Sprinkled his Clay-cold Coarfe with holy Drops,
According to our Church's Reverend Rite,
And faw him laid, in hallow'd Ground, to rest.
7.Sh Oh! that my Soul had known no Joy but him,
That I had liv'd within his guiltlefs Arms,

And dying flept in Innocence befide him!

But now his honeft Duft abhors the Fellowship,

And fcorns to mix with mine..

Enter a Servant.

Serv. The Lady Alicia

Attends your Leisure.

7. Sh. Say I wish to fee her.

'Pleafe, gentle Sir, one Moment to retire, I'll wait you on the Inftant; and inform you Of each unhappy Circumftance, in which

Your friendly Aid and Council much

may

[Exit Servant.

ftead me,

[Exeunt Bellmour and Dumont.

Enter Alicia.

Alic. Still, my fair Friend, ftill shall I find you thus,

Still fhall thefe Sighs heave after one another,

These trickling Drops chafe one another still,

As if the pofting Meffengers of Grief

Could overtake the Hours fled far away,

And make old Time come back?

J. Sh. No, my Alicia,

Heaven and its Saints be Witnefs to my 'Thoughts,

There is no Hour of all my Life o'er-paft,

That I could wish fhould take its Turn again.

Alic. And yet fome of those Days, my Friend, has known,' Some of those Years, might pafs for golden ones,

At leaft, if Womankind can judge of Happiness.

What

What could we wish, we who delight in Empire,
Whofe Beauty is our Sovereign Good, and gives us
Our Reasons to Rebel, and Power to Reign,..
What could we more, than to behold a Monarch,
Lovely, Renown'd, a Conqueror, and Young,
Bound in our Chains, and fighing at our Feet?

7. Sb. "Tis true, the Royal Edward was a Wonder,
The goodly Pride of all our English Youth ;
He was the very Joy of all that faw him,

Form'd to delight, to love, and to perfuade.
Impaffive Spirits, and angelick Natures

Might have been charm'd, like yielding Human Weaknefs,
Stoop'd from their Heav'n, and liften'd to his talking.
But what had I to do with Kings and Courts?
My humble Lot had caft me far beneath him
And that he was the firft of all Mankind,
The bravest and most lovely, was my Curfe.

Alic. Sure, fomething more than Fortune join'd your Loves 3 Nor could his Greatnefs, and his gracious Form,

Be elsewhere match'd fo well, as to the Sweetness
And Beauty of my Friend.

7. Sh. Name him no more.

He was the Bane and Ruin of my Peace.

This Anguish and thefe Tears, thefe are the Legacies:

His fatal Love has left me Thou wilt fee me,

Believe me, my Alisia, thou wilt fee me,

me,

'Ere yet a few short Days pafs o'er my Head, or I

Abandon'd to the very utmost Wretchedness.,,

The Hand of Pow'r has feiz'd almoft the whole,

Of what was left for needy Life's Support;

Shortly thou wilt behold me poor, and kneelings

Be

Before thy charitable Door for Bread,

Alic. Joy of my Life, my dearest Shore, forbear
To wound my Heart with thy foreboding Sorrows.
Raife thy fad Soul to better Hopes than thefe,
Lift up thy Eyes, and let 'em fhine once more,
Bright as the Morning Sun above the Mis.
Exert thy Charms, feek out thy ftern Protector.
And footh his favage Temper, with thy Beauty:
Spight of his deadly unrelenting Nature,

He fhall be mov'd to Pity and Redress thee.

7. Sh. My Form, alas! has long forgot to please ;
The Scene of Beauty and Delight is chang'd,
No Rofes bloom upon my fading Cheek,
Nor laughing Graces wanton in my Eyes?
But haggard Grief, lean-looking fallow Care,
And pining Difcontent, a rueful Train,
Dwell on my Brow all hideous and forlorn.
One only Shadow of a Hope is left me ;
The noble-minded Haftings, of his Goodness,
Has kindly underta'en to be my Advocate,
And move my humble Suit to angry Glofter.

Alic. Does Haftings undertake to plead your Caufe?
But wherefore should he not? Haftings has Eyes;
The gentle Lord has a tight tender Heart,
Melting and eafy, yielding to Impreffion,

And catching the foft Flame from each new Beauty.
But yours shall charm him long. drama
J. Sb. Away, you Flatterer V

Nor charge his generous Meaning with a Weaknefs,
Which his great Soul and Virtue must difdain.
Too much of Love thy hapless Friend has prov'd

I

Του

Too many giddy, foolish Hours are gone,
And in fantastick Measures danc'd away :
May the remaining few know only Friendship.
So thou, my dearest, truest, best Alicia,
Vouchfafe to lodge me in thy gentle Heart,
A Partner there; I will give up Mankind,
Forget the Tranfports of encreafing Paffion,
And all the Pangs we feel for its Decay.

Alic. Live! liye and reign for ever in my Bofom !

Safe and unrival'd there poffefs thy own;
And you, ye brightest of the Stars above,
Ye Saints, that once were Women here below,
Be witness of the Truth, the holy Friend hip,
Which here to this my other felf I vow.
If I not hold her nearer to my Soul,
Than ev'ry other Joy the World can give,
Let Poverty, Deformity and Shame,
Diftraction and Despair feize me on Earth,
Let not my faithlefs Ghoft have Peace hereafter,
Nor tafte the Blifs of your coeleftial Fellowship.

[Embracing.

7. Sh. Yes, thou art true, and only thou art true Therefore thefe Jewels, once the lavish Bounty

Of Royal Edward's Love, I truft to thee; [Giving a Casket. ↑ Receive this All, that I can call my own,

And let it reft unknown and safe with thee:
That if the State's Injuftice fhould opprefs me,
Strip me of all, and turmme out a Wanderer,
My Wretchedness may find Relief from thee,
And shelter from the Storm.

Alic. My All is thines

One

One common Hazard shall attend us both,

A

And both be fortunate, or both be wretched.

But let thy fearful doubting Heart be still,

The Saints and Angels have thee in their Charge,
And all Things fhall be well. Think not, the good,
The gentle Deeds of Mercy thou haft done,

Shall die forgotten all; the Poor, the Pris'ner,
The Fatherlefs, the Friendlefs, and the Widow,
Who daily own the Bounty of thy Hand,
Shall cry to Heav'n, and pull a Blessing on thee;
Ev'n Man, the mercilefs Infulter, Man,
Man, who rejoices in our Sex's Weakness,
Shall pity thee, and with unwonted Goodness,
Forget thy Failings, and record thy Praise.

7. Sh. Why fhould I think that Man will do for me,
What yet he never did for Wretches like me?
Mark by what partial Juftice we are judg'd;
Such is the Fate unhappy Women find,
And fuch the Curfe intail'd upon our Kind,
That Man, the lawlefs Libertine, may rove,
Free and unqueftion'd through the Wiles of Love;
While Woman, Senfe and Nature's eafy Fool,
If poor weak Woman fwerve from Virtue's Rule,
If ftrongly charm'd, the leave the thorny Way,
And in the fofter Paths of Pleasure fray,
Ruin enfies, Reproach and endlef's Shame,
And one falfe Step entirely damns her Fame.
In vain with Tears the Lofs fhe may deplore,.
In vain look back to what he was before,
She fets, like Stars that fall, to rife no more.

The End of the First At

}

[Exeunt.

ACT