ACT II.

_The Scene is a Poetical Hell. The Change is total; The Upper Part of the House, as well as the Side-Scenes. There is the Figure of_ PROMETHEUS _chained to a Rock, the Vulture gnawing his Liver;_ SISYPHUS _rolling the Stone; the_ BELIDES, _&c. Beyond, Abundance of Figures in various Torments. Then a great Arch of Fire. Behind this, three Pyramids of Flames in perpetual Agitation. Beyond this, glowing Fire, which terminates the Prospect._

PLUTO, _and the_ FURIES; _with_ ALECTO, DEMOCRACY, _and_ ZELOTA.

_Plu._ Infernal offspring of the night, Debarred of heaven your native right, And from the glorious fields of light, Condemned in shades to drag the chain, And fill with groans the gloomy plain; Since, pleasures here are none below, Be ill our good, our joy be woe; Our work to embroil the worlds above, Disturb their union, disunite their love, And blast the beauteous frame of our victorious foe.

_Dem._ and _Zel._ O thou, for whom those worlds are made, Thou sire of all things, and their end, From hence they spring, and when they fade, In shuffled heaps they hither tend; Here human souls receive their breath, And wait for bodies after death.

_Dem._ Hear our complaint, and grant our prayer.

_Plu._ Speak what you are, And whence you fell?

_Dem._ I am thy first-begotten care, Conceived in heaven, but born in hell. When thou didst bravely undertake in fight Yon arbitrary power, That rules by sovereign might, To set thy heaven-born fellows free, And leave no difference in degree, In that auspicious hour Was I begot by thee.

_Zel._ One mother bore us at a birth, Her name was Zeal before she fell; No fairer nymph in heaven or earth, 'Till saintship taught her to rebel: But losing fame, And changing name, She's now the Good Old Cause in hell.

_Plu._ Dear pledges of a flame not yet forgot, Say, what on earth has been your lot?

_Dem._ and _Zel._ The wealth of Albion's isle was ours, Augusta stooped with all her stately towers.

_Dem._ Democracy kept nobles under.

_Zel._ Zeal from the pulpit roared like thunder.

_Dem._ I trampled on the state.

_Zel._ I lorded o'er the gown.

_Dem._ and _Zel._ We both in triumph sate, Usurpers of the crown. But oh, prodigious turn of fate! Heaven controuling, Sent us rolling, rolling down.

_Plu._ I wondered how of late our Acherontic shore Grew thin, and hell unpeopled of her store; Charon, for want of use, forgot his oar. The souls of bodies dead flew all sublime, And hither none returned to purge a crime: But now I see, since Albion is restored, Death has no business, nor the vengeful sword. 'Tis too, too much that here I lie From glorious empire hurled; By Jove excluded from the sky; By Albion from the world.

_Dem._ Were common-wealth restored again, Thou shouldst have millions of the slain To fill thy dark abode.

_Zel._ For he a race of rebels sends, And Zeal the path of heaven pretends, But still mistakes the road.

_Plu._ My labouring thought At length hath wrought A bravely bold design, In which you both shall join. In borrowed shapes to earth return; Thou, Common-wealth, a Patriot seem, Thou, Zeal, like true Religion burn, To gain the giddy crowd's esteem.-- Alecto, thou to fair Augusta go, And all thy snakes into her bosom throw.

_Dem._ Spare some, to fling Where they may sting The breast of Albion's king.

_Zel._ Let jealousies so well be mixed, That great Albanius be unfixed.

_Plu._ Forbear your vain attempts, forbear: Hell can have no admittance there; The people's fear will serve as well, Make him suspected, them rebel.

_Zel._ You've all forgot To forge a plot, In seeming care of Albion's life; Inspire the crowd With clamours loud, To involve his brother and his wife.

_Alec._ Take, of a thousand souls at thy command, The basest, blackest of the Stygian band, One, that will swear to all they can invent, So thoroughly damned, that he can ne'er repent: One, often sent to earth, And still at every birth He took a deeper stain: One, that in Adam's time was Cain; One, that was burnt in Sodom's flame, For crimes even here too black to name: One, who through every form of ill has run: One, who in Naboth's days was Belial's son; One, who has gained a body fit for sin; Where all his crimes Of former times Lie crowded in a skin[2].

_Plu._ Take him, Make him What you please; For he can be A rogue with ease. One for mighty mischief born; He can swear, and be forsworn.

_Plu._ and _Alect._ Take him, make him what you please; For he can be a rogue with ease.

_Plu._ Let us laugh, let us laugh, let us laugh at our woes, The wretch that is damned has nothing to lose.-- Ye furies, advance With the ghosts in a dance. 'Tis a jubilee when the world is in trouble; When people rebel, We frolic in hell; But when the king falls, the pleasure is double. [_A single entry of a Devil, followed by an entry of twelve Devils._

_Chorus._ Let us laugh, let us laugh, let us laugh at our woes, The wretch that is damned hath nothing to lose.

_The Scene changes to a Prospect taken from the middle of the Thames; one side of it begins at York-Stairs, thence to White-Hall, and the Mill-bank, &c. The other from the Saw-mill, thence to the Bishop's Palace, and on as far as can be seen in a clear day._

_Enter_ AUGUSTA: _She has a Snake in her Bosom hanging down._

_Aug._ O jealousy, thou raging ill, Why hast thou found a room in lovers' hearts, Afflicting what thou canst not kill, And poisoning love himself, with his own darts? I find my Albion's heart is gone, My first offences yet remain, Nor can repentance love regain; One writ in sand, alas, in marble one. I rave, I rave! my spirits boil Like flames increased, and mounting high with pouring oil; Disdain and love succeed by turns; One freezes me, and t'other burns; it burns. Away, soft love, thou foe to rest! Give hate the full possession of my breast. Hate is the nobler passion far, When love is ill repaid; For at one blow it ends the war, And cures the love-sick maid.

_Enter_ DEMOCRACY _and_ ZELOTA; _one represents a Patriot, the other, Religion._

_Dem._ Let not thy generous passion waste its rage, But once again restore our golden age; Still to weep and to complain, Does but more provoke disdain. Let public good Inflame thy blood; With crowds of warlike people thou art stored. And heaps of gold; Reject thy old, And to thy bed receive another lord.

_Zel._ Religion shall thy bonds release, For heaven can loose, as well as tie all; And when 'tis for the nation's peace, A king is but a king on trial; When love is lost, let marriage end, And leave a husband for a friend.

_Dem._ With jealousy swarming, The people are arming, The frights of oppression invade them.

_Zel._ If they fall to relenting, For fear of repenting, Religion shall help to persuade them.

_Aug._ No more, no more temptations use To bend my will; How hard a task 'tis to refuse A pleasing ill!

_Dem._ Maintain the seeming duty of a wife, A modest show with jealous eyes deceive; Affect a fear for hated Albion's life, And for imaginary dangers grieve.

_Zel._ His foes already stand protected, His friends by public fame suspected, Albanius must forsake his isle; A plot, contrived in happy hour, Bereaves him of his royal power, For heaven to mourn, and hell to smile.

_The former Scene continues._

_Enter_ ALBION _and_ ALBANIUS _with a train._

_Alb._ Then Zeal and Common-wealth infest My land again; The fumes of madness, that possest The people's giddy brain, Once more disturb the nation's rest, And dye rebellion in a deeper stain.

II.

Will they at length awake the sleeping sword, And force revenge from their offended lord? How long, ye gods, how long Can royal patience bear The insults and wrong Of madmen's jealousies, and causeless fear?

III.

I thought their love by mildness might be gained, By peace I was restored, in peace I reigned; But tumults, seditions, And haughty petitions, Are all the effects of a merciful nature; Forgiving and granting, Ere mortals are wanting, But leads to rebelling against their creator.

MERCURY _descends._

_Mer._ With pity Jove beholds thy state, But Jove is circumscribed by fate; The o'erwhelming tide rolls on so fast, It gains upon this island's waste; And is opposed too late! too late!

_Alb._ What then must helpless Albion do?

_Mer._ Delude the fury of the foe, And, to preserve Albanius, let him go; For 'tis decreed, Thy land must bleed, For crimes not thine, by wrathful Jove; A sacred flood Of royal blood Cries vengeance, vengeance, loud above. [MERCURY _ascends._

_Alb._ Shall I, to assuage Their brutal rage, The regal stem destroy? Or must I lose, To please my foes, My sole remaining joy? Ye gods, what worse, What greater curse, Can all your wrath employ!

_Alban._ Oh Albion! hear the gods and me! Well am I lost, in saving thee. Not exile or danger can fright a brave spirit, With innocence guarded, With virtue rewarded; I make of my sufferings a merit.

_Alb._ Since then the gods and thou will have it so, Go; (Can I live once more to bid thee?) go, Where thy misfortunes call thee, and thy fate; Go, guiltless victim of a guilty state! In war, my champion to defend, In peaceful hours, when souls unbend, My brother, and, what's more, my friend! Borne where the foamy billows roar, On seas less dangerous than the shore; Go, where the gods thy refuge have assigned, Go from my sight; but never from my mind.

_Alban._ Whatever hospitable ground Shall be for me, unhappy exile, found, 'Till heaven vouchsafe to smile; What land soe'er,-- Though none so dear As this ungrateful isle,-- O think! O think! no distance can remove My vowed allegiance, and my loyal love.

_Alb._ and _Alban._ The rosy-fingered morn appears, And from her mantle shakes her tears, In promise of a glorious day; The sun, returning, mortals chears, And drives the rising mists away, In promise of a glorious day. [_Ritornelle._

_The farther part of the heaven opens, and discovers a Machine; as it moves forward, the clouds which are before it divide, and shew the person of_ APOLLO, _holding the Reins in his Hand. As they fall lower, the Horses appear with the Rays, and a great glory about_ APOLLO.

_Apol._ All hail, ye royal pair, The Gods' peculiar care! Fear not the malice of your foes; Their dark designing, And combining, Time and truth shall once expose: Fear not the malice of your foes.

II.

My sacred oracles assure, The tempest shall not long endure; But when the nation's crimes are purged away, Then shall you both in glory shine; Propitious both, and both divine; In lustre equal to the god of day. [APOLLO _goes forward out of sight._

NEPTUNE _rises out of the Water, and a Train of Rivers, Tritons, and Sea-Nymphs attend him._

_Tham._ Old father Ocean calls my tide; Come away, come away; The barks upon the billows ride, The master will not stay; The merry boatswain from his side His whistle takes, to check and chide The lingering lads' delay, And all the crew aloud have cried, Come away, come away.

See, the god of seas attends thee, Nymphs divine, a beauteous train; All the calmer gales befriend thee, In thy passage o'er the main; Every maid her locks is binding, Every Triton's horn is winding; Welcome to the watry plain!

CHACON[3].

_Two Nymphs and Tritons sing._

Ye Nymphs, the charge is royal, Which you must convey; Your hearts and hands employ all, Hasten to obey; When earth is grown disloyal, Shew there's honour in the sea.

_The_ CHACON _continues._

_The Chorus of Nymphs and Tritons repeat the same Verses._

_The_ CHACON _continues._

_Two Nymphs and Tritons._

Sports and pleasures shall attend you Through all the watry plains, Where Neptune reigns; Venus ready to defend you, And her nymphs to ease your pains, No storm shall offend you, Passing the main; Nor billow threat in vain So sacred a train, 'Till the gods, that defend you, Restore you again.

_The_ CHACON _continues._

_The Chorus repeat the same Verses,_ Sports and Pleasures _&c._

_The_ CHACON _continues._

_The two Nymphs and Tritons sing._

See, at your blest returning, Rage disappears; The widowed isle in mourning Dries up her tears; With flowers the meads adorning, Pleasure appears, And love dispels the nation's causeless fears.

_The_ CHACON _continues._

_The Chorus of Nymphs and Tritons repeat the same Verses,_ See at your blest returning, _&c._

_The_ CHACON _continues._

_Then the Chorus repeat,_ See the god of Seas, _&c. And this Chorus concludes the Act._