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Lau. Have I not seen him lately in his balcony, which looks into our garden, with another handsome gentleman in his company, who seems a stranger?

Vio. They are the same. Do you think it a reasonable thing, dear Laura, that my uncle should keep us so strictly, that we must be beholden to hearsay, to know a young gallant is in the next house to us?

Lau. "Tis hard, indeed, to be mewed like hawks, and never manned: To be locked in like nuns here. Vio. They, that look for nun's flesh in me, shall be mistaken.

Lau. Well, what answer have you returned to this letter?

Vio. That I would meet him at eight this evening, in the close walk in the garden, attended only by Beatrix, my woman.

Lau. Who comes with him?

Vio. Only his friend's man, Benito; the same who brought me the letter which you took from me. Lau. Stay, let me think a little. Does Camillo, or this Benito, know your maid Beatrix?

Vio. They have never talked with her; but only seen her.

Lau. "Tis concluded then. You shall meet your servant, but I'll be your Beatrix: I'll go instead of her, and counterfeit your waiting-woman; in the dark I may easily pass for her. By this means I shall be present to instruct you, for you are yet a callow maid: I must teach you to peck a little; you may come to prey for yourself in time.

Vio. A little teaching will serve my turn: If the old one left me to myself, I could go near to get my living.

gone

Lau. I find you are eager, and baiting to be already, and I'll not hinder you when your hour approaches. In the mean time, go in, and sigh, and

think fondly and ignorantly of your approaching pleasures:

Love, in young hearts, is like the must of wine; "Tis sweetest then; but elder 'tis more fine. [Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-The front of a Nunnery. Prince FREDERIC, AURELIAN, CAMILLO, and AsCANIO, the Prince's Page.

Fred. My father's ancient, and may repose himself, if he pleases, after the ceremony of his entrance; but we, who are younger, should think it a sin to spend any part of day-light in a chamber. What are your ways of living here?

Cam. Why, sir, we pass our time, either in conversation alone, or in love alone, or in love and conversation together.

Fred. Come, explain, explain, my counsel learned in the laws of living.

Cam. For conversation alone; that's either in going to court, with a face of business, and there discoursing of the affairs of Europe, of which Rome, you know, is the public mart; or, at best, meeting the virtuosi, and there wearying one another with rehearsing our own works in prose and poetry.

Fred. Away with that dry method, I will have none on't. To the next.

Cam. Love alone, is either plain wenching, where every courtezan is your mistress, and every man your rival; or else, what's worse, plain whining after one woman that is, walking before her door by day, and haunting her street by night, with guitars, dark-lanthorns, and rondaches *.

* Rondaches. Targets or bucklers. These were a part of the equipment of a serenader. See that of Quevedo's Night Adventurer.

Aur. Which, I take it, is, or will be our case, Camillo.

Fred. Neither of these will fit my humour: If your third prove not more pleasant, I shall stick to the old Almain recreation; the divine bottle, and the bounteous glass, that tuned up old Horace to his odes.

Aur. You shall need to have no recourse to that; for love and conversation will do your business : that is, sir, a most delicious courtezan,-I do not mean down-right punk,--but punk of more than ordinary sense in conversation; punk in ragou, punk, who plays on the lute, and sings; and, to sum up all, punk, who cooks and dresses up herself, with poignant sauce, to become a new dish every time she is served up to you.

Fred. This I believe, Aurelian, is your method of living, you talk of it so savourily.

Aur. There is yet another more insipid sort of love and conversation: As, for example, look you there, sir; the courtship of our nuns. [Pointing to the Nunnery.] They talk prettily; but, a pox on them, they raise our appetites, and then starve us. They are as dangerous as cold fruits without wine, and are never to be used but where there are abundance of wenches in readiness, to qualify them.

Cam. But yet they are ever at hand, and easy to come by; and if you'll believe an experienced sinner, easiness in love is more than half the pleasure of it.

Fred. This way of chatting pleases me; for debauchery, I hate it; and to love is not in my nature, except it be my friends. Pray, what do you call that nunnery?

Cam. 'Tis a house of Benedictines, called the Torre di Specchi, where only ladies of the best quality are professed.

[LUCRETIA and HIPPOLITA appear at the grate.

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Aur. Look you yonder, sir, are two of the pretty magpies in white and black. If you will lull yourself into a Platonic dream, you may; but consider your sport will be dull when you play without stakes.

Fred. No matter, I'll fool away an hour of courtship; for I never was engaged in a serious love, nor I believe can be. Farewell, gentlemen; at this time I shall dispense with your attendance;-nay, without ceremony, because I would be incognito. Cam. Come then, Aurelian, to our own affairs. [Exeunt AURELIAN and CAMILLO.

The Prince and ASCANIO approach.

Fred. [To LUCRETIA.] For what crime, fair creature, were you condemned to this perpetual prison? Luc. For chastity and devotion, and two or three such melancholy virtues: They first brought me hither, and must now keep me company.

Fred. I should rather have guessed it had been murder, and that you are veiled for fear of doing more mischief with those eyes; for, indeed, they are too sharp to be trusted out of the scabbard.

Luc. Cease, I beseech you, to accuse my eyes, till they have done some execution on your heart. Fred. But I am out of reach, perhaps.

Luc. Trust not to that; they may shoot at a distance, though they cannot strike you near at hand. Fred. But if they should kill, you are ne'er the better: There's a grate betwixt us, and you cannot fetch in the dead quarry.

Luc. Provided we destroy the enemy, we do not value their dead bodies: But you, perhaps, are in your first error, and think we are rather captives than warriors; that we come like prisoners to the grate, to beg the charity of passengers for their love. Fred. [To ASCANIO.] Enquire, as dextrously as you

can, what is the name and quality of this charming

creature.

Luc. [To HIPPOLITA.] Be sure, if the page approaches you, to get out of him his master's name.

[The Prince and LUCRETIA seem to talk.

Hip. [To ASCANIO.] By that short whisper, which I observed you took with your master, I imagine, Mr Page, you come to ask a certain question of me.

Asca. By this thy question, and by that whisper with thy lady, (O thou nymph of devotion!) I find I am to impart a secret, and not to ask one: Therefore, either confess thou art yet a mere woman under that veil, and, by consequence, most horribly inquisitive, or thou shalt lose thy longing, and know nothing of my master.

Hip. By my virginity, you shall tell first.

Asca. You'll break your oath, on purpose to make the forfeit.

Hip. Your master is called

Asca. Your lady is ycleped

Hip. For decency, in all matters of love, the man should offer first, you know.

Asca. That needs not, when the damsel is so willing.

Hip. But I have sworn not to discover first, that her name is madam Lucretia; fair, as you see, to a miracle, and of a most charming conversation; of royal blood, and niece to his holiness; and, if she were not espoused to heaven, a mistress for a sovereign prince.

Asca. After these encomiums, 'twere vain for me to praise my master: He is only poor prince Frederick, otherwise called the prince of Mantua; liberal, and valiant, discreet and handsome, and, in my simple judgment, a fitter servant for your lady, than his old father, who is a sovereign.

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