And satisfy the lovely pride that's in thee?
I'll kneel to thee, and weep a flood before thee.
Yet pr'ythee, tyrant, break not quite my heart;
But when my task of penitence is done,
Heal it again, and comfort me with love.

Mon. If I am dumb, Castalio, and want words
To pay thee back this mighty tenderness;
It is because I look on thee with horror,
And cannot see the man I have wrong'd.
Cast. Thou hast not wrong'd me.

Mon. Ah! alas, thou talk'st

Just as thy poor heart thinks! Have not I wrong'd

thee?

Cast. No.

Mon. Still thou wander'st in the dark, Castalio; But wilt, ere long, stumble on horrid danger. "Cast. What means my love?

Mon. Could'st thou but forgive me

"Cast. What?

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"Mon. For my fault last night; alas, thou can'st

not!

"Cast. I can, and do.

"Mon. Thus crawling on the earth,

"Would I that pardon meet; the only thing

“Can make me view the face of Heav'n with hope.

"Cast. Then, let's draw near.

"Mon. Ah, me!

"Cast. So, in the fields,

"When the destroyer has been out for prey,

"The scatter'd lovers of the feather'd kind,

Seeking, when danger's past, to meet again,

"Make moan, and call, by such degrees approach;

"'Till joining thus, they bill, and spread their wings, Murmuring love, and joy their fears are over.

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"Mon. Yet, have a care; be not too fond of peace, "Lest, in pursuance of the goodly quarry, "Thou meet a disappointment that distracts thee." Cast. My better angel, then do thou inform me, What danger threatens me, and where it lies: Why didst thou (pr'ythee smile, and tell me why) When I stood waiting underneath the window, Quaking with fierce and violent desires;

The dropping dews fell cold upon my head,

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Darkness inclos'd, and the winds whistled round me; Which, with my mournful sighs, made such a music, As might have mov'd the hardest heart; why wert thou

Deaf to my cries, and senseless of my pains?

Mon. Did I not beg thee to forbear inquiry? Read'st thou not something in my face, that speaks Wonderful change, and horror from within me?

Cast. Then there is something yet which. I've not known:

What dost thou mean by horror and forbearance
Of more inquiry? Tell me, I beg thee, tell me ;
And don't betray me to a second madness.
Mon. Must I?

Cast. If, lab'ring in the pangs of death,

Thou would'st do any thing to give me ease;

Unfold this riddle ere my thoughts grow wild,

And let in fears of ugly form upon me.

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Mon. My heart won't let me speak it; but remember, Monimia, poor Monimia, tells you this,

We ne'er must meet again

Cast. "What means my destiny?

"For all my good or evil fate dwells in thee?" Ne'er meet again!

Mon. No, never.

Cast. Where's the power

On earth, that dare not look like thee, and say so?
Thou art my heart's inheritance; I serv'd

A long and painful, faithful slav'ry for thee:
And who shall rob me of the dear-bought blessing?
Mon. Time will clear all; but now, let this content

you.

Heav'n has decreed, and therefore I'm resolv'd

(With torment I must tell it thee, Castalio) Ever to be a stranger to thy love;

In some far distant country waste my life,
And from this day, to see thy face no more.

Cast. Where am I? Sure I wander 'midst enchant

ment,

And never more shall find the way to rest;

"But, oh, Monimia! art thou indeed resolv'd
"To punish me with everlasting absence?"
Why turn'st thou from me; I'm alone already;
Methinks I stand upon a naked beach,
Sighing to winds, and to the seas complaining,

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Whilst afar off the vessel sails away,

Where all the treasure of my soul's embark'd,
Wilt thou not turn?-Oh! could those eyes but speak,
I should know all, for love is pregnant in 'em;
They swell, they press their beams upon me still:
Wilt thou not speak? If we must part for ever,
Give me but one kind word to think upon,

And please myself withal, whilst my heart's breaking.

Mon. Ah, poor Castalio!

Cast. "Pity, by the gods,

[Exit Monimia.

"She pities me! then thou wilt go eternally."
What means all this? Why all this stir to plague
A single wretch? If but your word can shake
This world to atoms, why so much ado

With me? Think me but dead, and lay me so.

360

Enter POLYDORE.

Pol. To live, and live a torment to myself, What dog would bear't, that knew but his condition? We've little knowledge, and that makes us cowards, Because it cannot tell us what's to come.

Cast. In haste.

Methinks my Polydore appears in sadness.

Pol. Indeed, and so to me does my Castalio.
Cast. Do I?

Pol. Thou dost.

Cast. Alas, I've wond'rous reason!

I'm strangely alter'd, brother, since I saw thee.
Pol. Why?

Cast. Oh! to tell thee, would but put thy heart
To pain. Let me embrace thee but a little,
And weep upon thy neck; I would repose
Within thy friendly bosom all my follies;
For thou wilt pardon 'em, because they're mine.
Pol. Be not too credulous; consider first;

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Friends may be false. Is there no friendship false?
Cast. Why do'st thou ask me that? Does this appear
Like a false friendship, when with open arms
And streaming eyes, I run upon thy breast?
Oh, 'tis in thee alone I must have comfort!

Pol. I fear, Castalio, I have none to give thee.
Cast. Dost thou not love me, then?

Pol. Oh, more than life:

I never had a thought of my Castalio,

Might wrong the friendship we had vow'd together. Hast thou dealt so by me?

Cast. I hope I have.

Pol. Then tell me why this mourning, this disorder? Cast. Oh, Polydore, I know not how to tell thee; Shame rises in my face, and interrupts

The story of my tongue.

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