John Dryden

“ I find indeed your desires are quick enough; but where will you have cunning to carry on your business with decency and secrecy? Secrecy, I say, which is a main part of chastity in our sex. Where wit, to be sensible of the delicacies of love? the tenderness of a farewell-sigh for an absence? the joy of a return? the zeal of a pressing hand? the sweetness of little quarrels, caused and cured by the excess of love? and, in short, the pleasing disquiets of the soul, always restless, and wandering up and down in a paradise of thought, of its own making? ”

“ So that, if our general good fortune had not raised up your lordship to defend us, I know not whether any thing had been more ridiculous in court than writers. It is to your lordship's favour we generally owe our protection and patronage; and to the nobleness of your nature, which will not suffer the least shadow of your wit to be contemned in other men. You have been often pleased, not only to excuse my imperfections, but to vindicate what was tolerable in my writings from their censures; and, what I never can forget, you have not only been careful of my reputation, but of my fortune. ”

“ Benito, you may appear; your peace is made.
Enter Benito.
Aur. But it must be upon conditions.
Ben. Any conditions, that are reasonable; for, as I am a wit, sir, I have not eaten—
Aur. You are in the path of perdition already; that's the principal of our conditions, you are to be a wit no more.
Ben. Pray, sir, if it be possible, let me be a little wit still.
Aur. No, sir; you can make a leg, and dance; those are no talents of a wit: you are cut out for a brisk fool, and can be no other.
Ben. Pray, sir, let me think I am a wit, or my heart will break. ”

“ Zulema and Hamet watch Almanzor; and when he is gone, go in after the Queen.
Enter Abdelmelech and Lyndaraxa.
Lyndar. It is enough, you've brought me to this place:
Here stop, and urge no further my disgrace.
Kill me; in death your mercy will be seen,
But make me not a captive to the queen.
Abdelm. 'Tis therefore I this punishment provide:
This only can revenge me on your pride.
Prepare to suffer what you shun in vain;
And know, you now are to obey, not reign.
Enter Almahide shrieking; her hair loose; she runs over the stage. ”

“ None of them, no not Jonson in his height,
Could pass, without allowing grains for weight.
Think it not envy, that these truths are told;
Our poet's not malicious, though he's bold.
'Tis not to brand them, that their faults are shown,
But, by their errors, to excuse his own.
If love and honour now are higher raised,
'Tis not the poet, but the age is praised.
Wit's now arrived to a more high degree;
Our native language more refined and free.
Our ladies and our men now speak more wit
In conversation, than those poets writ. ”

“ Why, what the devil should be her meaning else?
Dor. It may be, to go in masquerade, as well as you; to observe your haunts, and keep you company without your knowledge.
Pala. Nay, I'll trust her for that: She loves me too well, to disguise herself from me.
Dor. If I were she, I would disguise on purpose to try your wit; and come to my servant like a riddle,—Read me, and take me.
Pala. I could know her in any shape: My good genius would prompt me to find out a handsome woman: There's something that would attract me to her without my knowledge.
Dor. Then you make a load-stone of your mistress? ”

“ You see how little these great authors did esteem the point of honour, so much magnified by the French, and so ridiculously aped by us. They made their heroes men of honour; but so, as not to divest them quite of human passions and frailties: they content themselves to shew you, what men of great spirits would certainly do when they were provoked, not what they were obliged to do by the strict rules of moral virtue. For my own part, I declare myself for Homer and Tasso, and am more in love with Achilles and Rinaldo, than with Cyrus and Oroondates. ”

“ Were looking blessings to be sent to you.
Benz. Blind queen of Chance, to lovers too severe,
Thou rulest mankind, but art a tyrant there!
Thy widest empire's in a lover's breast:
Like open seas, we seldom are at rest.
Upon thy coasts our wealth is daily cast;
And thou, like pirates, mak'st no peace to last.
To them Lyndaraxa, Duke of Arcos, and Guards.
D. Arcos. We were surprised when least we did suspect,
And justly suffered by our own neglect.
Lyndar. No; none but I have reason to complain!
So near a kingdom, yet 'tis lost again! ”

“ Almah. The thoughts of death your passion would remove;
Death is a cold encouragement to love.
Almanz. No; from my joys I to my death would run,
And think the business of my life well done:
But I should walk a discontented ghost,
If flesh and blood were to no purpose lost.
Almah. You love me not, Almanzor; if you did,
You would not ask what honour must forbid.
Almanz. And what is honour, but a love well hid?
Almah. Yes, 'tis the conscience of an act well done,
Which gives us power our own desires to shun ”

“ It makes your life too much unfortunate.—
But, since her faults are not allied to mine,
In her protection let your favour shine.
To you, great queen, I make this last request,
(Since pity dwells in every royal breast)
Safe, in your care, her life and honour be:
It is a dying lover's legacy.
Benz. Cease, Ozmyn, cease so vain a suit to move;
I did not give you on those terms my love.
Leave me the care of me; for, when you go,
My love will soon instruct me what to do.
Q. Isabel. Permit me, sir, these lovers' doom to give:
My sentence is, they shall together live. ”

“ Exit Almanzor.
Enter Abdalla, and some few Soldiers, who seem fearful.
Abdal. Turn cowards, turn! there is no hope in flight;
You yet may live, if you but dare to fight.
Come, you brave few, who only fear to fly,
We're not enough to conquer, but to die.
Abdelm. No, prince, that mean advantage I refuse;
'Tis in your power a nobler fate to choose.
Since we are rivals, honour does command
We should not die, but by each other's hand. ”

“ You see, brother, here's a general gaol-delivery: there has been a great deal of bustle and disturbance in the cloister to-night; enough to distract a soul which is given up, like me, to contemplation: and therefore, if you think fit, I could even be content to retire, with you, into the world; and, by way of penance, to marry you; which, as husbands and wives go now, is a greater mortification than a nunnery.
Asca. No, sister; if you love me, keep to your monastery: I'll come now and then to the grate, and beg you a recreation. ”

“ Benzayda looks languishing on him, with her sword down; Gazul and Reduan standing with drawn swords by her.
Ozm. Defer not, fair Benzayda, my death:
Looking on you,
I should but live to sigh away my breath.
My eyes have done the work they had to do:
I take your image with me, which they drew;
And, when they close, I shall die full of you.
Benz. When parents their commands unjustly lay,
Children are privileged to disobey;
Yet from that breach of duty I am clear,
Since I submit the penalty to bear.
To die, or kill you, is the alternative;
Rather than take your life, I will not live. ”

“ Aur. Nay, put on, put on again, sweet sir; why should you be uncovered before the fop your master, the wretched wight, the mortal of a grovelling soul?
Ben. Ay, sir, you may make bold with yourself at your own pleasure: But, for all that, a little bidding would make me take your counsel, and be covered, as affairs go now.
Aur. If it be lawful for a man of a debased understanding to confer with such an exalted wit, pray what was that glorious achievement, which wrapt you into such an ecstasy?
Ben. 'Tis a sign you know well how matters go, by your asking me so impertinent a question. ”

“ Of which Almanzor's father stands possest.
Q. Isabel. to Almah.
May you in him, and he in you, be blest!
Almah. I owe my life and honour to his sword;
But owe my love to my departed lord.
Almanz. Thus, when I have no living force to dread,
Fate finds me enemies amongst the dead.
I'm now to conquer ghosts, and to destroy
The strong impressions of a bridal joy.
Almah. You've yet a greater foe than these can be,—
Virtue opposes you, and modesty.
Almanz. From a false fear that modesty does grow,
And thinks true love, because 'tis fierce, its foe. ”

“ Amalthea, following him.
Amal. Yonder he is; and I must speak or die;
And yet 'tis death to speak: yet he must know
I have a passion for him, and may know it
With a less blush; because to offer it
To his low fortunes, shows I loved before,
His person, not his greatness.
Leon. First scorned, and now commanded from the court!
The king is good; but he is wrought to this
By proud Argaleon's malice.
What more disgrace can love and fortune join
To inflict upon one man? I cannot now
Behold my dear Palmyra: She, perhaps, too,
Is grown ashamed of a mean ill-placed love. ”

“ TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE [1] . Sir,
Heroic poesy has always been sacred to princes, and to heroes. Thus Virgil inscribed his Æneids to Augustus Cæsar; and of latter ages, Tasso and Ariosto dedicated their poems to the house of Este. It is indeed but justice, that the most excellent and most profitable kind of writing should be addressed by poets to such persons, whose characters have, for the most part, been the guides and patterns of their imitation; and poets, while they imitate, instruct. The feigned hero inflames the true; and the dead virtue animates the living. ”

“ Why, there's the devil on't! if thou could'st make my enjoying thee but a little easy, or a little more unlawful, thou should'st see what a termagant lover I would prove. I have taken such pains to enjoy thee, Doralice, that I have fancied thee all the fine women of the town—to help me out: But now there's none left for me to think on, my imagination is quite jaded. Thou art a wife, and thou wilt be a wife, and I can make thee another no longer. ”

“ For, frankly, sir, 'tis all I have to give:
If from my heart you ask or hope for more,
I grieve the place is taken up before.
Abdal. My rival merits you.—
To Abdelmelech I will justice do;
For he wants worth, who dares not praise a foe.
Lyndar. That for his virtue, sir, you make defence,
Shows in your own a noble confidence.
But him defending, and excusing me,
I know not what can your advantage be.
Abdal. I fain would ask, ere I proceed in this,
If, as by choice, you are by promise his?
Lyndar. The engagement only in my love does lie,
But that's a knot which you can ne'er untie. ”

“ I could easily convince you, if the argument concerned me; hut I am one of those, whom, for want of wit and beauty, you have condemned to religion; and therefore am your humble servant, to pray for your handsome wife and children.
Fred. Heaven forbid, madam, that I should condemn you, or indeed any handsome woman, to be religious! No, madam; the occasions of the world are great and urgent for such as you; and, for my part, I am of opinion, that it is as great a sin for a beauty to enter into a nunnery, as for an ugly woman to stay out of it.
Luc. The cares of the world are not yet upon you ”

“ Enter Leonidas, Rhodophil, Palamede, Eubulus, Hermogenes, and their Party, victorious; Polydamas and Argaleon, disarmed.
Leon. That I survive the dangers of this day,
Next to the gods, brave friends, be yours the honour;
And, let heaven witness for me, that my joy
Is not more great for this my right restored,
Than 'tis, that I have power to recompense
Your loyalty and valour. Let mean princes,
Of abject souls, fear to reward great actions;
I mean to shew,
That whatsoe'er subjects, like you, dare merit,
A king, like me, dares give.
Rho. You make us blush, we have deserved so little. ”

“ Cam. [Kissing Violetta's hand.] Give me another yet, and then—
Vio. And then will you be satisfied?
Cam. And then I'll ask a thousand more, and ne'er be satisfied. Kisses are but thin nourishment; they are too soon digested, and hungry love craves more.
Vio. You feed a wolf within you.
Cam. Then feast my love with a more solid diet. He makes us now a miser's feast, and we forbear to take our fill. The silent night, and all these downy hours, were made for lovers: Gently they tread, and softly measure time, that no rude noise may fright the tender maid, from giving all her soul to melting joys. ”

“ Enter the King and Leonidas; the King whispers Amalthea.
[To himself.] I begin to hate this Palamede, because he is to marry my mistress: Yet break with him I dare not, for fear of being quite excluded from her company. It is a hard case, when a man must go by his rival to his mistress: But it is, at worst, but using him like a pair of heavy boots in a dirty journey; after I have fouled him all day, I'll throw him off at night.
[Exit.
Amal. [To the King.] This honour is too great for me to hope. ”

“ But it is very clear to all who understand poetry, that serious plays ought not to imitate conversation too nearly. If nothing were to be raised above that level, the foundation of poetry would be destroyed. And if you once admit of a latitude, that thoughts may be exalted, and that images and actions may be raised above the life, and described in measure without rhyme, that leads you insensibly from your own principles to mine: you are already so far onward of your way, that you have forsaken the imitation of ordinary converse. ”

“ Aur. [Stepping towards Laura.] Damsel of darkness, advance, and meet my flames!
Lau. [Stepping forward.] Right trusty valet, heard, but yet unseen, I have advanced one step on reputation.
Aur. Now, by laudable custom, I am to love thee vehemently.
Lau. We should do well to see each other first: You know 'tis ill taking money without light.
Aur. O, but the coin of love is known by the weight only, and you may feel it in the dark: Besides, you know 'tis prince-like to love without seeing. ”

“ But you have too great a reputation to be wholly free from censure: it is a fine which fortune sets upon all extraordinary persons, and from which you should not wish to be delivered until you are dead. I have been used by my critics much more severely, and have more reason to complain, because I am deeper taxed for a less estate. I am, ridiculously enough, accused to be a contemner of universities; that is, in other words, an enemy of learning; without the foundation of which, I am sure, no man can pretend to be a poet. ”

“ Pala. Lord, Lord, what shall I do?—Well, dear friend, to let you see I scorn to be jealous, and that I dare trust my mistress with you, take her back, for I would not willingly have her frighted, and I am resolved to see who's there; I'll not be daunted with a bugbear, that's certain:—Prithee, dispute it not, it shall be so; nay do not put me to swear, but go quickly: There's an effort of pure friendship for you now.
Enter Doralice, and looks amazed, seeing them.
Rho. Doralice! I am thunder-struck to see you here. ”

“ You'll be rambling too, Aurelian; I do not doubt it, if I would let you; but I'll take care to be as little a wife, and as much a mistress to you, as is possible: I'll be sure to be always pleasant, and never suffer you to be cloyed.
Aur. You are certainly in the right: Pleasantness of humour makes a wife last in the sweetmeat, when it will no longer in the fruit. But, pray, let's make haste to the next honest priest that can say grace to us, and take our appetites while they are coming. ”