Of wit and parts above thy age;

Thou know'ft our fex. Thou art a page.

PAGE.

I'll do what I can

To furprise the falfe man.

GRIDELINE.

Of fuch a faithful spy I've need * :
Go in, and if thy plot fucceed,

Fair youth, thou may'ft depend on this,

I'll pay thy fervice with a kifs.

[Exit Page.

GRIDELINE fola.

Pr'ythee Cupid no more

Hurl thy darts at threescore,

To thy girls and thy boys
Give thy pains and thy joys,
Let Sir Trufty and me
From thy frolics be free.

SCENE III.

PAGE folus.

O the foft delicious view,

Ever charming, ever new!

Greens of various fhades arife,

Deck'd with flow'rs of various dyes ;
Paths by meeting paths are croft,

Alleys in winding alleys loft;

* An opening fcene discovers another view of the bower.

Fountains

Fountains playing through the trees,
Give coolness to the paffing breeze.
A thousand fairy scenes appear,
Here a grove, a grotto here,

Here a rock, and here a ftream,
Sweet delufion,

Gay confufion,

All a vifion, all a dream!

SCENE IV.

QUEEN and PAGE.

QUEEN.

At length the bow'ry vaults appear!
My bofom heaves, and pants with fear:
A thousand checks my heart control,
A thousand terrors fhake my foul.

PAGE.

Behold the brazen gate unbarr'd!

She's fixt in thought, I am not heard

QUEEN.

I fee, I fee my hands embru'd

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

[Apart.

PAGE.

My eyes o'erflow, my heart is rent
To hear Britannia's Queen lament.

QUEEN.

What shall my trembling foul purfue?

PAGE.

Behold, great Queen, the place in view!

QUEEN.

Ye pow'rs inftru&t me what to do!

PAGE.

That bow'r will show

The guilty foe.

[Afide.

QUEEN.

-It is decreed-it fhall be fo;

[After a pause.

I cannot fee my Lord repine,

(0 that I could call him mine !)

Why have not they most charms to move,
Whofe bofoms burn with pureft love!

PAGE.

Her heart with rage and fondness glows,

O jealousy! thou hell of woes!

That confcious fcene of love contains
The fatal caufe of all your pains:
In yonder flow'ry vale fhe lies,
Where thofe fair-bloffom'd arbours rise.

QUEEN.

Let us hafte to deftroy
Her guilt and her joy.

[Afide

ROSA MOND fola.

Transporting pleasure! who can tell it !
When our longing eyes difcover

The kind, the dear, approaching lover,
Who can utter, or conceal it!

A fudden motion fhakes the grove:
I hear the steps of him I love;
Prepare, my foul, to meet thy blifs!

-Death to my eyes; what fight is this!

The Queen, th' offended Queen I fee!
-Open, O earth and swallow me!

SCENE VI.

Enter to her the QUEEN with a bowl in one hard, and a dagger in the other.

QUEEN.

Thus arm'd with double death I come :
Behold, vain wretch, behold thy doom:
Thy crimes to their full period tend,
Or foon by this, or this, shall end.

ROSAMON D.

What fhall I fay, or how reply

To threats of injur'd Majefty F

QUEEN.

'Tis guilt that does thy tongue controul.

Or quickly drain the fatal bowl,

Or this right hand performs its part,
And plants a dagger in thy heart.

ROSAMON D.

Can Britain's Queen give fuch commands,
Or dip in blood thofe facred hands?

In her shall fuch revenge be seen ?

· Far be that from Britain's Queen!

QUEEN.

How black does my defign appear!
Was ever mercy so severe ?

ROSAMON D.

When tides of youthful blood run high,
And Scenes of promis'd joys are nigh,

[Afide

Health