A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain..: Dryden. Rochester ...

PHÆDRA.

Love him, indeed! dote, languish, die for him, Forfake my food, my fleep, all joys fr Thefeus, (But not that hoary, venerable Thefeus) But Thefeus, as he was, when mantling blood Glow'd in his lovely cheeks; when his bright eyes Sparkled with youthful fires; when every grace Shone in the father, which now crowns the fon; When Thefeus was Hippolitus.

HIPPOLITUS.

Ha! Amazement ftrikes me!

Where will this end?

LYCON.

Is 't difficult to guess? Does not her flying palenefs that but now Sat cold and langui i in her fading cheek, (Where now fcceeds a momentary lustre,) Does not her beating heart, her trembling limbs, Her wifhing looks, her fpeech, her prefent filence, All, all proclaim imperial Phædra loves you.

HIPPOLITUS.

What do I hear? What, does no lightning flash, No thunder bellow, when fuch monstrous crimes Are own'd, avow'd, confeft? All-feeing fun! Hide, hide in fhameful night thy beamy head, And ceafe to view the horrors of thy race. Alas! I fhare th' amazing guilt; thefe eyes, That first infpir'd the black inceftuous flame, Thefe ears, that heard the tale of impious love, Are all accurs'd, and all deferve your thunder.

PIEDRA.

Alas! my lord, believe me not fo vile. No: by thy goddefs, by the chalte Diana, Noge but my first, my much-lov'd Lord Arfamnes, Was c'er receiv'd in thefe unhappy arms.

No for the love of thee of thofe dear charms,
Which now I fee are doom'd to be my ruin,
1 fill deny'd my lord, my husband Thefeus,
'The chafte and modeft joys of fpotlefs marriage;
That drove him hence to war, to flormy feas,
To rocks and waves lefs cruel than his Phædra.
HIPPOLITUS.

If that drove Thefeus hence, then that kill'd
Thefeus,

And cruel Phædra kill'd her husband Thefeus.
PHEDRA.

Forbear, rafh youth, nor dare to rouze my
Vengeance;

You need not urge, nor tempt my fwelling rage
With black reproaches, fcorn, and provocation,
To do a deed my reafon would abhor.
Long has the fecret ftruggled in my breast,
Long has it rack'd and rent my tortur'd bofom;
But now 'tis out. Shame, rage, confufion, tear
And drive me on to act unheard-of crimes,
To murder thee, myfelf, and all that know it.
As when convulfions cleave the labouring earth,
Before the difmal yawn appears, the ground
Trembles and heaves, the nodding houfes crash;
He's fafe, who from the dreadful warning flies,
But he that fees its opening bofom dies.

HIPPOLITUS.

Then let me take the warning and retire; I'd rather truft the rough lonian waves, Than woman's fie.cer rage.

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[Exit.

The queen's difeafe, and your afpiring nund, Difturi all Crete, and give a loose to war.

HIPPOLITUS.

Gods! dares he speak thus to a monarch's fon? And muft this earth-born flave command in Crcté ?

[ISMENA foews berfelf, liflening. Was it for this my godlike father fought?

What! part,

HIPPOLITUS.

Not think of thee? for ever part? Unkind Ifmena:

HIPPOLITUS.

No more. My fou! difdains it. No, fhould I try, my haughty foul would fwell; Sharpen cach word, and threaten in my eyes. O! fhould I ftoop to cringe, to lie, forswear? Deferve the ruin which I ftrive to fhun?

ISMENA.

O, I can't bear this cold contempt of death!
This rigid virtue, that prefers your glory
To liberty or life. O cruel man!

By these fad fighs, by these poor ftreaming eyes,
By that dear love that makes us now unhappy,
By the near danger of that precious life,
Heaven knows I value much above my own.
What' not yet mov'd? Are you refolv'd on
death?

Then, ere 'tis night, I fwear by all the powers,
This steel shall end my fears and life together.

Say, what occafion, chance, or Heaven infpires; Oh! can you think that death is half fo dread-Say that you love her, that you lov'd her long;

ful,

As it would be to live, and live without thee?
Say, fhould I quit thee, should I turn to Phædra,
Say, could't thou bear it? Could thy tender foul
Endure the torment of defpairing love,
And fee me fettled in a rival's arms?

ISMENA.

Think not of me : perhaps my equal mind May learn to bear the fate the gods allot me. Yet would you hear me ; could your lov'd Ifmena With all her charms o'er-rule your fullen honour, You yet might live, nor leave the poor Ifmena.

HIPPOLITUS.

Speak, if I can, I'm ready to obey.

ISMENA.

Give the queen hopes,

Say, that you'll wed her, fay that you'll comply; Say, to preserve your life, say any thing.

[Exit Hip..

[ger'd,

Blefs him, ye powers and if it be a crime,
Oh if the pious fraud offend your justice,
Aim all your vengeance on Ifmena's head;
Punish Ifmena, but forgive Hippolitus.
He's gone, and now my brave refolves are ftag.
Now I repent, like fome despairing wretch
That boldly plunges in the frightful deep,
Then pants, and fruggles with the whirling

་

ISMENA.

Speak on, my lord,

My honeft foul inclines me to believe thee;
And much I fear, and much I hope I've wrong'd
thee.

HIPPOLITUS.

Then thus. I came and fpake, but scarce of
love:

The eafy queen receiv'd my faint address
With eager hope and unfufpicious faith.
Lycon with feeming joy difmifs'd my guardą:
My generous foul difdain'd the mean deceit,
But ftill deceiv'd her to obey Ilmena.

ISMENA,

To crown with endlefs joys the youth that lov'd
you.

O by the joys our mutual loves have brought,
By the bleft hours I've languifh'd at your feet,
By all the love you ever bore Hippolitus,
Come fly from hence, and make him ever happy.

ISMENA.

Hide me, ye powers: I never shall refift.

HIPPOLITUS.

Will you refuse me? Can I leave behind me
All that infpires my foul, and cheers my eyes?
Will you not go? Then here I'll wait my doom.
Come, raving Phædra, bloody Lycon, come!
I offer to your rage this worthless life,

Art thou then true? Thou art. Oh, pardon me, Since 'tis no longer my limena's care.
Pardon the errors of a filly maid,

Wild with her fears, and mad with jealousy;
For ftill that fear, that jealousy, was love.
Haste then, my lord, and fave.yourself by flight;
And when you're abfent, when your godlike form
Shall ceafe to cheer forlorn lfmena's eyes,
Then let each day, each hour, each minute, bring
Some kind remembrance of your constant love;
Speak of your health, your fortune, and your
friends
[wishes);
(For fure those friends fhall have my tendereft
Speak much of all; but of thy dear, dear love,
Speak much, fpeak very much, and still speak on.

HIPPOLITUS.

Oh thy dear love fhall ever be my theme,
Of that alone I'll talk the live-long day;
But thus I'll talk, thus dwelling in thy eyes,
Tafting the odours of thy fragrant bofom.
Come then to crown me with immortal joys;
Come, be the kind companion of my flight;
Come hafte with me to leave this fatal fhore.
The bark before prepar'd for my departure
Expects its freight; a hundred lufty rowers
Have wav'd their finewy arms, and call'd Hippo-
litus;

The loofen'd canvas trembles with the wind,
And the fea whitens with aufpicious gales.

ISMENA.

Fly then, my lord, and may the gods protect
thee;

Fly, ere infidious Lycon work thy ruin;
Fly, ere my fondness talk thy life away;
Fly from the queen.

HIPPOLITUS.

But not from my Ifmena. Why do you force me from your heavenly sight, With thofe dear arms that ought to clafp me to thee?

ISMENA.

Oh I could rave for ever at my fate!
And with alternate love and fear poffefs'd,
Now force thee from my arms, now fnatch thee
to my breast,

And tremble till you go, but die till you return.
Nay, I could go-Ye gods, if I fhould go,
What would fame fay? If I fhould fly alone
With a young lovely prince that charm'd my foul?

HIPPOLITUS.

Say you did well to fly a certain ruin, To fly the fury of a queen incens'd,

ISMENA.

O! hafte away, my lord; I go, I fly
Through all the dangers of the boisterous deep.
When the wind whistles through the crackling
mafts,

When through the yawning fhip the foaming fea
Rowls bubbling in, then, then I'll clasp thee faft,
And in tranfporting love forget my fear.
Oh! I will wander through the Scythian gloom,
O'er ice, and hills of everlasting fnow:
There, when the horrid darkness shall enclose us,
When the bleak wind fhall chill my fhivering
limbs,

Thou shalt alone fupply the diftant fun,
And cheer my gazing eyes, and warm my heart.

HIPPOLITUS.

Come, let's away; and, like another Jason,
I'll bear my beauteous conquest through the feas:
A greater treafure, and a nobler prize
Than he from Colchos bore. Sleep, fleep in peace,
Ye monfters of the woods, on Ida's top
Securely roam; no more my early horn
Shall wake the lazy day. Tranfporting love
| Reigns in my heart, and makes me all its own.
So when bright Venus yielded up her charms,
The bleit Adonis languifh'd in her arms;
His idle horn on fragrant myrtles hung,
His arrows fcatter'd, and his bow undrung:
Obfcure in coverts lie his dreaming hounds,
And bay the fancy'd boar with feeble founds,
For nobler fports he quits the favage fields,
And all the hero to the lover yields.

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-kirjat