscience, that is
their quarrel to me.

_Ped. _ Is this a time for fooling? Your cousin is run honourably mad
in love with her majesty; he is split upon a rock, and you, who are in
chase of harlots, are sinking in the main ocean. I think, the devil's
in the family. [_Exit. _

_Lor. _ [_Solus. _] My cousin ruined, says he! hum, not that I wish my
kinsman's ruin; that were unchristian: but, if the general is ruined,
I am heir; there's comfort for a Christian! Money I have; I thank the
honest Moors for it; but I want a mistress. I am willing to be lewd;
but the tempter is wanting on his part.

_Enter_ ELVIRA, _veiled. _

_Elv. _ Stranger! Cavalier! --will you not hear me? you Moor-killer, you
Matador! --

_Lor. _ Meaning me, madam?

_Elv. _ Face about, man! you a soldier, and afraid of the enemy!

_Lor. _ I must confess, I did not expect to have been charged first: I
see souls will not be lost for want of diligence in this devil's
reign. [_Aside. _] Now, Madam Cynthia, behind a cloud, your will and
pleasure with me?

_Elv. _ You have the appearance of a cavalier; and if you are as
deserving as you seem, perhaps you may not repent of your adventure.
If a lady like you well enough to hold discourse with you at first
sight; you are gentleman enough, I hope, to help her out with an
apology, and to lay the blame on stars, or destiny, or what you
please, to excuse the frailty of a woman?

_Lor. _ O, I love an easy woman! there's such ado, to crack a
thick-shelled mistress; we break our teeth, and find no kernel. 'Tis
generous in you, to take pity on a stranger, and not to suffer him to
fall into ill hands at his first arrival.

_Elv. _ You may have a better opinion of me than I deserve; you have
not seen me yet; and, therefore, I am confident you are heart-whole.

_Lor. _ Not absolutely slain, I must confess; but I am drawing on
apace: you have a dangerous tongue in your head, I can tell you that;
and if your eyes prove of as killing metal, there is but one way with
me. Let me see you, for the safeguard of my honour; 'tis but decent
the cannon should be drawn down upon me before I yield.

_Elv. _ What a terrible similitude have you made, colonel, to shew that
you are inclining to the wars? I could answer you with another in my
profession: Suppose you were in want of money, would you not be glad
to take a sum upon content in a sealed bag, without peeping? --but,
however, I will not stand with you for a sample. [_Lifts up her veil. _

_Lor. _ What eyes were there! how keen their glances! you do well to
keep them veiled; they are too sharp to be trusted out of the
scabbard.

_Elv. _ Perhaps now, you may accuse my forwardness; but this day of
jubilee is the only time of freedom I have had; and there is nothing
so extravagant as a prisoner, when he gets loose a little, and is
immediately to return into his fetters.

_Lor. _ To confess freely to you, madam, I was never in love with less
than your whole sex before; but now I have seen you, I am in the
direct road of languishing and sighing; and, if love goes on as it
begins, for aught I know, by to-morrow morning you may hear of me in
rhyme and sonnet. I tell you truly, I do not like these symptoms in
myself. Perhaps I may go shufflingly at first; for I was never before
walked in trammels; yet, I shall drudge and moil at constancy, till I
have worn off the hitching in my pace.

_Elv. _ Oh, sir, there are arts to reclaim the wildest men, as there
are to make spaniels fetch and carry: chide them often, and feed them
seldom. Now I know your temper, you may thank yourself, if you are
kept to hard meat. You are in for years, if you make love to me.

_Lor. _ I hate a formal obligation with an _Anno Domini_ at end on't;
there may be an evil meaning in the word years, called matrimony.

_Elv. _ I can easily rid you of that fear: I wish I could rid myself as
easily of the bondage.

_Lor. _ Then you are married?

_Elv. _ If a covetous, and a jealous, and an old man be a husband.

_Lor. _ Three as good qualities for my purpose as I could wish: now
love be praised!

_Enter_ ELVIRA'S _Duenna, and whispers to her. _

_Elv. _ [_Aside. _] If I get not home before my husband, I shall be
ruined. [_To him. _] I dare not stay to tell you where.
Farewell! --Could I once more-- [_Exit. _

_Lor. _ This is unconscionable dealing; to be made a slave, and know
not whose livery I wear. Who have we yonder?

_Enter_ GOMEZ.

By that shambling in his walk, it should be my rich old banker, Gomez,
whom I knew at Barcelona: As I live 'tis he! --What, old Mammon here!
[_To_ GOMEZ.

_Gom. _ How! young Beelzebub?

_Lor. _ What devil has set his claws in thy haunches, and brought thee
hither to Saragossa? Sure he meant a farther journey with thee.

_Gom. _ I always remove before the enemy: When the Moors are ready to
besiege one town, I shift quarters to the next; I keep as far from the
infidels as I can.

_Lor. _ That's but a hair's breadth at farthest.

_Gom. _ Well, you have got a famous victory; all true subjects are
overjoyed at it: There are bonfires decreed; an the times had not been
hard, my billet should have burnt too.

_Lor. _ I dare say for thee, thou hast such a respect for a single
billet, thou wouldst almost have thrown on thyself to save it; thou
art for saving every thing but thy soul.

_Gom. _ Well, well, you'll not believe me generous, 'till I carry you
to the tavern, and crack half a pint with you at my own charges.

_Lor. _ No; I'll keep thee from hanging thyself for such an
extravagance; and, instead of it, thou shalt do me a mere verbal
courtesy. I have just now seen a most incomparable young lady.

_Gom. _ Whereabouts did you see this most incomparable young lady? --My
mind misgives me plaguily. [_Aside. _

_Lor. _ Here, man, just before this corner-house: Pray heaven, it prove
no bawdy-house.

_Gom. _ [_Aside. _] Pray heaven, he does not make it one!

_Lor. _ What dost thou mutter to thyself? Hast thou any thing to say
against the honesty of that house?

_Gom.
_ Not I, colonel; the walls are very honest stone, and the timber
very honest wood, for aught I know; but for the woman, I cannot say,
till I know her better: Describe her person, and, if she live in this
quarter, I may give you tidings of her.

_Lor. _ She is of a middle stature, dark-coloured hair, the most
bewitching leer with her eyes, the most roguish cast! her cheeks are
dimpled when she smiles, and her smiles would tempt an hermit.

_Gom. _ [_Aside. _] I am dead, I am buried, I am damned. --Go on,
colonel; have you no other marks of her?

_Lor. _ Thou hast all her marks; but she has a husband, a jealous,
covetous, old hunks: Speak! canst thou tell me news of her?

_Gom. _ Yes; this news, colonel, that you have seen your last of her.

_Lor. _ If thou help'st me not to the knowledge of her, thou art a
circumcised Jew.

_Gom. _ Circumcise me no more than I circumcise you, colonel Hernando:
Once more, you have seen your last of her.

_Lor. _ [_Aside. _] I am glad he knows me only by that name of Hernando,
by which I went at Barcelona; now he can tell no tales of me to my
father. --[_To him. _] Come, thou wer't ever good-natured, when thou
couldst get by it--Look here, rogue; 'tis of the right damning colour:
Thou art not proof against gold, sure! --Do not I know thee for a
covetous--

_Gom. _ Jealous old hunks? those were the marks of your mistress's
husband, as I remember, colonel.

_Lor. _ Oh the devil! What a rogue in understanding was I, not to find
him out sooner! [_Aside. _

_Gom. _ Do, do, look sillily, good colonel; 'tis a decent melancholy
after an absolute defeat.

_Lor. _ Faith, not for that, clear Gomez; but--

_Gom. _ But--no pumping, my dear colonel.

_Lor. _ Hang pumping! I was thinking a little upon a point of
gratitude. We two have been long acquaintance; I know thy merits, and
can make some interest;--Go to; thou wert born to authority; I'll make
thee Alcaide, Mayor of Saragossa.

_Gom. _ Satisfy yourself; you shall not make me what you think,
colonel.

_Lor. _ Faith, but I will; thou hast the face of a magistrate already.

_Gom. _ And you would provide me with a magistrate's head to my
magistrate's face; I thank you, colonel.

_Lor. _ Come, thou art so suspicious upon an idle story! That woman I
saw, I mean that little, crooked, ugly woman,--for t'other was a
lie,--is no more thy wife,--As I'll go home with thee, and satisfy
thee immediately, my dear friend.

_Gom. _ I shall not put you to that trouble; no, not so much as a
single visit; not so much as an embassy by a civil old woman, nor a
serenade of _twinkledum twinkledum_ under my windows; nay, I will
advise you, out of my tenderness to your person, that you walk not
near yon corner-house by night; for, to my certain knowledge, there
are blunderbusses planted in every loop-hole, that go off constantly
of their own accord, at the squeaking of a fiddle, and the thrumming
of a guitar.

_Lor. _ Art thou so obstinate? Then I denounce open war against thee;
I'll demolish thy citadel by force; or, at least, I'll bring my whole
regiment upon thee; my thousand red locusts, that shall devour thee in
free quarters. Farewell, wrought night-cap. [_Exit_ LORENZO.

_Gom. _ Farewell, Buff. Free quarters for a regiment of red-coat
locusts? I hope to see them all in the Red-Sea first! But oh, this
Jezabel of mine! I'll get a physician that shall prescribe her an
ounce of camphire every morning, for her breakfast, to abate
incontinency. She shall never peep abroad, no, not to church for
confession; and, for never going, she shall be condemned for a
heretic. She shall have stripes by Troy weight, and sustenance by
drachms and scruples: Nay, I'll have a fasting almanack, printed on
purpose for her use, in which
No Carnival nor Christmas shall appear,
But lents and ember-weeks shall fill the year. [_Exit. _


ACT II.

SCENE I. --_The Queen's Antechamber. _

_Enter_ ALPHONSO _and_ PEDRO.

_Alph. _ When saw you my Lorenzo?

_Ped. _ I had a glimpse of him; but he shot by me,
Like a young hound upon a burning scent;
He's gone a harlot-hunting.

_Alph. _ His foreign breeding might have taught him better.

_Ped. _ 'Tis that has taught him this.
What learn our youth abroad, but to refine
The homely vices of their native land?
Give me an honest home-spun country clown
Of our own growth; his dulness is but plain,
But theirs embroidered; they are sent out fools,
But come back fops.

_Alph. _ You know what reasons urged me;
But now, I have accomplished my designs,
I should be glad he knew them. His wild riots
Disturb my soul; but they would sit more close,
Did not the threatened downfal of our house,
In Torrismond, o'erwhelm my private ills.

_Enter_ BERTRAN, _attended, and whispering with a Courtier, aside. _

_Bert. _ I would not have her think, he dared to love her;
If he presume to own it, she's so proud,
He tempts his certain ruin.

_Alph. _ [_To_ PED. ]
Mark how disdainfully he throws his eyes on us.
Our old imprisoned king wore no such looks.

_Ped. _ O! would the general shake off his dotage to the usurping queen,
And re-enthrone good venerable Sancho,
I'll undertake, should Bertran sound his trumpets,
And Torrismond but whistle through his fingers,
He draws his army off.

_Alph. _ I told him so;
But had an answer louder than a storm.

_Ped. _ Now, plague and pox on his smock-loyalty!
I hate to see a brave bold fellow sotted,
Made sour and senseless, turned to whey by love;
A drivelling hero, fit for a romance. --
O, here he comes! what will their greetings be?

_Enter_ TORRISMOND, _attended;_ BERTRAN _and he meet and jostle. _

_Bert. _ Make way, my lords, and let the pageant pass.

_Tor. _ I make my way, where'er I see my foe;
But you, my lord, are good at a retreat.
I have no Moors behind me.

_Bert. _ Death and hell!
Dare to speak thus when you come out again.

_Tor. _ Dare to provoke me thus, insulting man!

_Enter_ TERESA.

_Ter. _ My lords, you are too loud so near the queen;
You, Torrismond, have much offended her.
'Tis her command you instantly appear,
To answer your demeanour to the prince.
[_Exit_ TERESA; BERTRAN, _with his company,
follow her. _

_Tor. _ O, Pedro, O, Alphonso, pity me!
A grove of pikes,
Whose polished steel from far severely shines,
Are not so dreadful as this beauteous queen.

_Alph. _ Call up your courage timely to your aid,
And, like a lion, pressed upon the toils,
Leap on your hunters. Speak your actions boldly;
There is a time when modest virtue is
Allowed to praise itself.

_Ped. _ Heart! you were hot enough, too hot, but now;
Your fury then boiled upward to a foam;
But since this message came, you sink and settle,
As if cold water had been poured upon you.

_Tor. _ Alas! thou know'st not what it is to love!
When we behold an angel, not to fear,
Is to be impudent: No, I am resolved,
Like a led victim, to my death I'll go,
And, dying, bless the hand, that gave the blow. [_Exeunt. _

_The_ SCENE _draws, and shews the Queen sitting in state;_ BERTRAN
_standing next to her; then_ TERESA, _&c. She rises, and comes to
the front. _

_Leonora. _ [_To_ BERT. ]
I blame not you, my lord; my father's will,
Your own deserts, and all my people's voice,
Have placed you in the view of sovereign power.
But I would learn the cause, why Torrismond,
Within my palace-walls, within my hearing,
Almost within my sight,--affronts a prince,
Who shortly shall command him.

_Bert. _ He thinks you owe him more than you can pay;
And looks as he were lord of human kind.

_Enter_ TORRISMOND, ALPHONSO, PEDRO. TORRISMOND _bows low, then
looks earnestly on the Queen, and keeps at Distance. _

_Teresa. _ Madam, the general. --

_Leo. _ Let me view him well.
My father sent him early to the frontiers;
I have not often seen him; if I did,
He passed unmarked by my unheeding eyes:--
But where's the fierceness, the disdainful pride,
The haughty port, the fiery arrogance? --
By all these marks, this is not, sure, the man.

_Bert. _ Yet this is he, who filled your court with tumult,
Whose fierce demeanour, and whose insolence,
The patience of a god could not support.

_Leo. _ Name his offence, my lord, and he shall have
Immediate punishment.

_Bert. _ 'Tis of so high a nature, should I speak it,
That my presumption then would equal his.

_Leo. _ Some one among you speak.

_Ped. _ Now my tongue itches. [_Aside. _

_Leo. _ All dumb! On your allegiance, Torrismond,
By all your hopes, I do command you, speak.

_Tor. _ [_Kneeling. _]
O seek not to convince me of a crime,
Which I can ne'er repent, nor can you pardon;
Or, if you needs will know it, think, oh think,
That he who, thus commanded, dares to speak,
Unless commanded, would have died in silence.
But you adjured me, madam, by my hopes!
Hopes I have none, for I am all despair;
Friends I have none, for friendship follows favour;
Desert I've none, for what I did was duty:--
Oh that it were! --that it were duty all!

_Leo. _ Why do you pause? proceed.

_Tor. _ As one, condemned to leap a precipice,
Who sees before his eyes the depth below,
Stops short, and looks about for some kind shrub
To break his dreadful fall. --so I--
But whither am I going? If to death,
He looks so lovely sweet in beauty's pomp,
He draws me to his dart. --I dare no more.

_Bert. _ He's mad, beyond the cure of hellebore.
Whips, darkness, dungeons, for this insolence.

_Tor. _ Mad as I am, yet I know when to bear.

_Leo. _ You're both too bold. --You, Torrismond, withdraw,
I'll teach you all what's owing to your queen. --
For you, my lord,--
The priest to-morrow was to join our hands;
I'll try if I can live a day without you. --
So both of you depart, and live in peace.

_Alph. _ Who knows which way she points?
Doubling and turning like an hunted hare;--
Find out the meaning of her mind who can.

_Pedr. _ Who ever found a woman's? backward and forward,
The whole sex in every word.
In my conscience, when she was getting, her mother was thinking of a
riddle. [_Exeunt all but the Queen and_ TERESA.

_Leo. _ Haste, my Teresa, haste, and call him back.

_Ter. _ Whom, madam?

_Leo. _ Him.

_Ter. _ Prince Bertran?

_Leo. _ Torrismond;
There is no other he.

_Ter. _ [_Aside.