On a mere girl his thoughts to place,
With dimpled cheeks, and baby face;
A child! a chit! that was not born,
When I did town and court adorn.
PAGE.

Can any man prefer fifteen
To venerable Grideline.

GRIDELINE.

He does, my child; or tell me why
With weeping eyes so oft I spy

His whiskers curl'd, and shoe-strings ty'd,
A new Toledo by his side,

In shoulder-belt so trimly plac'd,
With band so nicely smooth'd and lac'd.

PAGE.

If Rosamond his garb has view'd,
The knight is false, the nymph subdu'd.

GRIDELINE.

My anxious boding heart divines
His falsehood by a thousand signs;
Oft o'er the lonely rocks he walks,
And to the foolish Echo talks;
Oft in the glass he rolls his eye,
But turns and frowns if I am by;
Then my fond easy heart beguiles,
And thinks of Rosamond, and smiles.

PAGE.

Well may you feel these soft alarms,
She has a heart-

GRIDELINE.

And he has charms.

PAGE.

Your fears are too just

GRIDELINE.

Too plainly I've prov'd

BOTH.

"He loves and is lov'd."

Open the gate, if you are wise;
I, in an unsuspected hour,

May catch them dallying in the bower,
Perhaps their loose amours prevent,
And keep Sir Trusty innocent.

GRIDELINE,

Thou art in truth

A forward youth,

Of wit and parts above thy age;
Thou know'st our sex. Thou art a page.

PAGE.

I'll do what I can

To surprise the false man.

GRIDELINE.

Of such a faithful spy I've need*:
Go in, and if thy plot succeed,

Fair youth, thou may'st depend on this,

I'll pay thy service with a kiss.

GRIDELINE sola.

"Prithee, Cupid, no more
Hurl thy dart at threescore,

[Exit Page.

An opening scene discovers another view of the Bower.

To thy girls and thy boys
Give thy pains and thy joys,
Let Sir Trusty and me
From thy frolics be free.

[Exit Grid.

SCENE III.

PAGE solus.

O the soft delicious view,

Ever charming ever new!
Greens of various shades arise,
Deck'd with flow'rs of various dies:
Paths by meeting paths are crost,
Alleys in winding alleys lost;
Fountains playing through the trees,
Give coolness to the passing breeze.
"A thousand fairy scenes appear,
Here a grove, a grotto here,
Here a rock, and here a stream,
Sweet delusion,

Gay confusion,

All a vision, all a dream!”

SCENE IV.

QUEEN AND PAGE.

QUEEN.

At length the bow'ry vaults appear!
My bosom heaves, and pants with fear:
A thousand checks my heart control,
A thousand terrors shake my soul.

PAGE.

Behold the brazen gate unbarr'd!

She's fix'd in thought, I am not heard

[Apart.

QUEEN.

I see, I see my hands imbru'd
In purple streams of reeking blood:
I see the victim gasp for breath,
And start in agonies of death:
I see my raging, dying lord,
And, oh! I see myself abhorr'd!

PAGE.

My eyes o'erflow, my heart is rent
To hear Britannia's queen lament.

QUEEN.

What shall my trembling soul pursue?

PAGE.

Behold, great queen, the place in view!

QUEEN.

Ye pow'rs instruct me what to do!

PAGE.

That bow'r will show

The guilty foe.

QUEEN.

[Aside.

-It is decreed-it shall be so; [After a pause. "I cannot see my lord repine

(O that I could call him mine!)

Why have not they most charms to move,
Whose bosoms burn with purest love!"

PAGE,

Her heart with rage and fondness glows.
O jealousy thou hell of woes!

That conscious scene of love contains
The fatal cause of all your pains;
In yonder flow'ry vale she lies,
Where those fair-blossom'd arbors rise.

[Aside,

The pangs of love
Ye pow'rs remove,

Or dart your thunder at my head:
Love and despair

What heart can bear?

Ease my soul, or strike me dead!"

[Exeunt

SCENE V.

The Scene changes to the Pavilion as before.

ROSAMOND sola.

"Transporting pleasure! who can tell it!
When our longing eyes discover
The kind, the dear, approaching lover,
Who can utter, or conceal it!"

A sudden motion shakes the grove:
I hear the steps of him I love;
Prepare, my soul, to meet thy bliss!
-Death to my eyes; what sight is this!
The queen, th' offended queen I see;
-Open, O earth! and swallow me!

SCENE VI.

Enter to her the Queen with a Bowl in one hand, and a Dagger in the other.

QUEEN.

Thus arm'd with double death I come;
Behold, vain wretch, behold thy doom!
Thy crimes to their full period tend,
And soon by this, or this, shall end.

ROSAMOND.

What shall I say, or how reply
To threats of injur'd majesty?