DIONE

P.Fourdrinier Soulp.

Vol: 2. P. 143.

Di

DIONE,

A

Pastoral Tragedy.

Sunt numina amanti,

Sævit et injuftâ lege relicta Venus.

Tibull. Eleg. 5. Lib. 1.

Dramatis Perfonæ.

MEN.

Evander under the name of Lycidas.

Cleanthes.

Shepherds.

WOMEN.

Dione under the name of Alexis.

Parthenia.

Laura.

SCENE, ARCADIA.

ACT I. SCENE I.

A Plain, at the foot of a steep craggy

mountain.

DIONE. LAURA.

W

LAURA.

HY doft thou fly me? ftay, unhappy fair,
Seek not these horrid caverns of despair;
To tracé thy fteps the midnight air I bore,

Trod the brown defart, and unshelter'd

moor:

Three times the lark has fung his matin lay,

And rofe on dewy wing to meet the day,

Since first I found thee, ftretch'd in penfive mood,
Where laurels border Ladon's filver flood.

VOL. II.

H

DIONE.

DIONE.

O let my foul with grateful thanks o'erflow!
'Tis to thy hand my daily life I owe.

Like the weak lamb you rais'd me from the plain,
Too faint to bear bleak winds and beating rain;
Each day I fhare thy bowl and clean repast,
Each night thy roof defends the chilly blast.
But vain is all thy friendship, vain thy care:
Forget a wretch abandon'd to despair.

LAURA.

Despair will fly thee, when thou shalt impart
The fatal fecret that torments thy heart;
Disclose thy forrows to my faithful ear,

Inftruct these eyes to give thee tear for tear.
Love, love's the cause; our forefts speak thy flame,
The rocks have learnt to figh Evander's name.

If faltring fhame thy bashful tongue restrain,

If thou haft look'd, and blufh'd, and figh'd in vain ;
Say, in what grove thy lovely fhepherd strays,
Tell me what mountains warble with his lays;
Thither I'll speed me, and with moving art
Draw foft confeffions from his melting heart.