Classic Poem

ACT. V. S CEN. VIII.

Misander, Leucasia, Chryse, Euthalpe, Priest, Eudemus, Timophilus, Cleodemus, Patacion,
Epigenes, Scedasus, Terpander.

Mis. Must there be something still to cross our joys?
What is the matter here?
Phi. A Fury, a Fury!
Yonder he slinks.
Cal. And 't please your Majesty
I am no Fury, I'm a Captain, one
They call Callimachus by daylight Sir;
The Angel Sir, the Angel!
Pru. I'm the Angell.
Your Majesties Court-Captain you made last.
Mis. Speak, what device is this?
Terp. An Antick only
Prepar'd to grace your Marriage night, that hath
Mistook the place of entrance.
Mis. Are you dumb?
Terp. Angels may speak.
Phi. The Widdow Sir I think — —
Terp. Captain you should not speak, you are a Ghost.
Phi. That damned Widdow hath abus'd us all.
Terp. If she be damn'd, then she is yours grim Spirit.
Phi. They call her Pyle ; I confess I made
A little Love t' her, and profess'd I would
Do any thing that shee'd command me where-
Upon she set me to turn Ghost, and lye
All night i'th' Coffin there. I think that hee's
Her Angel too — —
Terp. (Hee's her Angel.)
Phil. — — And he her Fury.
Pru. She transform'd me truly.
Cal. The trick was wholly hers.
Terp. She is in sight,
And looks on yonder.
Eud. Go, and fetch her hither.
Mis. Who's that behind the Pillar?
Nic. Nicias Sir:
He that did draw the Virgins. Pyle charg'd me,
As I did hope to marry her, that I should
Take all I saw this night here, and present her
With it betimes i'th' Morning.
Eud. Are you all
Sutors unto her then?
Cal. We do pretend
I'th' way of love; shee's wealthy.
Phi. But she hath sworn
To marry me.
Pru. Me.
Cal. Me Sir; you're deceiv'd.
Mis. How's that? to marry y' all?
Terp. Gramercy Widdow!
Seeing thou canst not have the King himself,
Thou wilt have all his Subjects.
Mis. With what state
And pomp she stalks it?
Terp. This is she I told
Your Majesty I thought o'rlook'd Leucasia .
If you will let one of your Captains search her,
Hee'l find a Teat about her.
Eud. 'Cause you have
Abus'd these People in this sort, that did
Out of Affection visit you, we charge you
To take your choice out of 'em: if they will
Agree, 't shall be your punishment.
Cal. Phil. We do.
Nic. Pru. With all our Hearts.
Pyl. Well then, come forth, stand fair,
Let's see your faces all. First, Nicias , you
Being a Painter can create a Wife
With a few Colours whensoe'r you please.
I've sworn against all daubers.
Elp. Please y' once
He bid me put y' in mind of's promising Nose.
And his long Foot.
Pyl. But for your former service,
And being a Town-born Child, I care not if
I join you to my Chambermaid.
Pru. Mark her Eye,
Mark but her Eye Philostratus , just on me.
I'm sure I am the Man.
Pyl. For you, good Captain,
You are a Ghost, your winding sheet forbids
The tumbling in the Marriage one: 'tis said.
Let's live and love ; the dead can claim no share.
Pru. I told you so; mark but her Eye Callimachus .
Just upon me still.
Pyl. Worthy Captain, I
Honour your Vertues and your Courage; but
Heav'n bless me from a Fiend; give me a Man,
A Man at least, nothing with cloven feet,
No Incubus ; when I'm a Fury, claim me.
Terp. Be rul'd by me, and take her at her word.
Pru. Come my most constant Heart: (your Majesty
And I do sympathize most strangely in
Our Fortunes, that we should both of's be married
Just at one very instant.) Speak the word.
Pyl. I do admire the Excellence of Angels;
They are to be ador'd.
Pru. Thy love will serve.
Pyl. 'Twere an unequall mixture for vile Earth
To join with Heav'n. Besides, I have heard say
That Angels have no Sex, I'l none of him.
Marriage respecteth Procreation.
Pru. And 't please your Majesty she is a Traytor:
She would have had me kill you.
Mis. We then confine you
To Vesta 's Temple, there to wait upon
The Virgins, and ne'r joyn in Wedlock more.
Pyl. Although that Continence enjoyn'd, be only
A Death without the Pomp of shedding bloud;
Or at the best an holy Persecution;
Yet I would willingly embrace the doom,
But that I've vow'd my faith to Nicias .
You won't adjudge me to a sin that may
Draw heav'ns revenge on you, as well as me?
Nic. (Pox o your Craftiness) I humbly beg
That you'd remit her faults, and give her me
As a reward of my late Services.
Eud. Thou ask'st a Torment, not a Gift; thou hast her.
Come, joyn those hands, Sebaster , that Religion
May perfect what Affection hath begun.

The Priest Sings.

Be thou Hymen present here ,
And ye O Marriage Gods, whoe'r:
Whiles I joyn these parts, joyn you such,
As know to meet twithout a touch.

Euth. We may not let this happy union pass
Without solemnity; 'tis no dishonour
To your great Valours, if you let a Siedge
End in a Dance.
Mis. Although the only thing
I would deny you, be the honouring of me,
Yet for my good Leucasia's sake, to whom
What e'r sounds joy and mirth is due, I will
Sit a Spectator, and think what is done
A Sacrifice of thanks to Heav'n for her.
Mis. Whose shapes are those?
Euth. They are the Statues Sir
Of five Commanders, the stout Hercules ,
And he that trod his footsteps, the sage Theseus ,
The next there Pyrrhus , and Atrides that,
The outmost great Achilles . Priest.

Awake out of this senseless trance,
And grace these Nuptials with a Dance.
Grow pliant O ye Marbles, Love
Is able to make Statues move.

Euth. This only is the outward part o'th' feast:
The joyfull'st Dance is that you do not see.
Each Heart doth move as did those Bodies; were you
Spectator there a while, you would perceive
A full solemnity outshining this.
Mis. This was of your Contrivance, fair Euthalpe .
Y' have giv'n your Sex their due: Woman was born
To rule, and therefore each might justly change
Her Warriour int' a Lover, nay, each one
Change the whole five; for as they ought to rule,
So ought they to admit of many Servants,
As Kings do Subjects to encrease their Soveraignty.
Euth. You shew a soul most capable of Rule,
In that you thus will part with't to the weaker.
Mis. Nature compels me: 'tis the good man's Office
To serve and reverence Woman, as it is
The fire's to burn: for as our Souls consist
Of Sense and Reason, so do yours, more noble,
Of Sense and Love; which doth as easily calm
All your desires, as Reason quiets ours.
Euth. Some say we are Irrationall, and place us
'Mong Beasts, but you now carry us up too high.
Mis. Pardon the Vulgar, for they understand not,
Thinking that, where there is not Reason, there
The Composition's meerly Sensuall,
When that the difference is grand between
Being Irrationall, and working without Reason,
The former making Brute Beasts, but the latter
Agreeing to refin'd Intelligences;
'Mong which great Love is one, perhaps the Chief.
Love then doth work in you, what Reason doth
Perform in us; here only lies the difference,
Ours wait the lingring steps of Age, and years,
But th' Woman's Soul is ripe when it is young;
So that in us what we call learning, is
Divinity in you, whose operations,
Impatient of delay, do outstrip time.
Euth. You make us Sir veyl'd Goddesses, not Mortals,
Mis. True! saw you not the Worthies there, though wise
And try'd, and Valiant; yet one clouded with
An Aged Beard, another wrincled, All
Subject to change and variation, when
Their Ladies, all of one bright constant clearnesse,
Smooth to the last Breath, stood immutable as
Some heav'nly thing, which Grace you carry up
Unto that place from whence you do descend
To make Men happy. But, no more, lest I
Be thought to flatter by the undiscerning.
Who was that Lady, Euthalpe , that subjected
The Great Achilles so?
Euth. It was Briseis ,
One of mine own Condition, an Attendant.
Mis. Thou dost renew her honour'd Memory
More in thy merits far, than that Presentment.
Leu. Sir, she hath been my Cabinet, my Tablet
In which I've writ my weightiest secrets; still
As faithful, and as silent too, as that:
And (if you prize such an unworthy purchase)
One, whom you owe Leucasia to.
Mis. Fair Virgin,
If that my Kingdom hath a Soul that is
Worthy to meet with thine, I'l search him out,
And beg thee to accept him.
Euth. 'Tis reward
Enough for me to see you happy thus,
There being no content in which I can
More rest, than viewing your joyn'd Excellencies.
Mis. Now we are one, my fair Leucasia ;
Made dearer to each other by our dangers;
This Marriage sha'n't be single, I will joyn
Another Consort to thee. This knot shall
Strengthen both Equity, and Love, combine
My Throne, and Heart; and so one Tye shall be
My Marriage to Byzantium , and to Thee.