ACT THE SECOND.

SCENE I.

A pavilion in the middle of the bower.
KING and ROSAMOND.

KING. Thus let my weary soul forget
Restless glory, martial strife,
Anxious pleasures of the great,
And gilded cares of life.

Ros. Thus let me lose, in rising joys,
Fierce impatience, fond desires,
Absence that flatt'ring hope destroys,

And life-consuming fires.

KING. Not the loud British shout that warms

The warrior's heart, nor clashing arms,
Nor fields with hostile banners strow'd,
Nor life on prostrate Gauls bestow'd
Give half the joys that fill my breast,
While with my Rosamond I'm blest.

Ros. My Henry is my soul's delight,
My wish by day, my dream by night.
'Tis not in language to impart
The secret meltings of my heart,
While I my conqueror survey,
And look my very soul away.

KING. O may the present bliss endure,
From fortune, time, and death secure!

BOTH. O may the present bliss endure!
KING. My eye could ever gaze, my ear

Those gentle sounds could ever hear:

[Exit King.

But oh! with noonday heats opprest,
My aching temples call for rest!
In yon cool grotto's artful night
Refreshing slumbers I'll invite,
Then seek again my absent fair,
With all the love a heart can bear.

ROSAMOND Sola.

From whence this sad presaging fear, This sudden sigh, this falling tear?

Oft in my silent dreams by night

With such a look I've seen him fly,
Wafted by angels to the sky,

And lost in endless tracts of light;
While I, abandon'd and forlorn,
To dark and dismal deserts borne,
Through lonely wilds have seem'd to stray,
A long, uncomfortable way.

They're phantoms all; I'll think no more:
My life has endless joys in store.

Farewell sorrow, farewell fear,

They're phantoms all! my Henry's here.

SCENE II.

A postern gate of the bower.

GRIDELINE and PAGE.

GRID. My stomach swells with secret spite,

To see my fickle, faithless knight,

With upright gesture, goodly mien,

Face of olive, coat of green,

That charm'd the ladies long ago,
So little his own worth to know,
On a mere girl his thoughts to place,
With dimpled cheeks, and baby face;
A child! a chit! that was not born
When I did town and court adorn.

PAGE. Can any man prefer fifteen
To venerable Grideline?

GRID. He does, my child; or tell me why, With weeping eyes, so oft I spy

His whiskers curl'd, and shoestrings tied,
A new Toledo by his side,

In shoulderbelt so trimly plac'd,
With band so nicely smooth'd and lac'd.
PAGE. If Rosamond his garb has view'd,
The knight is false, the nymph subdued.
GRID. My anxious boding heart divines
His falsehood by a thousand signs:
Oft o'er the lonely rocks he walks,
And to the foolish echo talks:
Oft in the glass he rolls his eye,
But turns and frowns if I am by;
Then my fond easy heart beguiles,
And thinks of Rosamond, and smiles.

PAGE. Well may you feel these soft alarms, She has a heart

GRID. By a barbarous swain,

BOTH. That laughs at your pain.

GRID. How should I act? canst thou advise?

PAGE. Open the gate, if you are wise :

I, in an unsuspected hour,

May catch them dallying in the bower,
Perhaps their loose amours prevent,
And keep sir Trusty innocent.

GRID. Thou art in truth

A forward youth,

Of wit and parts above thy age;

Thou know'st our sex. Thou art a page.

PAGE. I'll do what I can

To surprise the false man.

GRID. Of such a faithful spy I've need2:
Go in, and if thy plot succeed,

Fair youth, thou may'st depend on this,
I'll pay thy service with a kiss.

GRIDELINE sola.

Pr'ythee Cupid no more
Hurl thy darts at threescore,
To thy girls and thy boys
Give thy pains and thy joys,
Let sir Trusty and me

From thy frolics be free.

[Exit Page.

Exit Grid.

2 An opening scene discovers another view of the bower.

SCENE III.

PAGE solus.

O the soft delicious view,

Ever charming, ever new!
Greens of various shades arise,
Deck'd with flow'rs of various dyes;
Paths by meeting paths are crost,
Alleys in winding alleys lost;
Fountains playing through the trees,
Give coolness to the passing breeze.

A thousand fairy scenes appear,
Here a grove, a grotto here,
Here a rock, and here a stream,
Sweet delusion,

Gay confusion,

All a vision, all a dream!

SCENE IV.

QUEEN and PAGE.

QUEEN. At length the bow'ry vaults appear!

My bosom heaves, and pants with fear:

A thousand checks my heart control,
A thousand terrors shake
my soul.

PAGE. Behold the brazen gate unbarr'd!
-She's fixt in thought, I am not heard—
QUEEN. I see, I see my hands embrued

In purple streams of reeking blood:
I see the victim gasp for breath,
And start in agonies of death;
I see my raging dying lord,
And O, I see myself abhorr'd!

[Apart.