No More Learning

_Amid_. I know not that; but I am sure 'tis wrong.

_Gons_. The fault is plain, 'tis put on the wrong shoulder.

_Hip_. That cannot be, I looked on Amideo's,
And hung it on that shoulder his is on.

_Amid_. Then I doubt mine is so.

_Gons_. It is indeed:
You're both good boys, and both will learn in time.
Hippolito, go you and bring me word,
Whether that lady, we brought in last night,
Be willing to receive a visit from, me.

_Hip_. Now, Amideo, since you are so forward
To do all service, you shall to the lady.

_Amid_. No, I'll stay with my master, he bid you.

_Hip_. It mads me to the heart to leave him here:
But I will be revenged. [_Aside_.
My lord, I beg
You would not trust this boy with any thing
Till my return; pray, know him better first. [_Exit_.

_Gons_. 'Twas my unhappiness to meet this lady
Last night; because it ruined my design
Of walking by the house of Roderick:
Who knows but through some window I had spied
Fair Julia's shadow passing by the glass;
Or if some others, I would think it hers;
Or if not any, I would see the place
Where Julia lives. O Heaven, how small a blessing
Will serve to make despairing lovers happy!

_Amid_. Unhappy Angelina, thou art lost:
Thy lord loves Julia. [_Aside_.

_Enter_ HIPPOLITO _and_ JULIA.

_Jul_. --Where is thy master?
I long to give him my acknowledgments
For my own safety, and my brother's both.
Ha! Is it he? [_Looks_.

_Gons_. Can it be Julia?
Could night so far disguise her from my knowledge!

_Jul_. I would not think thee him, I see thou art:
Pr'ythee disown thyself in pity to me:
Why should I be obliged by one I hate?

_Gons_. I could say something in my own defence;
But it were half a crime to plead my cause,
When you would have me guilty.

_Amid_. How I fear
The sweetness of those words will move her pity!
I'm sure they would do mine.

_Gons_. You took me for a robber, but so far
I am from that--

_Jul_. O, pr'ythee, be one still,
That I may know some cause for my aversion.

_Gons_. I freed you from them, and more gladly did it--

_Jul_. Be what thou wilt, 'tis now too late to tell me:
The blackness of that image, I first fancied,
Has so infected me, I still must hate thee.

_Hip_. Though (if she loves him) all my hopes are ruined,
It makes me mad to see her thus unkind. [_Aside_.
Madam, what see you in this gentleman,
Deserves your scorn or hatred? love him, or
Expect just Heaven should strangely punish you.

_Gons_. No more: Whate'er she does is best; and if
You would be mine, you must, like me, submit
Without dispute.

_Hip_. How can I love you, sir, and suffer this?
She has forgot that, which, last night, you did
In her defence.

_Jul_. O call that night again;
Pitch her with all her darkness round: then set me
In some far desert, hemmed with mountain wolves
To howl about me: This I would endure,
And more, to cancel my obligements to him.

_Gons_. You owe me nothing, madam; if you do,
I make it void; and only ask your leave
To love you still; for, to be loved again
I never hope;

_Jul_. If that will clear my debt, enjoy thy wish;
Love me, and long, and desperately love me.
I hope thou wilt, that I may plague thee more:
Mean time, take from me that detested object;
Convey thy much loathed person from my sight.

_Gons_. Madam, you are obeyed.
Hippolito and Amideo, wait
Upon fair Julia; look upon her for me
With dying eyes, but do not speak one word
In my behalf; for, to disquiet her,
Even happiness itself were bought too dear.

[_Goes farther off, towards the end of the stage_.

My passion swells too high;
And, like a vessel struggling in a storm,
Requires more hands than one to steer her upright;
I'll find her brother out.
[_Exit_.

_Jul_. That boy, I see, he trusts above the other:
He has a strange resemblance with a face
That I have seen, but when, or where, I know not.
I'll watch till they are parted; then, perhaps,
I may corrupt that little one to free me.

[_Aside. Exit_.

_Amid_. Sweet Hippolito, let me speak with you.

_Hip_. What would you with me?

_Amid_. Nay, you are so fierce;
By all that's good, I love and honour you,
And, would you do but one poor thing I'll ask you,
In all things else you ever shall command me.
Look you, Hippolito, here's gold and jewels;
These may be yours.

_Hip_. To what end dost thou show
These trifles to me? or how cam'st thou by them?
Not honestly, I fear.

_Amid_. I swear I did:
And you shall have them; but you always press
Before me in my master's service so--

_Hip_. And always will.

_Amid_. But, dear Hippolito,
Why will you not give way, that I may be
First in his favour, and be still employed?
Why do you frown? 'tis not for gain I ask it;
Whatever he shall give me shall be yours,
Except it be some toy you would not care for,
Which I should keep for his dear sake, that gave it.

_Hip_. If thou wouldst offer both the Indies to me,
The eastern quarries, and the western mines,
They should not buy one look, one gentle smile
Of his from me; assure thy soul they should not,
I hate thee so.

_Amid_. Henceforth I'll hate you worse.
But yet there is a woman whom he loves,
A certain Julia, who will steal his heart
From both of us; we'll join at least against
The common enemy.

_Hip_. Why does he fear my lord should love a
woman?
The passion of this boy is so like mine,
That it amazes me. [_Aside_.

_Enter a Servant_.

_Serv_. Young gentleman,
Your master calls for you.

_Hip_. I'll think upon't--

[_Exuent_ HIPPOLITO _and Serv_

_Enter_ JULIA _to_ AMIDEO.

_Jul_. Now is the time, he is alone.

_Amid_. Here comes
The saint, my lord adores; love, pardon me
The fault, I must commit.

_Jul_. Fair youth, I am
A suitor to you.

_Amid_. So am I to you.

_Jul_. You see me here a prisoner.

_Amid_. My request
Is, I may set you free; make haste, sweet madam;
Which way would you go?

_Jul_. To the next
Religious house.

_Amid_. Here through the garden, madam;
How I commend your holy resolution! [_Exeunt_.

_Enter_ DON MANUEL _in the street, and a Servant
with him_.

_Man_. Angelina fled to a monastery, say you?

_Serv_. So 'tis given out: I could not see her woman:
But, for your sister, what you heard is true;
I saw her at the inn:
They told me, she was brought in late last night;
By a young cavalier, they showed me there.

_Man_. This must be he that rescued me:
What would I give to see him!

_Serv_. Fortune is
Obedient to your wishes; he was coming
To find out you; I waited on him to
The turning of the street, and stepped before
To tell you of it.

_Man_. You o'erjoy me.

_Serv_. This, sir, is he.

_Enter_ GONSALVO. DON MANUEL _is running to
embrace him, and stops_.

_Man_. --The captain of the robbers!

_Gons_. As such, indeed, you promised me your
sister.

_Man_. I promised all the interest I should have;
Because I thought, before you came to claim it,
A husband's right would take my title from me.

_Gons_. I come to see if any manly virtue
Can dwell with falsehood: Draw, thou'st injured me.

_Man_. You say already I have done you wrong,
And yet would have me right you by a greater.

_Gons_. Poor abject thing!

_Man_. Who doubts another's courage
Wants it himself; but I, who know my own,
Will not receive a law from you to fight,
Or to forbear: for then I grant your courage
To master mine, when I am forced to do
What of myself I would not.

_Gons_. Your reason?

_Man_. You saved my life.

_Gons_. I'll quit that debt, to be
In a capacity of forcing you
To keep your promise with me; for I come
To learn, your sister is not yet disposed.

_Man_. I've lost all privilege to defend my life;
And, if you take it now, 'tis no new conquest;
Like fish, first taken in a river, then
Bestowed in ponds to catch a second time.

_Gons_. Mark but how partially you plead your
cause,
Pretending breach of honour if you fight,
Yet think it none to violate your word.

_Man_. I cannot give my sister to a robber.

_Gons_. You shall not; I am none, but born of blood
As noble as yourself; my fortunes equal
At least with yours, my reputation yet,
I think, unstained.

_Man_. I wish, sir, it may prove so;
I never had so strong an inclination
To believe any man as you--But yet--

_Gons_. All things shall be so clear, there shall be left
No room for any scruple. I was born
In Seville, of the best house in that city;
My name Gonsalvo de Peralta: Being
A younger brother, 'twas my uncle's care
To take me with him in a voyage to
The Indies, where since dying, he has left me
A fortune not contemptible; returning
From thence with all my wealth in the plate fleet,
A furious storm almost within the port
Of Seville took us, scattered all the navy.
My ship, by the unruly tempest borne
Quite through the Streights, as far as Barcelona,
There first cast anchor; there I stept ashore:
Three days I staid, in which small time I made
A little love, which vanished as it came.

_Man_. But were you not engaged to her you
courted?

_Gons_. Upon my honour, no; what might have been
I cannot tell: But ere I could repair
My beaten ship, or take fresh water in,
One night, when there by chance I lay aboard,
A wind tore up my anchor from the bottom,
And with that violence it brought me thither,
Has thrown me in this port.

_Mon_. But yet our meeting in the wood was
strange.

_Gons_. For that I'll satisfy you as we walk.

_Enter_ HIPPOLITO.

_Hip_. O sir, how glad am I to find you! --

[_Whispers_.

_Man_. That boy I have seen somewhere, or one
like him,
But where, I cannot call to mind.

_Hip_. I found it out, and got before them--
And here they are--

_Enter AMIDEO and JULIA_.

_Man_. My sister! as I could have wished it.

_Amid_. O! we are caught!

_Jul_. I did expect as much:
Fortune has not forgot that I am Julia.

_Man_. Sister, I'm glad you're happily returned;
'Twas kindly done of you thus to prevent
The trouble of my search.

_Jul_.
I would not have you
Mistake my love to Roderick so much,
To think I meant to fall into your hands.
My purpose is for the next nunnery;
There I'll pray for you: So farewell.

_Man_. Stay, Julia, you must go with me.

_Jul_. Lead, lead;
You think I am your prisoner now.

_Gons_. If you will needs to a religious house,
Leave that fair face behind; a worse will serve
To spoil with watching, and with fasting there.

_Man_. Pr'ythee, no more of this; the only way
To make her happy is to force it on her.
Julia, prepare yourself strait to be married.

_Jul_. To whom?

_Man_. You see your bridegroom: And you know
My father's will, who, with his dying breath
Commanded, you should pay as strict obedience
To me, as formerly to him: If not,
Your dowry is at my dispose.

_Jul_. O, would
The loss of that dispense with duty in me,
How gladly would I suffer it! and yet,
If I durst question it, methinks 'tis hard!
What right have parents over children, more
Than birds have o'er their young? yet they impose
No rich-plumed mistress on their feathered sons;
But leave their love, more open yet and free
Than all the fields of air, their spacious birthright.

[_GONSALVO seems to beg MANUEL
not to be harsh_.

_Man_. Nay, good Gonsalvo, trouble not yourself,
There is no other way; when 'tis once done,
She'll thank me for't.

_Jul_. I ne'er expected other usage from you;
A kind brother you have been to me,
And to my sister: You have sent, they say,
To Barcelona, that my aunt should force her
To marry the old Don you brought her.

_Hip_. Who could, that once had seen Gonsalvo's.
face?
Alas, she little thinks I am so near! [_Aside_.

_Man_. Mind not what she says.
A word with you--[_To GONSALVO. _

_Amid_. Don Manuel eyes me strangely; the best is,
he never saw me yet but at a distance:
My brother's jealousy (who ne'er intended
I should be his) restrained our nearer converse. [_Aside_.

_Jul_. My pretty youth, I am enforced to trust thee
[_To AMIDEO_.
With my most near concerns; friends I have none,
If thou deny'st to help me.

_Amid_. Any thing
To break your marriage with my master.

_Jul_. Go to Roderick, and tell him my condition:
But tell it him as from thyself, not me.

_Amid_. That you are forced to marry?

_Jul_. But do not ask him
To succour me; if of himself he will not,
I scorn a love that must be taught its duty.

_Man_. What youth is that? I mean the little one.

_Gons_. I took him up last night.

_Man_. A sweet-faced boy,
I like him strangely: Would you part with him?

_Amid_. Alas, sir, I am good for nobody,
But for my master.

_Hip_. Sir, I'll do your errand
Another time, for letting Julia go. [_To AMIDEO_.

_Man_. Come, sir.

_Gons_. I beg your pardon for a moment,
I'll but dispatch some business in my ship,
And wait you presently:

_Man_. We'll go before;
I'll make sure Roderick shall never have her;
And 'tis at least some pleasure to destroy
His happiness, who mined first my joy.

[_Exeunt all but GONSALVO; who, before he goes, whispers HIPPOLITO_.

_Gons_. Against her will fair Julia to possess,
Is not to enjoy, but ravish happiness:
Yet women pardon force, because they find
The violence of love is still most kind:
Just like the plots of well built comedies,
Which then please most, when most they do surprise:
But yet constraint love's noblest end destroys,
Whose highest joy is in another's joys:
Where passion rules, how weak does reason prove!
I yield my cause, but cannot yield my love. [_Exit_.



ACT III.

SCENE I. --_A great room in DON MANUEL'S house_.


_HIPPOLITO solus_.

My master bid me speak for him to Julia:
Hard fate, that I am made a confident
Against myself!
Yet, though unwillingly I took the office,
I would perform it well: But how can I
Prove lucky to his love, who to my own
Am so unfortunate? he trusts his passion
Like him, that ventures all his stock at once
On an unlucky hand.

_Enter AMIDEO_.

_Amid_. Where is the lady Julia?

_Hip_. What new treason
Against my master's love have you contrived
With her?

_Amid_. I shall not render you account.

_Enter JULIA_.

_Jul_. I sent for him; yet if he comes, there's danger;
Yet if he does not, I for ever lose him.
What can I wish? and yet I wish him here,
Only to take the care of me from me.
Weary with sitting out a losing hand,
Twill be some ease to see another play it.
Yesterday I refused to marry him,
To-day I run into his arms unasked;
Like a mild prince encroached upon by rebels,
Love yielded much, till honour asked for all.
How now, where's Roderick? [_Sees AMIDEO_.
I mean Gonsalvo. [_Sees HIPPOLITO_.

_Hip_. You would do well to meet him--

_Amid_. Meet him! you shall not do't: I'll throw myself,
Like a young fawning spaniel, in your way
So often, you shall never move a step,
But you shall tread on me.

_Jul_. You need not beg me:
I would as soon meet a syren, as see him.

_Hip_. His sweetness for those frowns no subject finds:
Seas are the field of combat for the winds:
But when they sweep along some flowery coast,
Their wings move mildly, and their rage is lost.

_Jul_. 'Tis that which makes me more unfortunate;
Because his sweetness must upbraid my hate.
The wounds of fortune touch me not so near;
I can my fate, but not his virtue, bear.
For my disdain with my esteem is raised;
He most is hated when he most is praised:
Such an esteem, as like a storm appears,
Which rises but to shipwreck what it bears.

_Hip_. Infection dwells upon my kindness, sure,
Since it destroys even those whom it would cure.

[_Cries, and exit_.

_Amid_. Still weep, Hippolito; to me thy tears
Are sovereign, as those drops the balm-tree sweats. --
But, madam, are you sure you shall not love him?
I still fear. --

_Jul_. Thy fear will never let thee be a man.

_Amid_. Indeed I think it won't.

_Jul_. We are now
Alone; what news from Roderick?

_Amid_. Madam, he begs you not to fear; he has
A way, which, when you think all desperate,
Will set you free.

_Jul_. If not, I will not live
A moment after it.

_Amid_. Why? there's some comfort.

_Jul_. I strongly wish, for what I faintly hope:
Like the day-dreams of melancholy men,
I think and think on things impossible,
Yet love to wander in that golden maze.

_Enter DON MANUEL, HIPPOLITO, and company_.

_Amid_. Madam, your brother's here.

_Man_. Where is the bridegroom?

_Hip_. Not yet returned, sir, from his ship.

_Man_. Sister, all this good company is met,
To give you joy.

_Jul_. While I am compassed round
With mirth, my soul lies hid in shades of grief,
Whence, like the bird of night, with half shut eyes,
She peeps, and sickens at the sight of day. [_Aside_.

_Enter Servant_.

_Serv_. Sir, some gentlemen and ladies are without,
Who, to do honour to this wedding, come
To present a masque.

_Man_. Tis well; desire them
They would leave put the words, and fall to dancing.
The poetry of the foot takes most of late.

_Serv_. The poet, sir, will take that very ill;
He's at the door, with the argument o'the masque
In verse.

_Man_. Which of the wits is it that made it?

_Serv_. None of the wits, sir; 'tis one of the poets.

_Man_. What subject has he chose?

_Serv_. The rape of Proserpine.

_Enter GONSALVO_.

_Man_. Welcome, welcome, you have been long
expected.

_Gons_. I staid to see the unlading of some rarities,
Which are within--
Madam, your pardon that I was so long absent.

_Jul_. You need not ask it for your absence, sir.

_Gons_. Still cruel, Julia?

_Jul_. The danger's here, and Roderick not here:
I am not grieved to die; but I am grieved
To think him false. [_Aside_.

_Man_. Bid him begin. [_The music plays_.

A _Cupid_ descends in swift motion, and speaks
these verses.

_Cup_. _Thy conquests, Proserpine, have stretched too far;
Amidst heavens peace thy beauty makes a war:
For when, last night, I to Jove's palace went,
(The brightest part of all the firmament)
Instead of all those gods, whose thick resort
Filled up the presence of the thunderers court;
There Jove and Juno all forsaken sate,
Pensive, like kings in their declining state:
Yet (wanting power) they would preserve the show,
By hearing prayers from some few men below:
Mortals to Jove may their devotions pay;
The gods themselves to Proserpine do pray.
To Sicily the rival powers resort;
'Tis Heaven wherever Ceres keeps her court.
Phoebus and Mercury are both at strife,
The courtliest of our gods who want a wife.
But Venus, whate'er kindness she pretends,
Yet (like all females envious of their friends),
Has, by my aid, contrived a black design,
The god of hell should ravish Proserpine:
Beauties, beware; Venus will never bear
Another Venus shining in her sphere_.

After Cupid's speech, Venus and Ceres descend in the slow machines;
Ceres drawn by dragons, Venus by swans.

After them Phoebus and Mercury descend in swift motion. Then Cupid
turns to Julia, and speaks.

_Cup_. _The rival deities are come to woo
A Proserpine, who must be found below:
Would you, fair nymph, become, this happy hour,
In name a goddess, as you are in power?
Then to this change the king of shades will owe
A fairer Proserpine than heaven can show_.

[_Julia, first whispered by AMIDEO, goes into the dance, performed
by Cupid, Phoebus, Mercury, Ceres, Venus, and JULIA. Towards the end
of the dance, RODORICK, in the habit of Pluto, rises from below in
a black chariot, all flaming, and drawn by black horses; he ravishes
Julia, who personated Proserpine, and as he is carrying her away, his
vizard fails off: HIPPOLITO first discovers him_.

_Hip_. A rape, a rape! 'tis Roderick, 'tis Roderick!

_Rod_. Then I must have recourse to this. [_Draws_.

_Jul_. O heavens!

[_DON MANUEL and GONSALVO draw, and a Servant; the two that acted
Phoebus and Mercury return to assist RODORICK, and are beat back by
MANUEL and a Servant, while GONSALVO attacks RODORICK_.

_Gons_. Unloose thy hold, foul villain.

_Rod_. No, I'll grasp her
Even after death.

_Jul_. Spare him, or I'll die with him.

_Gons_.