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Yet would you hear me; could your lov'd If-That pants, and ftruggles with the whirling

mena

With all her charms o'er-rule your fullen honour,
You yet might live, nor leave the poor Ifmena.
Hip. Speak: if I can, I'm ready to obey.
Im. Give the queen hopes.

Hip. No more-my foul difdains it.
No--fhould I try, my haughty foul would fwell,
Sharpen each word, and threaten in my eyes.
O, fhould I ftoop to cringe, to lie, forfwear?
Deferve the ruin which I ftrive to fhun?

Im. O, I can't bear this cold contempt of death!

This rigid virtue, that prefers your glory
To liberty or life. O cruel man!

By thefe fad fighs, by thefe poor ftreaming eyes,
By that dear love that makes us now unhappy,
By the near danger of that precious life,
Heaven knows I value much above my own-
What! not yet mov'd? are you refolv'd on
death?

Then, ere 'tis night, I fwear by all the pow'rs,
This fteel fhall end my fears and life together.
Hip. You fha'n't be trufted with a life fo pre-
cious.

No; to the court I'll publish your defign:
Ev'n bloody Lycon will prevent your fate;
Lycon fhall wrench the dagger from your bo-
fom,

And raving Phædra will preferve Ifmena.

Ifm. Phædra! come on, I'll lead you on to

Phædra:

I'll tell her all the fecrets of our love;
Give to her rage her clofe deftructive rival:
Her rival fure will fall; her love may fave you.
Come, fee me labour in the pangs of death,
My agonizing limbs, my dying eyes,
Dying, yet fix'd in death on my Hippolitus.
H. What's your defign? ye pow'rs! what
means my love?

Im. She means to lead you in the road of fate;
She means to die with one she can't preserve.
Yet when you fee me pale upon the earth,
This once-lov'd form grown horrible in death,
Sure your relenting foul would with you'd fav'd

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waves,

And catches ev'ry flender reed to fave him. Lady. But thould he do what your commands enjoin'd him,

Say, fhould he wed her?

Im. Should he wed the queen?
O! I'd remember that 'twas my requeft,
And die well pleas'd I made the hero happy.

Lady. Die does Himena then refolve to die
Ifm. Can I then live? can I, who lov'd fo well,
To part with all my blifs to fave my lover?
O! can I drag a wretched life without him,
And fee another revel in his arms?

O, 'tis in death alone I can have comfort!
Enter Lycon.

Lyc. What a reverse is this! perfidious boy, Is this thy truth is this thy boasted honour ? Then all are rogues alike: I never thought But one man honeft, and that one deceives me.

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She doats, the dies: and few, but tedious days,
With endless joys will crown the happy pair.
Im. Does he then wed the queen?

Lyc. At least I think fo.

I, when the prince approach'd, not far retir'd, Pale with my doubts: he fpoke; th' attentive queen

Dwelt on his accents, and her gloomy eyes Sparkled with gentler fires; he blushing bow'd; She, trembling, loft in love, with foft confufion Receiv'd his paffion, and return'd her own : Then finiling turn'd to me, and bade me order The pompous rites of her enfuing nuptials, Which I must now purfue. Farewel, Ifmena.

[Exit.

Ifm. Then I'll retire, and not disturb their joys. Lady. Stay, and learn more,

Ifm. Ah! wherefore should I stay? What! fhall I ftay to rave, t' upbraid, to hold

him?

To fnatch the ftruggling charmer from her arms? For could you think that open gen'rous youth Could with feign'd love deceive a jealous wo

man?

Could he fo foon grow artful in diffembling?
Ah! without doubt his thoughts infpir'd his
tongue,

And all his foul receiv'd a real love.
Perhaps new graces darted from her eyes,
Perhaps foft pity charm'd his yielding foul,
Perhaps her love, perhaps her kingdom charm'd

him;

Perhaps alas! how many things might charm him! Y y 2

Lady,

Lady. Wait the fuccefs: it is not yet decided. Ifm. Not yet decided! did not Lycon tell us How he protefted, figh'd, and look 'd, and vow'd? How the foft palion languifh'd in his eyes? Ay, no, he loves, he dotes on l'hedra's charms. Now, now he clafps her to his panting breaft, Now he devours her with his eager eyes, Now grafps her hands, and now he looks, and vows The dear falfe things that charm'd the poor Ifmena.

He comes; be fill, my heart; the tyrant comes, Charming tho' falfe, and lovely in his guilt.

Enter Hippolitus.

Hip. Why hangs that cloudy forrow on your brow>

Why do you figh? why flow your fwelling eyes, Thofe eves that us'd with joy to view Hippolitus? Ifm. My lord, my foul is charm'd with your fuccefs.

You know, my lord, my fears are but for you,
For your dear life; and fince my death alone
Can make you fafe, that foon fhall make you
happy.

Yet had you brought lefs love to Phædra's arms,
My foul had parted with a lefs regret,
Bleft if furviving in your dear remembrance.
Hip. Your death! my love! my marriage! and

to Phædra! Hear me, Ifmena.

Ifm. No, I dare not hear you.

But tho' you 've been thus cruelly unkind,
Tho' you have left me for the royal Phaedra,
Yet ftill my foul o'er-runs with fondnefs tow'rds

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Hip. Then thus:—I came and spake, but searce of love;

The eafy queen receiv'd my faint addrefs With eager hope and unfufpicious faith. Lycon with feeming joy difinifs'd my guards: My gen'rous foul difdain'd the mean deceit, But ftili deceiv'd her to obey Himena.

Im. Art thou then true? thou art. O pardon

me!

Pardon the errors of a filly maid,

Wild with her fears, and mad with jealousy;
For fill that fear, that jealoufy, was love.
Hafte then, my lord, and fave yourself by flight:
And when your abfent, when your godlike form
Shall ceafe to cheer forlorn Ifmena's eyes,
Then let each day, each hour, cach minute bring
Some kind remembrance of your constant love;
Speak of your health, your fortune, and your
friends,

(For fure thofe friends fhall have my tend'reft wishes)

Speak much of all; but of thy dear, dear love, Speak much, fpeak very much, but still speak on.

Hip. O thy dear love fhall ever be my theme;
Of that alone I'll talk the live-long day;
But thus I'll talk, thus dwelling in thy eyes,
Tafting the odours of thy fragrant bófom.
Come then, to crown me with immortal joys,
Come, be the kind companion of my flight,
Come, hafte with me to leave this fatal fhore.
The bark before prepar'd for my departure
Expects its freight; an hundred lufty rowers
Have wav'd their finewy arms, and call Hip-
politus;

The loofen'd canvas trembles with the wind,
And the fea whitens with aufpicious gales.

Ifm. Fly then, my lord, and may the gods protect thee!

Fly, ere infidious Lycon work thy ruin;
Fly, cre my fondnets talk thy life away;
Fly from the queen.

Hip. But not from my Ifinena.
Why do you force me from your heavenly fight,
With thole dear arms that ought to clafp me to thee?
Im. O, I could rave for ever at my fate!
And, with alternate love and fear poffefs'd,
Now force thee from my arms, now snatch thee
to my breast,

And tremble till you go, but die till you return.
Nay, I could go. Ye gods, if I fhall go,
What would Fame fay if I fhould fly alone
With a young lovely prince that charm'd my foul?
Hip. Say, you did well to fly a certain ruin,
To fly the fury of a queen incens'd,

To crown with endicis joys the youth that lov'd

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I offer to your rage this worthlefs life,
Since 'tis no longer my Ifmena's care.

Im. O, hafte away, my lord! I go, I fly
Thro' all the dangers of the boift'rous deep.
When the wind whiftles thro' the crackling mafts,
When thro' the yawning fhip the foaming fea
Rolls bubbling in; then, then I'll clafp thee faft,
And in tranfporting love forget my fear.
O, I will wander thro' the Scythian gloom,
O'er ice, and hills of everlasting fnow;
There, when the horrid darkness shall inclofe us,
When the bleak wind fhall chill my thiving
limbs,

Thou shalt alone fupply the diftant fun,
And cheer my gazing eyes, and warm my heart.
Hip. Come, let's away, and like another Jafon
I'll bear my beauteous conqueft thro' the feas:
A greater treafure, and a nobler prize,
Than he from Colchos bore. Sleep, fleep in peace,
Ye monsters of the woods, on Ida's top
Securely roam; no more my early horn
Shall wake the lazy day. Tranporting love
Reigns in my heart, and makes me all its own.
So, when bright Venus yielded up her charms,
The bleft Adonis languifh'd in her arms;
His idle horn on fragrant myrtles hung,
His arrows fcatter'd, and his bow unftrung:
Obfcure in coverts lie his dreaming hounds,
And bay the fancied boar with feeble founds;
For nobler sports he quits the favage fields,
And all the hero to the lover yicids. [Excunt.

ACT III.

Enter Lycon and Guards.

The fertile province of Cydonia 's thine:
Is there aught elfe? has happy Phædia aught
In the wide circle of her far-itretch'd empire?
Afk, take, my friend, fecure of no repulfe.
Let fpacious Crete thro' all her hundred citics
Refound her Phedra's joy. Let altars fmoke,
And richeft gums, and fice, and incenfe roll
Their fragrant wreaths to Heaven, to pitying
Heaven,

Which gives Hippolitus to Phædra's arms.
Set all at large, and bid the loathfoine dungeons
Give up the meagre flaves that pine in darkness
And wafte in grief, as did defpairing Phædra:
Let them be cheer'd, let the ftarv'd prifoners riot,
And glow with gen'rous wine. Let forrow
ceafe;
Let none be wretched, none, fince Phædra's
happy.

But now he comes, and with an equal paffion
Rewards my flame, and springs into my arms!
Enter Meffenger.

Say, where's the prince?

Meff. He's no where to be found.
Phed. Perhaps he hunts?

Me. He hunted not to-day.

Phad. Ha! have you fearch'd the walks, the

courts, the temples?

Me. Search'd all in vain.

Phad. Did he not hunt to-day?

Alas! you told me once before he did not :

My heart mifgives me!

[Exit Meff.

fears were

Lyc. So indeed doth mine. Then my

true.

Phad. Could he deceive me? could that godlike youth

Defign the ruin of a queen that loves?

Lyc. HEAVEN is at laft appeas'd: the pitying, he's all truth; his words, his looks, his eyes,

gods

Have heard our wishes, and aufpicious Jove
Smiles on his native ifle; for Phædra lives,
Reftor'd to Crete, and to herfelf, the lives:
Joy with fresh ftrength infpires her drooping limbs,
Revives her charms, and o'er her faded cheeks
Spreads a fresh rofy bloom; as kindly springs
With genial heat renew the frozen earth,
And paint its finiling face with gaudy flow'rs.
But fee, fhe comes, the beauteous Phædra comes.

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Open to view his inmoft thoughts. He comes.
Ha! who art thou? whence com'ft thou? where's
Hippolitus?

Enter Mefenger.

Meff. Madam, Hippolitus with fair Ismena Drove tow'rd the port

Phæd. With fir Ifmena?

Curft be her cruel beauty, curft her charms,
Curft all her foothing, fatal, falfe endearments.
That heavenly virgin, that exalted goodness,
Could fee me tortur'd with defpairing love,
With artful tears could mourn my monstrous
fuff'rings,

While her bafe malice plotted my deftruction.

Lyc. A thoufand refons crowd upon my foul
That evidence their love.

Phaed. Yes, yes, they love;
Why elfe fhould he refufe my proffer'd bed?
Why thould one warm'd with youth, and thirst

of glory,

Difdain a foul, a form, a crown like mine?
Lyc. Where, Lycon, where was then thy boafted
cunning?
Dull, thoughtless wretch!

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Phæd

Phad. O pains unfelt before!
The grief, defpair, the agonics and pangs,
All the wild fury of diftracted love,

Are nought to this.--Say, famous politician, Where, when, and how did their firft paffion rife?

Where did they breathe their fighs? what fhady

groves,

What gloomy woods, conceal'd their hidden loves?
Alas! they hid it not; the well-pleas'd fun
With all his beams furvey'd their guiltless flame;
Glad zephyrs wafted their untainted fighs,
And Ida echoed their endearing accents.
While I, the fhame of nature, hid in darkness,
Far from the balmy air and checring light,
Prefs'd down my fighs, and dried my falling tears,
Search'd aretreat to mourn, and watch'd to grieve.
Lyc. Now ceafe that grief, and let your injur'd
love

Contrive due vengeance; let majestic Phædra,
That lov'd the hero, facrifice the villain.
Then hafte, fend forth your minifters of ven-
geance,

To fnatch the traitor from his rival's arms,
And force him trembling to your awful prefence.
Phad. O rightly thought!-Dispatch th' at-
tending guards;

Bid them bring forth their inftruments of death,
Darts, engines, flames and launch into the deep,
And hurl fwift vengeance on the perjur'd flave.
[Exit Meffenger.
Where an I, Gods? what is 't my rage com-
mands?

Even now he's gone; even now the well-tim'd oars
With founding ftrokes divide the sparkling waves,
And happy gales affift their fpeedy flight.
Now they embrace; and ardent love enflames
Their flushing checks, and trembles in their eyes.
Now they expofe my weaknefs and my crimes;
Now to the porting crowd they tell my follies.

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Enter Hippolitus, with two Guards.

Behold the crimes, the tyrants, all the monsters, From which thy valour purg'd the groaning earth, Behold them all in thy own fon reviv'd.

Hip. Touch not my glory, left you stain your

own:

I ftill have ftrove to make my glorious father
Blufh, yet rejoice, to fee himself outdone;
To mix my parents in my lineal virtues,
As Thefeus juft, and as Camilla chafte.

Phad. The godlike Thefeus never was thy parent.

No, 'twas fome monthly Cappadocian drudge,
Obedient to the fcourge, and beaten to her arms,
Begot thee, traitor, on the chafte Camilla.
Camilla chafte ! an Amazon, and chafte !
That quits her fex, and yet retains her virtue.
See the chafte matron mount the neighing fteed;
In strict embraces lock the ftruggling warrior,
And choose the lover in the sturdy fue.

Enter Meffenger, and seems to talk earnefily with
Lycon.

Hip. No; fhe refus'd the vows of godlike The

feus,

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Of blood and death, of murder and relation! Phæd. Couldst thou deceive me? could a fon What joy 't had been to old difabled Thefeus,

of Thefeus

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When he fhould take the offspring in his arms!
Even in his arms to hold an infant Pallas,
And be upbraided with his grandfire's fate.
O barbarous youth'

Lyc. Too barbarous, I fear. [Distant shout.
Perhaps c'en now his faction 's up in arms,
Since waving crowds roll onwards tow'rds the
palace,

And rend the city with tumultuous clamours !
Perhaps to murder Phædra and her fon,
And give the crown to him and his Ifmena.
But I'll prevent it.

[Exit.

Imena brought in by two Gentlemen. Phad. What! the kind Ifmena, That nurs'd me, watch'd my ficknefs! O, watch'd me,

A love fo warm, fo firm, fo like my own.
O had the gods fo pleas'd, had bounteous Heaven
fhe Beltow'd Hippolitus on Phædra's arms,
So had I ftood the thock of angry fate;
So had I given my life with joy to fave him.

As rav'nous vultures watch the dying lion,
To tear his heart, and riot in his blood.
Hark, hark, my little infant cries for juftice!
O, be appeas'd, my babe, thou shalt have juftice'
Now all the fpirits of my godlike race
Inflame my foul, and urge me on to vengeance.
Arfamnes, Minos, Jove, th' avenging fun,
Infpite my fury, and demand my justice.
O, you fhall have it; thou, Minos, shalt applaud it.
Yes, thou shalt copy it in their pains below.
God of revenge, arife!-He comes, he comes;
And fhoots himself thro' all my kindling blood.
I have it here.-Now, bafe, perfidious wretch,
Now figh, and weep, and tremble in thy turn.
Yes, your Ifmena fhall appcafe my vengeance.
Itmena dies; and thou, her pitying lover,
Doom'd her to death.-Thou too fhalt fee her
bleed,

See her convulfive pangs, and hear her dying

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Ifn. Alas! my tender foul would fhrink at Shake with its fears, and fink beneath its pains, In any caufe but this.-But now I'm steel'd, And the near danger leffens to my fight. Now, if I live, 'tis only for Hippolitus, And with an equal joy I'll die to fave him. Yes, for his fake I'll go a willing shade, And wait his coming in th' Elytian fields; And there enquire of each defcending ghost Of my lov'd hero's welfare, life, and honour; That dear remembrance will improve the blifs, Add to th' Elyfian joys, and make that Heaven more happy.

Hip. O heavenly virgin! [Afule.] O imperial
Phædra,

Let your rage fall on this devoted head;
But spare, O fpare a`guiltless virgin's life :
Think of her youth, her innocence, her virtue;
Think with what warm compaflion the bemoan'd
you;

Think how the ferv'd and watch'd you in your fickness;

How ev'ry rifing and descending fun

Saw kind Ifinena watching o'er the queen.
I only promis'd, I alone deceiv'd you;
And I, and only I, fhould feel your justice.
Im. O by thofe pow'rs to whom I foon muft

antwer

For all my faults; by that bright arch of heaven
I now laff fee, I wrought him by my wiles,
By tears, by threats, by ev'ry female art,
Wrought his difdaining foul to falfe compliance.
The fon of Thefeus could not think of fraud;
'Twas woman all.

Phad. I fee 'twas woman all: And woman's fraud fhould meet with woman's vengeance.

But yet thy courage, truth, and virtue fhock me:

Hip. And can you doom her death? can
Mines' daughter

Condemn the virtue which her foul admires?
Are not you Paædra-once the boaft of fame,
Shame of our fex, and pattern of your own?

Phed, Am I that Phedra no; another foul
Informs my alter'd frame. Could elfe Ifmena
Provoke my hated, yet deferve my love?
Aid me, ye gods! fupport my finking glory,
Reftore my reafon, and contiran my virtue.
Yet, is my rage unjuft then, why was Phædra
Refcued for torment, and preferv'd for pain?
Why did you raife me to the height of joy,
Above the wreck of clouds and forms below,
To difh and break me on the ground for ever?
Jim. Was it not time to urge him to compliance,
At leaft to feign it, when perfidious Lycon
Confin'd his perfon, and confpir'd his death?

Phad. Contin'd and doom'd to death!--0 cruel Lycon!

Could I have doom'd thy death? could these fad eyes,

That lov'd thee living, e'er behold thee dead?
Yet thou couldst fee me die without concern,
Rather than fave a wretched queen from ruin.
Elfe could you choose to truft the warring winds,
The fwelling waves, the rocks, the faithlefs fands,
And all the raging monsters of the deep?
O think you fee me on the naked fhore;
Think how I fcream, and tear my fcatter'd hair;
Break from th' embraces of my fhrieking maids,
And harrow on the fand my bleeding bofom;
Then catch with wide-ftretch'd arms the empty
billows,

And headlong plunge into the gaping deep.

Hip. O difinal fate ! my bleeding heart relents, And all my thoughts diffolve in tend'reft pity.

Phad. If you can pity, O refufe not love !
But ftoop to rule in Crete, the feat of heroes,
And nurfery of gods. A hundred cities
Court thee for lord, where the rich bufy crowds
Struggle for pallage thro' the fpacious streets;
Where thoufand fhips o'erflade the lefs'ning
main,

And tire the lab'ring wind. The fuppliant nations
Bow to its enfigns, and with lower'd fails
Confefs the ocean's queen. For thee alone
The winds fhall blow, and the vaft ocean roll.
For thee alone the fam'd Cydonian warriors
From twanging yews thall fend their fatal thefts.
Hip. Then let me march their leader, not their
prince;

And at the head of your renown'd Cydonians
Brandifh this far-fam'd fword of conqu`ring The

feus;

That I may shake th' Egyptian tyrant's yoke From Afia's neck, and fix it on his own; That willing nations may obey your laws, And your bright ancestor, the fun, may fhine On nought but Phædra's empire.

Y y 4

Phd

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