Of wit and parts above thy age;

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

PAGE.

I'll do what I can

To surprise the false man.

GRIDELINE.

Of such 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.

GRIDELINE fola.

Prythee, 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;

[Exit Page.

* An opening fcene difcovers another view of the bower.

Fountains

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

Here a rock, and bere a fream,
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 controul,
A thousand terrors shake my foul.

PAGE.

Behold the brazen gate unbar'd!

She's fixt in thought, I am not. heard→→→

QUEEN

I fee, I fee my hands imbru'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

[Afide

PAGE.

C 3

PAGE.

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

QUEEN.

What fhall my trembling foul purfue?

PAGE.

Behold, great Queen, the place in view!

QUEEN.

Ye pow'rs inftruct me what to do!

PAGE.

That bow'r will show

The guilty foe.

QUEEN.

-It is decreed-it fhall be fo;

I cannot fee my Lord repine,

( that I could call him mine!)

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

PAGE.

Her heart with rage and fondness glows,

O jealoufy 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 rife.

QUEEN.

Let us hafte to destroy

Her guilt and her joy.

【Afide.

[After a paufe.

![Afide.

ROSAMOND fola.

Transporting pleasure, who can tell.it!
When our longing eyes discover

The kind, the dear, approaching lover,

Who can utter, or conceal it!

A fudden motion shakes 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 band, and a dagger in the other.

QUEEN.

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

ROSAM ON D.

What shall I fay, or how reply

To threats of injur'd Majefty?

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.

ROSAM ON D.

Can Britain's Queen give fuch commands,

Or dip in blood thofe facred hands?
In her shall such revenge be feen?
Far be that from Britain's Queen!

QUEEN.

How black does my design appear!
Was ever mercy fo fevere?

ROSAM ON D.

When tides of youthful blood runs high,
And fcenes of promis'd joys are nigk,

[Afide.

Healds