I know you hate him: you have told me so.
Her. Hate him! My injured honour bids me
hate him.

The ungrateful man, to whom I fondly gave
My virgin heart; the man I loved so dearly;
The man I doated on! Oh, my Cleone!
How is it possible I should not hate him?

To favour him: my father's wrongs avenged;
The Greeks triumphant; fleets of Trojan spoils;
His mighty sire's, his own immortal fame;
His eager love; all, all conspired against me!
-But I have done: I'll think no more of Pyr-
rhus.

Orestes wants not merit; and he loves me.

court;

And with Orestes

Her. No! I must have time

To work up all my rage! To meditate

A parting full of horror! My revenge

Will be but too much quickened by the traitor. Cleo. Do you then wait new insults, new affronts?

To draw you from your father! Then to leave you!

In his own court to leave you-for a captive! If Pyrrhus can provoke you, he has done it. Her. Why dost thou heighten my distress? I fear

To search out my own thoughts, and sound my

heart.

Be blind to what thou seest: believe me cured:
Flatter my weakness; tell me I have conquered;
Think that my injured soul is set against him;
And do thy best to make me think so too.

Cleo. Why would you loiter here, then? -
Her. Let us fly!

Let us begone! I leave him to his captive:
Let him go kneel, and supplicate his slave.
Let us begone! But what if he repent?
What if the perjured prince again submit,
And sue for pardon? What if he renew
His former vows? But, oh, the faithless man!
He slights me! drives me to extremities!-How-

ever,

I'll stay, Cleone, to perplex their loves;
I'll stay, till, by an open breach of contract,
I make him hateful to the Greeks, Already
Their vengeance have I drawn upon the son,
Their second embassy shall claim the mother:
I will redouble all my griefs on her!

Cleo. Ah, madam, whither does your rage transport you? Andromache, alas! is innocent.

A woman plunged in sorrow; dead to love :
And when she thinks on Pyrrhus, 'tis with horror.
Her. Would I had done so too! He had not
then

Betrayed my easy faith. But I, alas!
Discovered all the fondness of my soul!
I made no secret of my passion to him,
Nor thought it dangerous to be sincere:
My eyes, my tongue, my actions spoke my heart.
Cleo. Well might you speak without reserve

to one,

Engaged to you by solemn oaths and treaties.
Her. His ardour too was an excuse for mine:
With other eyes he saw me then! Cleone,
Thou mayst remember, every thing conspired

And if I have power over my own heart, 'tis his, Cleo. Madam, he comes

Her. Alas, I did not think

He was so near! I wish I might not see him.
Enter ORESTES.

How am I to interpret, sir, this visit?
Is it a compliment of form or love?

Orest. Madam, you know my weakness. "Tis my fate

To love unpitied: to desire to see you;
And still to swear each time shall be the last.
My passion breaks through my repeated oaths,
And every time I visit you I am perjured.
Even now, I find my wounds all bleed afresh:
I blush to own it; but I know no cure.
I call the gods to witness, I have tried
Whatever man could do (but tried in vain),
To wear you from my mind. Through stormy

Orest. My embassy

Is at an end, for Pyrrhus has refused
To give up Hector's son. Some hidden power
Protects the boy,

Her. Faithless, ungrateful man! [Aside
Orest. I now prepare for Greece. But ere

I go,
Would hear my final doom pronounced by you.
What do I say I do already hear it!
My doom is fixed: I read it in your eyes.

Her. Will you then still despair? be still sus-
picious?

What have I done? Wherein have I been cruel?
'Tis true, you find me in the court of Pyrrhus:
But 'twas my royal father sent me hither.
And who can tell but I have shared your griefs?
Have I ne'er wept in secret? Never wished
To see Orestes?

Orest. Wished to see Orestes!-
Oh joy! oh ecstacy! My soul's entranced!
Oh, charming princess! Oh, transcendent maid!
My utmost wish!-Thus, thus let me express
My boundless thanks!- -I never was unhappy-
Am I Orestes?-

Her. You are Orestes,

The same unaltered, generous, faithful lover: The prince whom I esteem; whom I lament; And whom I fain would teach my heart to love! Orest. Ay, there it is!-I have but your es

teem,

While Pyrrhus has your heart!

Her. Believe me, prince,

Were you as Pyrrhus, I should hate you!
Orest. No!

I should be blest! Í should be loved as he is!
Yet all this while I die by your disdain,

While he neglects your charms, and courts another.

Her. And who has told you, prince, that I'm
neglected?

Has Pyrrhus said(Oh, I shall go distracted!)
Has Pyrrhus told you so?—
-Or is it you,

Who think thus meanly of me?-Sir, perhaps,
All do not judge like you!

Fled like a dream!-Methinks I tread in air!
Pyrrhus, enamoured of his captive queen,
Will thank me, if I take her rival hence:
He looks not on the princess with my eyes!
Surprising happiness!-Unlooked-for joy!
Never let love despair!--the prize is mine!
Be smooth, ye seas! and ye, propitious winds,
Breathe from Epirus to the Spartan coasts!
I long to view the sails unfuried!-But, see!
Pyrrhus approaches in a happy hour.

Enter PYRRHUS, and PHOENIX.

Pyr. I was in pain to find you, prince. My

warm

Ungoverned temper would not let me weigh
The importance of your embassy, and hear
You argue for my good.-I was to blame.
I since have poised your reasons; and I thank
My good allies: their care deserves my thanks.
You have convinced me, that the weal of Greece,
My father's honour, and my own repose,
Demand that Hector's race should be destroyed.
I shall deliver up Astyanax ;

And you, yourself, shall bear the victim hence.

Orest. If you approve it, sir, and are content To spill the blood of a defenceless child, The offended Greeks, no doubt, will be appeased.

Pyr. Closer to strain the knot of our alliance, I have determined to espouse Hermione. You come in time to grace our nuptial rites : In you the kings of Greece will all be present; And you have right to personate her father, As his ambassador, and brother's son. Go, prince, renew your visit; tell Hermione, To-morrow I receive her from your hands. Orest. [Aside.] Oh, change of fortune! Oh, undone Orestes: [Exit Orestes.

Pyr. Well, Phoenix, am I still a slave to love? What think'st thou now? Am I myself again?

Phan. Tis as it should be: this discovers

Pyrrhus ;

Shews all the hero. Now you are yourself!
The son, the rival of the great Achilles !
Greece will applaud you; and the world confess,
Pyrrhus has conquered Troy a second time.

Pyr. Nay, Phonix, now I but begin to triumph:

I never was a conqueror 'till now.
Believe me, a whole host, a war of foes,
May sooner be subdued, than love. Oh, Phoenix,
What ruin have I shunned! The Greeks enraged,
Iung o'er me, like a gathering storm, and soon
Had burst in thunder on my head; while I
Abandoned duty, empire, honour, all,
To please a thankless woman!--One kind look
Had quite undone me !

Phan. Oh, my royal master!

The gods, in favour to you, made her cruel. Pyr. Thou sawest with how much scorn she treated me!

When I permitted her to see her son,

I hoped it might have worked her to my wishes. I went to see the mournful interview,

And found her bathed in tears, and lost in passion.

Wild with distress, a thousand times she called
On Hector's name: and when I spoke in comfort,
And promised my protection to her son,
She kissed the boy; and called again on Hector:
Then, strained him in her arms; and cried, "Tis
he!

'Tis he himself! his eyes, his every feature!
His very frown, and his stern look already!
Tis he: 'Tis my loved lord whom I embrace!"
Does she then think, that I preserve the boy,
To soothe, and keep alive her flame for Hector?
Phan. No doubt, she does; and thinks you fa-
voured in it;

But let her go, for an ungrateful woman!

Pyr. I know the thoughts of her proud stubborn heart:

Vain of her charms, and insolent in beauty,
She mocks my rage; and, when it threatens loudest,
Expects 'twill soon be humbled into love.

But we shall change our parts; and she shall find

I can be deaf, like her; and steel my heart.
She's Hector's widow; I Achilles' son;
Pyrrhus is born to hate Andromache.

Phan. My royal master, talk of her no more;
I do not like this anger. Your Hermione
Should now engross your thoughts. "Tis time to
see her;

'Tis time you should prepare the nuptial rites,
And not rely upon a rival's care;
It may be dangerous.

Pyr. But tell me, Phoenix,

Dost thou not think, the proud Andromache
Will be enraged, when I shall wed the princess?
Phan. Why does Andromache still haunt your
thoughts?

What is't to you, be she enraged or pleased?
Let her name perish: think of her no more!
Pyr. No, Phoenix!—I have been too gentle
with her,

I've checked my wrath, and stiffled my resent

ment:

She knows not yet to what degree I hate her. Let us return:I'll brave her to her face:

I'll give my anger its free course against her.
Thou shalt see, Phoenix, how I'll break her price!
Phan. Oh, go not, sir!-There's ruin in her
eyes!

You do not know your strength: you'll fall before her,

Adore her beauty, and revive her scorn.

Pyr. That were, indeed, a most unmanly weak

ness;

Thou dost not know me, Phoenix.
Phan. Ah, my prince!

You are still struggling in the toils of love!
Pyr. Canst thou then think I love this woman
still?

One who repays my passion with disdain!
A stranger, captive, friendless, and forlorn;
She and her darling son within my power;
His life a forfeit to the Greeks: Yet I
Preserve her son; would take her to my throne;
Would fight her battles, and avenge her wrongs;
And all this while she treats me as her foe!

Phan. You have it in your power to be revenged.

Pyr. Yes-and I'll shew my power! I'll give her cause

To hate me! her Astyanax shall die!—————
What tears will then be shed! How will she then,
In bitterness of heart, reproach my name!
Then, to complete her woes, will I espouse
Hermione:-Twill stab her to the heart!

Phan. Alas, you threaten like a lover still! Pyr. Phoenix, excuse this struggle of my soul: 'Tis the last effort of expiring love.

Phan. Then hasten, sir, to see the Spartan princess;

And turn the bent of your desires on her.

Pyr. Oh! 'tis a heavy task to conquer love, And wean the soul from her accustomed fond

ness.

But, come !-A long farewell to Hector's widow.
'Tis with a secret pleasure I look back,
And see the many dangers I have passed.
The merchant thus, in dreadful tempests tost,
Thrown by the waves on some unlooked-for coast,
Oft turns, and sees, with a delighted eye,
Midst rocks and shelves the broken billows fly;
And, while the outrageous winds the deep deform,
Smiles on the tumult, and enjoys the storm.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.

Enter PYLADES and ORESTES,

Life is not worth my care. My soul grows des

perate.

I'll bear her off, or perish in the attempt.

ruffled mind,

And moderate your rage!

Orest. No, Pylades!

This is no time for counsel.I am deaf.

Talk not of reason! I have been too patient.

Pyl. Well, 'tis agreed, my friend :—We'll force her hence,

But still consider, we are in Epirus.

The court, the guards, Hermione herself,
The very air we breathe, belongs to Pyrrhus.

Good gods! what tempted you to seek her here!
Orest. Lost to myself, I knew not what I did.
My purposes were wild. Perhaps I came
To menace Pyrrhus, and upbraid the woman.
Pyl. This violence of temper may prove fatal.
Orest. It must be more than man to bear these
shocks,

These outrages of fate, with temper!
He tells me, that he weds Hermione;

And will to-morrow take her from my hand!—
My hand shall sooner tear the tyrant's heart.-
Pyl. Your passion blinds you, sir; he's not to
blame.

Could you but look into the soul of Pyrrhus,
Perhaps you'd find it tortured, like your own.
Orest. No, Pylades! 'Tis all design-His pride,
To triumph over me, has changed his love.
The fair Hermione, before I came,
In all her bloom of beauty, was neglected.
Ah, cruel gods! I thought her all my own!
She was consenting to return to Sparta :
Her heart, divided betwixt rage and love,
Was on the wing to take its leave of Pyrrhus.
She heard my sighs; she pitied my complaints;
She praised my constancy ;— -The least indiffer-

(As Pyrrhus has consented) into Greece. Go, Pylades————

Pyl. Lead on, my friend, lead on! Let us bear off Hermione! No toil, No danger can deter a friend :-Lead on! Draw up the Greeks; summon your numerous train:

The ships are ready, and the wind sits fair: There eastward lies the sea; the rolling waves Break on those palace-stairs. I know each pass, Each avenue and outlet of the court.

This very night we'll carry her on board.

Orest. Thou art too good! I trespass on thy friendship,

But, Oh! excuse a wretch, whom no man pities,
Except thyself: one just about to lose

The treasure of his soul: whom all mankind
Conspire to hate, and one who hates himself.
When will my friendship be of use to thee?

Pyl. The question is unkind. But now remember

To keep your counsels close, and hide your thoughts;

Let not Hermione suspect-no more—
I see her coming, sir-

Orest. Away, my friend;

I am advised; my all depends upon it.

[Exit Pylades.

ply?

Her. Could I imagine Pyrrhus loved me still?
After so long delays, who would have thought
His hidden flames would shew themselves at last,
And kindle in his breast, when mine expired?
I can suppose, with you, he fears the Greeks;
That it is interest, and not love, directs him;
And that my eyes had greater power o'er you.
Orest. No, princess, no! It is too plain he
loves you.

Your eyes do what they will, and cannot fail
To gain a conquest, where you wish they should.
Her. What can I do? alas! my faith is pro-

mised.

Can I refuse what is not mine to give?
A princess is not at her choice to love;
All we have left us is a blind obedience:
And yet, you see, how far I had complied,
And made my duty yield to your intreaties.
Orest. Ah, cruel maid! you knew—but I have
done.

All have a right to please themselves in love :
I blame not you. 'Tis true, I hoped-but you
Are inistress of your heart, and I'm content.

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