Chapter 72

_Enter_ Philander _with the_ King.

_King_. Thou’st entertain’d me with a pretty Story, And call’d up so much Nature to thy Cause, That I am half subjected to its Laws; I find thy lovely Mother plead within too, And bids me put no force upon thy Will; Tells me thy Flame should be as unconfin’d As that we felt when our two Souls combin’d. Alas, _Philander_, I am old and feeble, And cannot long survive: But thou hast many Ages yet to number Of Youth and Vigour; and should all be wasted In the Embraces of an unlov’d Maid? No, my _Philander_, if that after death Ought could remain to me of this World’s Joys, I should remember none with more delight, Than those of having left thee truly happy.

_Phi_. This Goodness, Sir, resembles that of Heaven, Preserving what it made, and can be paid Only with grateful Praise as we do that.

_King_. Go, carry on your innocent design, And when you’ve done, the last act shall be mine.

[_Exeunt_