you, and yet that hidden referve which is necef- | pires to, is, that your Lordinip would be pleafed To pafs over all thefe great qualities, my Lord, and infift only on your generofity, looks as if I folicited it for myself; but to that I quitted all manner of claim, when I took notice of your Lordfhip's great judgment in the choice of those you advance; fo that all at prefent my ambition af Your Lordship's most humble, EDM. SMITH. [See the Prologue and Epilogue in the Poems of ADDISON and PRIOR.] PHÆDRA AND HIPPOLITUS. ACT I. SCENE I, Enter CRATANDER and LYCON. LYCON. 'Tis ftrange, Cratander, that the royal Phædra That one fo gay, fo beautiful and young, CRATANDER. O! he's all hero, scorns th' inglorious ease Of lazy Crete, delights to fhine in arms, To weild the fword, and launch the pointed fpear: To tame the generous horse, that nobly wild Neighs on the hills, and dares the angry lion: To join the ftruggling courfers to his chariot, To make their stubborn necks the rein obey, To turn, to stop, or ftretch along the plain. Now the queen's fick, there'sdanger in his courage.Be ready with your guards.-I fear Hippolitus. [Exit Crat. Fear him for what? poor filly virtuous wretch, To those whofe godlike fouls are turn'd for empire. What! ftill attending on the queen, Ifmena? Can fill your goodness, conquer all your wrongs? ISMENA. Let them be cruel that delight in mifchief, To ftretch my limbs beneath the spreading Of venerable oaks, to flake my thirst With the cool nectar of refreshing springs. LYCON. I'll footh her frenzy; come, Phædra, let'sawa. Let's to the woods, and lawns, and limpid stream. PHEDRA. Come, let's away, and thou, most bright Dias, Goddess of woods, immortal, chaste Diana! Goddefs prefiding o'er the rapid race. Place me, O place me in the dufty ring Where youthful charioteers contend for glory! See how they mount and shake the flowing re See from the goal the fiery courfers bound, Now they train panting up the steepy hill, Now fweep along its top, now neigh along t vale! How the car rattles! how its kindling wheels Smoke in the whirl! The circling fand afcends, And in the noble duft the chariot's lost! LYCON. Guilty what guilt! has blocd, has horrid Imbrued your hands! PHEDRA. Should he be falfe, I would not wifh hint ill, Alas! my hands are guiltlefs: With my last parting breath I'd bless my lord; But oh my heart's defil'd! I've faid too much, forbear the rest, my Lycon, And let me die to fave the black confeffion. Do not upbraid me, Lycon! Why was I born with such a sense of virtue, tortures, Afflict my foul with any thing but guilt- Then in fome lonely defert place expire, [him, LYCON. Think ftill the fecret in your royal breast, By the All-fecing Sun, by righteous Minos, We fwear, all fwear, to keep it ever ecret. PHEDRA. Keep it from whom? why, 'tis already known, LYCON. Unhappy queen! auguft, unhappy race! PHEDRA. His love indeed! for that unhappy hour, feus My flack hand dropt, and all the idle pomp, LYCON. At once, at first possest you? PHEDRA Yes, at first, The jolly huntfmen's cries rend the wide Hea-Then, then Hippolitus flew in to aid me; Collecting all himself, and rifing to the blow, Pierc'd his tough hide, and quiver'd în his heart; Gods! how he mov'd, and look'd, when he ap When hot and panting from the favage conqueft, upward, PP And leap'd and bounded in my heaving bofom. Oft I receiv'd his fatal charming visits; And fhall I hoard up guilt, and treasure vengeance? |