or expect A shamefull death what I shall further do Their numbers five times exceeding ours I desire to receive directions from your Majesties command King Let twenty thousand men be raised Let fresh supplyes of victuals and of money Be sent with speed Lords Sir your Treasures Are quite exhausted the Exchequer 's empty King Talke not to me of Treasures or Exchequers Send for five hundred of the wealthiest Burgers Their shops and ships are my Exchequer Abd. 'T were better you you could say their hearts Abd. aside Sir upon your late demands They answered they were poore King Sure the Villaines hold a correspondence With the enemie and thus they would betray us First give us up to want then to contempt And then to ruine but tell those sonnes of earth I le have their money or their heads Winde a horne 'T is my command when such occasions are No Plea must serve 't is cruelty to spare Another Post Exit Lords King The Prince transported with his youthfull heat I feare hath gone too farre 'T is some disaster Or else he would not send so thicke well bring him in I am prepar'd to heare the worst of evils Enter Solyman and two Captaines Cap. kisses his hand King What is the Prince besieged in his Trenches And must have speedy ayd or die by famine Or hath he rashly try'd the chance of warre And lost his Army and his Liberty Tell me what Province they demand for ransome Or if the worst of all mishaps hath fallen Speake for he could not die unlike himselfe Speak freely and yet me-thinkes I reade Something of better fortune in thy lookes But dare not hope it Cap. Sir the Prince lives King And hath not lost his honour Cap. As safe in honour as in life King Nor liberty Cap. Free as the aire he breathes King Returne with speed Tell him he shall have money victuals men With all the haste they can be levyed Farewell Offers to goe Cap. But Sir I have one word more King Then be briefe Cap. So now you are prepar'd and I may venture King What is 't Cap. Sir a Fathers love mixt with a Princes care This shewing dangers greater and that nearer Have rais'd your feares too high and those remov'd Too suddenly would let in such a deluge Of joy as might oppresse your aged spirits Which made me gently first remove your feares That so you might have roome to entertaine Your fill of joy Your sonn 's a Conquerour King Delude me not with fained hopes false joyes It cannot be And if he can but make A faire Retreat I shall account it more Then all his former conquests those huge numbers Arm'd with despaire the flower of all the Empire Cap. Sir I have not us'd to tell you tales or fables And why should you suspect your happinesse Being so constant On my life 't is true Sir King Well I le no more suspect My fortune nor thy faith Thou and thy newes most welcome Solyman Goe call the Princesse and the Lords they shall Participate our joyes as well as cares Enter Princesse and Lords King Faire daughter blow away those mists and clouds And let thy eyes shine forth in their full lustre Invest them with thy loveliest smiles put on Thy choycest lookes hee 's comming will deserve them Princesse What is the Prince return'd with safety 't is above Beleefe or hope King I sweet Erythaea Laden with spoyles and honour all thy feares Thy wakefull terrors and affrighting dreames Thy morning sighes and evening teares have now Their full rewards And you my Lords Prepare for Masques and Triumphs Let no circumstance Be wanting that becomes The greatnesse of our State or Joy Behold he comes Enter Prince with Captaines and two Captive Bashawes King Welcome brave sonne as welcome to thy father As Phoebus was to Iove when he had slaine Th' ambitious Gyants that assayl'd the skie And as my power resembles that of Ioves So shall thy glory like high Phoebus shine As bright and as immortall Prince Great Sir all acquisition Of Glory as of Empire here I lay before Your Royall feet happy to be the Instrument To advance either Sir I challenge nothing But am an humble suitor for these prisoners The late Commanders of the Turkish powers Whose valours have deserv'd a better fortune King Then what hath thine deserv'd th' are thine brave Mirzah Worthy of all thy Royall Ancestors And all those many Kindomes which their vertue Or got or kept though thou hadst not beene borne to 't But daughter still your lookes are sad No longer I le deferre your joyes goe take him Into thy chaste embrace and whisper to him That welcome which those blushes promise Exit King Prince My Erythaea why entertain'st thou with so sad a brow My long desir'd return thou wast wont With kisses and sweet smiles to welcome home My victories though bought with sweat and bloud And long expected Princesse Pardon Sir 'T is with our soules As with our eyes that after a long darknesse Are dazled at the approach of sudden light When i' th' midst of feares we are surpriz'd With unexpected happinesse the first Degrees of joy are meere astonishment And 't was so lately in a dreadfull dreame I saw my Lord so neare destruction Deprived of his eyes a wretched Captive Then shriekt my selfe awake then slept againe And dreamt the same my ill presaging fancy Suggesting still 't was true Prince Then I forgive thy sadnesse since love caus'd it For love is full of feares and feare the shadow Of danger like the shadow of our bodies Is greater then when that which is the cause Is farthest off Princesse But still there 's something That checks my joyes Nor can I yet distinguish Which is the apparition this or that Prince An apparition At night I shall resolve that doubt and make Thy dreames more pleasing Enter Haly and Mirvan Mir. The time has beene my Lord When I was no such stranger to your thoughts You were not wont to weare upon your brow A frowne or smile but still have thought me worthy At least to know the cause Ha. 'T is true Thy breast hath ever beene the Cabinet Where I have lockt my secrets Mir. And did you ever finde That any art could picke the locke or power Could force it open Ha. No I have ever found thee Trusty and secret But is 't observ'd i' th' Court That I am sad Mir. Observ'd 't is all mens wonder and discourse That in a Joy so great so universall You should not beare a part Ha. Discour'st of too Mir. Nothing but treason More commonly more boldly spoken So singular a sadnesse Must have a cause as strange as the effect And griefe conceal'd like hidden fire consumes Which flaming out would call in helpe to quench it Ha. But since thou canst not mend it To let thee know it will but make thee worse Silence and time shall cure it Mir. But in diseases when the cause is knowne 'T is more
behinde him Enter Morat as in haste Mor. Sir with hazard of my life I 've ventur'd To tell you you are lost betray'd undone Rouze up your courage call up all your counsells And thinke on all those stratagems which nature Keepes ready to encounter sudden dangers Prince But pray my Lord by whom for what offence Mor. Is it a time for story when each minute Begets a thousand dangers the gods protect you Ex. Prince This man was ever honest and my friend And I can see in his amazed looke Something of danger but in act or thought I never did that thing should make me feare it Princesse Nay good Sir let not so secure a confidence Betray you to your ruine Prince Prethee woman Keepe to thy selfe thy feares I cannot know That there is such a thing I stand so strong Inclosed with a double guard of Vertue And Innocence that I can looke on dangers As he that stands upon a Rocke Can looke on stormes and tempests Feare and guilt Are the same thing and when our actions are not Our feares are crimes And he deserves it lesse that guilty beares A punishment then he that guiltlesse feares Ex. Enter Haly and Torturers Ha. This is the place appointed assist me courage This houre ends all my feares but pause a while Suppose I should discover to the Prince The whole conspiracie and so retort it Upon the King it were an handsome plot But full of difficulties and uncertaine And hee 's so fool'd with downe-right honesty Hee 'le ne're beleeve it and now it is too late The guards are set and now I heare him comming Enter Prince stumbles at the entrance Prince 'T is ominous but I will on destruction O'retakes as often those that fly as those that boldly meet it Ha. By your leave Prince your father greets you Prince Unhand me traytors Haly casts a scarfe over his face Ha. That title is your owne and we are sent to let you know it Is not that the voyce of Haly that thunders in my eares Ha. I vertuous Prince I come to make you exercise One vertue more your patience Heat the irons quickly Prince Insolent villaine for what cause Ha. Onely to gaze upon a while untill your eyes are out Prince O villaine shall I not see my father To aske him what 's my crime who my accusers Let me but try if I can wake his pitty From his Lethargicke sleepe Ha. It must not be Sir Prince Shall I not see my wife nor bid farewell To my deare children Ha. Your pray'rs are all in vaine Prince Thou shalt have halfe my Empire Haly let me but See the Tyrant that before my eyes are lost They may dart poys'nous flashes like the Basiliske And looke him dead These eyes that still were open Or to fore-see or to prevent his dangers Must they be closed in eternall night Cannot his thirst of bloud be satisfied With any but his owne And can his tyrannie Finde out no other object but his sonne I seeke not mercy tell him I desire To die at once not to consume an age In lingring deathes Ha. Our eares are charm'd Away with him Prince Can ye behold ye Gods a wronged innocent Or sleepes your Justice like my fathers Mercy Or are you blinde as I must be Finis Act. Tertii Actus Quartus Enter Ab. and Morat Ab. I ever fear'd the Princes too much greatnesse Would make him lesse the greatest heights are neare The greatest precipice Mor. 'T is in worldly accidents As in the world it selfe where things most distant Meet one another Thus the East and West Upon the Globe a Mathematick point Onely divides Thus happinesse and miserie And all extreames are still contiguous Ab. Or if 'twixt happinesse and miserie there be A distance 't is an Aery Vacuum Nothing to moderate or breake the fall Mor. But oh this Saint-like Devill This damned Caliph to make the King beleeve To kill his sonne 's religion Ab. Poore Princes how are they mis-led While they whose sacred office 't is to bring Kings to obey their God and men their King By these mysterious linkes to fixe and tye Them to the foot-stoole of the Deity Even by these men Religion that should be The curbe is made the spurre to tyrannie They with their double key of conscience binde The Subjects soules and leave Kings unconfin'd While their poore Vassals sacrifice their blouds T'Ambition and to Avarice their goods Blinde with Devotion They themselves esteeme Made for themselves and all the world for them While heavens great law given for their guide appeares Just or unjust but as it waytes on theirs Us'd but to give the eccho to their words Power to their wills and edges to their swords To varnish all their errors and secure The ills they act and all the world endure Thus by their arts Kings awe the world while they Religion as their mistresse seeme t' obey Yet as their slave command her while they seeme To rise to Heaven they make Heaven stoope to them Mor. Nor is this all where feign'd devotion bends The highest things to serve the lowest ends For if the many-headed beast hath broke Or shaken from his necke the royall yoake With popular rage religion doth conspire Flowes into that and swells the torrent higher Then powers first pedigree from force derives And calls to minde the old prerogatives Of free-borne man and with a saucy eye Searches the heart and soule of Majestie Then to a strict account and censure brings The actions errors and the ends of Kings Treads on authority and sacred lawes Yet all for God and his pretended cause Acting such things for him which he in them And which themselves in others will condemne And thus ingag'd nor safely can retire Nor safely stand but blindly bold aspire Forcing their hopes even through despaire to climbe To new attempts disdaine the present time Grow from disdaine to threats from threats to armes While they though sonnes of peace still sound th' alarm's Thus whether Kings or people seeke extreames Still conscience and religion are their Theams And whatsoever change the State invades The pulpit either forces or perswades Others may give the fewell or the fire But they the breath that makes the flame inspire Ab. This and much more is true but let not us Adde to our ills and aggravate misfortunes By passionate complaints nor lose our selves Because we have lost him for if the Tyrant Were to a sonne so noble so unnaturall What will he be to us who have appear'd Friends to that sonne Mor. Well thought on and in time Farewell unhappy Prince while we thy friends As strangers to our Countrey and our selves Seeke out our safety and expect with patience Heavens Justice Ab. Let 's rather act it then expect it The Princes injuries at our hands require More then our teares and patience His army is not yet disbanded And onely wants a head thither wee 'le fly And all who love the Prince or hate the Tyrant
receive you If you please to seeke safety with us King Now my Lords Alas my feares are causelesse and ungrounded Fantastick dreames and melancholike fumes Of crazie stomacks and distempered braines Has this convinc't you Mor. Sir we see Some reason you should feare but whom we know not 'T is possible these Turkes may play the Villaines Knowing the Prince the life of all our hopes Staffe of your age and pillar of your Empire And having fail'd by force may use this Art To ruine him and by their treason here To make their peace at home Now should this prove a truth when he ha's suffred Death or disgrace which are to him the same 'T will be too late to say you were mistaken And then to cry him mercy Sir we beseech you A while suspend your doome till time produce Her wonted off-spring Truth King And so expecting The event of what you thinke shall prove the experiment Of what I feare but since he is my sonne I cannot have such violent thoughts towards him As his towards me he onely shall remaine A prisoner till his death or mine enlarge him Exit Lords Man Haly. Solyman peepes in King Away away wee 're serious Sol. But not so serious to neglect your safety King Art thou in earnest Sol. Nay Sir I can be serious aswell as my betters King What 's the matter Sol. No I am an inconsiderable fellow and know nothing King Let 's heare that nothing then Sol. The Turkes Sir King What of them Sol. When they could not overcome you by force they 'le Doe it by treacherie King As how Sol. Nay I can see as farre into a milstone as another man They have corrupted some ill-affected persons King What to doe Sol. To nourish Jealousies 'twixt you and your sonce King My sonne where is he Sol. They say hee 's posting hither King Haly we are betrayed prevented looke to the Ports and let The Guards be doubled how farre 's his Army hence Is the Citie in armes to joyne with him Sol. Armes and joyne with him I understand you not King Didst thou not say the Prince was comming Sol. I heard some foolish people say you had sent for Him as a Traytor which to my apprehension was on Purpose spoken to make you odious and him desperate And so divide the people into faction A Plot of Dangerous consequence as I take it Sir King And is this all thou sawcy trifling foole Away With him Haly. Sir this seeming foole is a concealed dangerous knave Under that safe disguise he thinks he may say or doe Any thing you 'le little thinke him the chiefe conspirator The onely spy t' informe the Prince of all is done in Court King Let him be rack't and tortur'd till he confesse The whole conspiracie Sol. Rack't and tortur'd I have told you all I know and more There 's nothing more in me Sir but may be squeezed Out without racking onely a stoope or two of Wine And if there had not beene too much of that you had Not had so much of the other King That 's your cunning sirrah Sol. Cunning Sir I am no Polititian and was ever thought to have Too little wit and too much honesty for a States-man Exit King Away with him Ha. But something must be done Sir to satisfie the people 'T is not enough to say he did designe Or plot or thinke but did attempt some violence And then some strange miraculous escape For which our Prophet must have publique thankes And this false colour shall delude the eyes Of the amazed vulgar King 'T is well advis'd Enter Mess. Mess. Sir His highnesse is return'd King And unconstrain'd But with what change of countenance Did he receive the message Mess. With some amazement But such as sprung from wonder not from feare It was so unexpected King Leave us Haly I ever found thee honest truer to me Then mine owne bloud and now 's the time to shew it For thou art he my love and trust hath chosen To put in action my designe surprise him As he shall passe the Galleries I 'le place A guard behind the Arras when thou hast him Since blinded with ambition he did soare Like a seel'd Dove his crime shall be his punishment To be depriv'd of sight which see perform'd With a hot steele Now as thou lov'st my safety Be resolute and suddaine Ha. 'T is severe But yet I dare not intercede it shall be done But is that word irrevocable King I as yeares or ages past relent not if thou do'st Exit King Enter Mirvan Mir. Why so melancholy is the designe discovered Ha. No but I am made the instrument That still endeavoured to disguise my plots With borrowed lookes and make 'em walke in darkenesse To act 'em now my selfe be made the marke For all the peoples hate the Princesse curses And his sonnes rage or the old Kings inconstancy For this to Tyranny belongs To forget service but remember wrongs Mir. But could not you contrive Some fine pretence to cast it on some other Ha. No he dares trust no other had I given But the least touch of any private quarrell My malice to his sonne not care of him Had then begot this service Mir. 'T is but t'other plot my Lord you know The King by other wives had many sonnes Soffy is but a childe and you already Command the Emperours Guard procure for me The governement o' th' Citie when he dies Urge how unfortunate those States have beene Whose Princes are but children then set the Crowne Upon some others head that may acknowledge And owe the Empire to your gift Ha. It shall be done Abdall who commands The Citie is the Princes friend and therefore Must be displac't and thou shalt straight succeed him Thou art my better Genius honest Mirvan Greatnesse we owe to fortune or to fate But wisedome onely can secure that state Ex. Enter Prince at one doore and Princesse at another Princesse You 're double welcome now my Lord your comming Was so unlook't for Prince To me I 'me sure it was Know'st thou the cause for sure it was important That calls me backe so suddenly Princesse I am so ignorant I knew not you were sent for Waking I know no cause but in my sleepe My fancy still presents such dreames and terrors As did Andromache's the night before Her Hector fell but sure 't is more then fancie Either our guardian Angels or the Gods Inspire us or some naturall instinct Fore-tells approaching dangers Prince How does my father Princesse Still talkes and playes with Fatyma but his mirth Is forc't and strain'd In his looke appeares A wilde distracted fiercenesse I can reade Some dreadfull purpose in his face but where This dismall cloud will breake and spend his furie I dare not thinke pray heaven make false his feares Sometimes his anger breakes through all disguises And spares nor gods nor men and then he seemes Jealous of all the world suspects and starts And looks