Enter CAROLO CHAROMONTE. and CONTARINO. Car. You bring your welcome with you. Con. Sir, I find it,
In every circumstance.
Car. Again more welcome.
Yet, give me leave to wish (and pray you excuse
For I must use the freedom I was born with) The great duke's pleasure had commanded you To my poor house upon some other service; Not this you are designed to: but his will Must be obeyed, howe'er it ravish froin me The happy conversation of one,
As dear to me as the old Romans held
To bless and guard their families. Con. 'Tis received so
On my part, signior; nor can the duke But promise to himself as much as may Be hoped for from a nephew. And it were weakness
In any man to doubt, that Giovanni, Trained up by your experience and care, In all those arts peculiar and proper To future greatness, of necessity
Must, in his actions, being grown a man, Make good the princely education Which he derived from you.
Car. I have discharged,
To the utmost of my power, the trust the duke Committed to me, and, with joy, perceive
Their household Lares, who, they believed, had The seed of my endeavours was not sown
Upon the barren sands, but fruitful glebe,
Which yields a large increase; my noble charge, | That is without their power. When they ad- By his sharp wit, and pregnant apprehension, Instructing those that teach him; making use, Not in a vulgar and pedantic form,
Of what's read to him, but 'tis straight digested, And truly made his own. His grave discourse, In one no more indebted unto years, Amazes such as hear him. Horsemanship And skill to use his weapon are, by practice, Familiar to him: As for knowledge in
Music, he needs it not, it being born with him; All that he speaks being with such grace delivered,
That it makes perfect harmony.
Con. You describe
A wonder to me.
Car. Sir, he is no less;
And, that there may be nothing wanting that May render him complete, the sweetness of His disposition so wins on all Appointed to attend him, that they are Rivals even in the coarsest office, who Shall get precedency to do him service; Which they esteem a greater happiness Than if they had been fashioned and built To hold command o'er others.
Con. And what place
Does he now bless with his presence?
Running at the ring, at which he's excellent. He does allot for every exercise
A several hour; for sloth, the nurse of vices And rust of action, is a stranger to him. But I fear I am tedious; let us pass,
Not out of judgment, but deceiving fancy, An undeserving man, howe'er set off With all the trim of greatness, state, and power, And, of a creature, even grown terrible To him from whom he took his giant form, This thing is still a comet, no true star; And when the bounties, feeding his false fire, Begin to fail, will of itself go out, And, what was dreadful, proves ridiculous. But in our Sanazarro 'tis not so:
He, being pure and tried gold, and any stamp Of grace to make him current to the world," The duke is pleased to give him, will add hon-
If you please, to some other subject, though I But break we off. Here comes my princely
Make your approaches boldly; you will find A courteous entertainment.
Giov. Pray you, forbear
My hand, good signior; 'tis a ceremony Not due to me. Tis fit we should embrace With mutual arms
Con. It is a favour, sir,
I grieve to be denied.
Giov. You shall overcome :
But 'tis your pleasure, not my pride, that grants
Good Charomonte hath broken, in his care To build me up a man, you must confess Chiron, the tutor to the great Achilles, Compared with him, deserves not to be named. And if my gracious uncle, the great duke, Still holds me worthy his consideration, Or finds in me aught worthy to be loved, That little rivulet flowed from this spring; And so from me report him.
Hath filled his highness' ears with the true story Of what you are, and how much bettered by him. And 'tis his purpose to reward the travail Of this grave sir, with a magnificent hand. For, though his tenderness hardly could consent To have you one hour absent from his sight, For full three years he did deny himself The pleasure he took in you, that you, here, From this great master, might arrive unto The theory of those high mysteries Which you by action must make plain in court. Tis, therefore, his request (and that, from him, Your excellence must grant a strict command), That instantly (it being not five hours riding) You should take horse, and visit him. These his letters
Will yield you further reasons.
Cal. To the court?
Farewell the flower, then, of the country's garland!
This is our sun, and, when he's set, we must not Expect or spring or summer; but resolve For a perpetual winter.
[GIOVANNI reading the letter. The frequent changes in his face.
His much unwillingness to leave your house Contended with his duty.
Car. Now he appears
Collected and resolved. Giov. It is the duke!
The duke, upon whose favour all my hopes And fortunes do depend. Nor must I check At his commands, for any private motives That do invite my stay here, though they are Almost not to be mastered. My obedience, In my departing suddenly, shall confirm I am his highness's creature. Yet, I hope A little stay, to take a solemn farewell For all those ravishing pleasures I have tasted In this my sweet retirement from my guardian, And his incomparable daughter, cannot meet An ill construction?
Con. I will answer that;
Use your own will.
Giov. I would speak to you, sir,
In such a phrase as might express the thanks My heart would gladly pay; but
And something I would say; but I must do it In that dumb rhetoric which you make use of; VOL. II.
The only free men, are the only slaves. Happy the golden mean! had I been born In a poor sordid cottage, not nursed up With expectation to command a court, I might, like such of your condition, sweetest, Have took a safe and middle course, and not, As I am now, against my choice compelled, Or to lie grovelling on the earth, or raised So high upon the pinnacles of state,
That I must either keep my height with danger, Or fall with certain ruin.
Lyd. Your own goodness
Will be your faithful guard. Giov. O Lydia!
Con. So passionate?
Giov. For, had I been your equal,
I might have seen and liked with mine own eyes, And not, as now, with other's; I might still, And without observation or envy, As I have done, continued my delights With that are alone, in my esteem, The abstract of society: We might walk In solitary groves, or in choice gardens; From the variety of curious flowers Contemplate Nature's workmanship and won- ders;
And then, for change, near to the murmur of Some bubbling fountain, I might hear you sing, And, from the well-tuned accents of your tongue, In my imagination conceive
With what melodious harmony a quire Of angels sing, above, their maker's praises. And then, with chaste discourse, as we returned, Imp feathers to the broken wings of time; And all this I must part from!
Con. You forget
The haste imposed upon us.
Giov. One word more,
And, then, I come. And, after this, when with Continued innocence of love and service, I had grown ripe for hymeneal joys, Embracing you, but with a lawful flame, I might have been your husband! Lyd. Sir, I was,
And ever am, your servant; but it was, And 'tis, far from me, in a thought, to cherish Such saucy hopes. If I had been the heir
Of all the globes and sceptres mankind bows to, At my best you had deserved me; as I am, Howe'er unworthy, in my virgin zeal I wish you, as a partner of your bed, A princess equal to you; such a one That may make it the study of her life,
With all the obedience of a wife, to please you. May you have happy issue, and I live To be their humblest handmaid.
Giov. I am dumb,
And can make no reply.
Con. Your excellence
As to disdain familiar conference With such as are to counsel and direct us. This kind of adoration shewed not well In the old Roman emperors, who, forgetting That they were flesh and blood, would be styled gods:
In us to suffer it, were worse. Pray you, rise. | Still the old suit? With too much curiousness [Reads.
You have too often searched this wound, which
Security and rest, not trouble to me. For here you grieve, that my firm resolution Continues me a widower; and that My want of issue to succced me in
My government, when I am dead, may breed Distraction in the state, and make the name And family of the Medicis, now admired, Contemptible.
Hip. And, with strong reasons, sir.
Alph. For, were you old, and past hope to beget
The model of yourself, we should be silent. Hier. But, being in your height and pride of years,
As you are now, great sir, and having too In your possession the daughter of The deceased duke of Urbin, and his heir, Whose guardian you are made, were you but pleased
To think her worthy of you, besides children, The dukedom she brings with her for a dower, Will yield a large increase of strength and power To these fair territories, which already
The service I should pay.
Acknowledge you their absolute lord,
With solid arguments, we grant; and, though We stand not bound to yield account to any, Why we do this or that (the full consent Of our subjects being included in our will), We, out of our free bounties, will deliver The motives that divert us. You well know, That three years since, to our much grief, we lost
Our dutchess; such a dutchess, that the world, In her whole course of life, yields not a lady That can, with imitation, deserve
To be her second. In her grave we buried All thoughts of women: Let this satisfy For any second marriage. Now, whereas You name the heir of Urbin, as a princess Of great revenues, 'tis confessed she is so : But for some causes, private to ourself, We have disposed her otherwise. Yet despair not;
For you, ere long, with joy, shall understand, That, in our princely care, we have provided One worthy to succeed us.
And hold the counsels of great Cozimo Oraculous,
Enter LODOVICO and SANAZARRO,
Coz. My Sanazarro-Nay,
Forbear all ceremony. You look sprightly, friend, And promise, in your clear aspect, some novel That may delight us.
San. O sir, I would not be
The harbinger of aught that might distaste you. And, therefore, know (for 'twere a sin to torture Your highness' expectation) your vice-admiral, By my directions, hath surprised the gallies Appointed to transport the Asian tribute Of the great Turk; a richer prize was never Brought into Florence.
Coz. Still my nightingale,
That with sweet accents dost assure me, that My spring of happiness comes fast upon me. Embrace me boldly. I pronounce that wretch An enemy to brave and thriving action, That dares believe, but in a thought, we are Too prodigal in our favours to this man, Whose merits, though with him we should divide Our dukedom, still continue us his debtor. Hip. 'Tis far from me. Alph. We all applaud it.
Coz. Nay, blush not, Sanazarro; we are proud Of what we build up in thee; nor can our Election be disparaged, since we have not Received into our bosom and our grace A glorious lazy drone, grown fat with feeding On other's toil, but an industrious bee, That crops the sweet flowers of our enemies, And every happy evening returns Loaden with wax and honey to our hive.
San. My best endeavours never can discharge
Coz. Thou art too modest;
But we will study how to give, and when,
Enter GIOVANNI and CONTARINO.
Before it be demanded. Giovanni! My nephew! Let me eye thee better, boy. In thee, methinks, my sister lives again: For her love I will be a father to thee, For thou art my adopted son.
Giov. Your servant, And humblest subject.
Coz. Thy hard travel, nephew, Requires soft rest; and, therefore, we forbear, For the present, an account how thou hast spent Thy absent hours. See, signiors, see, our care, Without a second bed, provides you of
A hopeful prince! Carry him to his lodgings, And, for his farther honour, Sanazarro, With the rest, do you attend him. Giov. All true pleasures Circle your highness.
San. As the rising sun,
We do receive you.
Giov. May this never set, But shine upon you ever.
[Exeunt GIOVANNI, SANAZARRO, HIERGNIMO, ALPHONSO, LODOVICO.
Coz. Contarino!
Con. My gracious lord.
Coz. What entertainment found you From Carolo de Charamonte ?
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