A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 15Dodsley, Robert
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 15
Dodsley, Robert
English drama
_Enter +Zoranzo+ and +Amphelia+ lying upon straw
together._
+Zor.+ Most bless'd of women, I must tell you truth;
And yet I fear that truth will----
+Amph.+ Will what? I doubt he loves me-- [_Aside._
Speak it, sir, nothing from you can
Be unwelcome.
+Zor.+ O yes, it will.
+Amph.+ I'll warrant you; out with it, sir.
+Zor.+ Then know, I----'Twill come no farther.
+Amph.+ Unhappy man! 'tis so, he loves me. [_Aside._
O sir, I have sadder truth to tell to you
Than yours can be to me----I dare not
Speak it.
+Zor.+ My fears are true; she loves me. [_Aside._
Pray tell me, what it is?
+Amph.+ Tell yours first, sir.
+Zor.+ Alas! you saw I tried, but could not get
It past my lips.
+Amph.+ If I should try, mine would not come so far.
+Zor.+ Would I knew yours, I could tell it for you.
+Amph.+ So could I yours, [and] yet I can't my own.
+Zor.+ Alas! she loves me. [_Aside._
+Amph.+ Poor Zoranzo! I see he loves me. [_Aside._
But, sir, consider we are going to die;
Let us die undeceiv'd in one another.
+Zor.+ O, that some one that knows each of our hearts,
Would hearken to our griefs, and bid
An angel come and speak for both!
_Enter +Jailor+._
+Jailor.+ Come, have you done your discourse? you must go
To execution.
+Zor.+ A little patience, jailor: [_To her_] see, we are
Called unto our deaths, pray tell me, what
You mean.
+Amph.+ I cannot; first do you begin.
+Zor.+ Nor I.
+Amph.+ Let us tell both together then, that one
May not blame the other.
+Zor.+ Agreed: are you ready now to speak!
+Amph.+ Yes--O no, I am not--well, now I am--
Are you?
+Zor.+ Yes, I am; begin--O, stay, I cannot yet.
+Jailor.+ Come, come, I can give you no longer time.
+Amph.+ Nay, then we must tell.
+Zor.+ Poor Amphelia! 'tis Amarissa that
I love.
+Amph.+ O Zoranzo, I love the duke!
+Zor.+ Then I am joy'd, I was afraid 'twas me
You lov'd.
+Amph.+ And so was I that you lov'd me.
Now we shall both die happy, never was
Two such friends as you and I.
+Jailor.+ Come, come.
+Amph.+ Good jailor, we go most willingly now. [_Exeunt._
_Enter as on a scaffold, +Duke+, +Amarissa+, +Ortellus+,
+Zoranzo+, +Amphelia+, +Jailor+, and +Executioner+._
+Ama.+ Jailor, why didst thou let them stay so long?
+Jailor.+ They had so much to say to one another,
That still they begged one minute, and then
Another.
+Ama.+ D'ye hear, sir? pray let the jailor
Be turn'd out of his place, for letting them speak to
One another.
+Amph.+ See, Zoranzo, where they sit
In triumph o'er our deaths.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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