_Euph._ You"re strangely impatient, Sir.
_Alon._ O you should like me the better for that, "tis a sign of Youth and Fire.
_Euph._ But, Sir, before I let you see my Face--
_Alon._ I hope I must not promise you to like it.
_Euph._ No, that were too unreasonable, but I must know whether you are a Lover.
_Alon._ What an idle Question"s that to a brisk young Fellow? A Lover!
yes, and that as often as I see a new Face.
_Euph._ That I"ll allow.
_Alon._ That"s kindly said; and now do I find I shall be in love with thine as soon as I see"t, for I am half so with thy Humour already.
_Euph._ Are you not married, Sir?
_Alon._ Married!
_Euph._ Now I dread his Answer. [Aside.] Yes, married.
_Alon._ Why, I hope you make no Scruple of Conscience, to be kind to a married Man.
_Euph._ Now do I find, you hope I am a Curtezan that come to bargain for a Night or two; but if I possess you, it must be for ever.
_Alon._ For ever let it be then. Come, let"s begin on any Terms.
_Euph._ I cannot blame you, Sir, for this mistake, since what I"ve rashly done, has given you cause to think I am not virtuous.
_Alon._ Faith, Madam, Man is a strange ungovern"d thing; yet I in the whole course of my Life have taken the best care I could, to make as few Mistakes as possible: and treating all Women-kind alike, we seldom err; for where we find one as you profess to be, we happily light on a hundred of the sociable and reasonable sort.
_Euph._ But sure you are so much a Gentleman, that you may be convinc"d?
_Alon._ Faith, if I be mistaken, I cannot devise what other use you can make of me.
_Euph._ In short this; I must leave you instantly; and will only tell you I am the sole Daughter of a rich Parent, young, and as I am told not unhandsom; I am contracted to a Man I never saw, nor I am sure shall not like when I do see, he having more Vice and Folly than his Fortune will excuse, tho a great one; and I had rather die than marry him.
_Alon._ I understand you, and you would have me dispatch this Man.
_Euph._ I am not yet so wicked. The Church is the only place I am allowed to go to, and till now could never see the Man that was perfectly agreeable to me: Thus veil"d, I"ll venture to tell you so.
_Alon._ What the Devil will this come to? her Mien and Shape are strangely graceful, and her Discourse is free and natural. What a d.a.m.n"d Defeat is this, that she should be honest now!
[Aside.
_Euph._ Well, Sir, what Answer? I see he is uneasy. [Aside.
_Alon._ Why, as I was saying, Madam, I am a Stranger.
_Euph._ I like you the better for that.
_Alon._ But, Madam, I am a Man unknown, unown"d in the World; and much unworthy the Honour you do me-- Would I were well rid of her, and yet I find a d.a.m.nable Inclination to stay too.
[Aside.
Will nothing but Matrimony serve your turn, Madam? Pray use a young Lover as kindly as you can.
_Euph._ Nothing but that will do, and that must be done.
_Alon._ Must! "slife this is the first of her s.e.x that ever was before-hand with me, and yet that I should be forc"d to deny her too.
[Aside.
_Euph._ I fear his Answer, _Olinda_. [Aside.
_Olin._ At least "tis but making a Discovery of your Beauty, and then you have him sure.
_Alon._ Madam, "tis a matter of Moment, and requires Deliberation; besides I have made a kind of Promise--
_Euph._ Never to marry?
_Alon._ No, faith, "tis not so well: But since now I find we are both in haste, I am to be marry"d.
_Euph._ This I am sure is an Excuse; but I"ll fit him for"t.
[Aside.
To be marry"d said you?
That Word has kill"d me, Oh I feel it drill Through the deep Wound his Eyes have lately made: "Twas much unkind to make me hope so long.
[She leans on _Olinda_, as if she swooned, who pulls off her Veil: he stands gazing at a Distance.
_Olin._ Sure she does but counterfeit, and now I"ll play my Part. Madam, Madam!
_Alon._ What wondrous thing is that! I should not look upon"t, it changes Nature in me.
_Olin._ Have you no pity, Sir? Come nearer pray.
_Alon._ Sure there"s Witchcraft in that Face, it never could have seiz"d me thus else, I have lov"d a thousand times, yet never felt such joyful Pains before.
_Olin._ She does it rarely. What mean you, Sir?
_Alon._ I never was a Captive to this Hour.
If in her Death such certain Wounds she give, What Mischiefs she would do, if she should live!
Yet she must live, and live that I may prove Whether this strange Disorder here be Love. [To his heart.
Divine, divinest Maid. [Kneels.
_Olin._ Come nearer, Sir, you"ll do a Lady no good at that Distance.
Speak to her, Sir.
[He rises and comes to her, gazing still.
_Alon._ I know not what to say, I am unus"d to this soft kind of Language: But if there be a Charm in Words, and such As may conjure her to return again; Prithee instruct me in them, I"ll say any thing, Do any thing, and suffer all the Wounds Her Eyes can give.