_Ah _Charmion!_ shroud those killing Eyes, That dart th’ extremes of Pleasure, Else _Celidon_, though favour’d, dies As well as him that you despise, Though with this diff’rent measure: While lingring Pains drag on his Fate, } Dispatch is all th’ Advantage of my State; } For ah! you hill with Love, as well as Hate._ } II. _Abate thy Luxury of Charms, And only Part discover; Your Tongue, as well as Eyes, has Arms To give a Thousand fatal Harms To the poor listening Lover: Thy Beams, like Glorys veil’d shou’d be, And like the Front of Heav’n, unseen, pass by; For to behold ‘em, in full force, we die._ _Prince._ _Mirtilla_, O! I faint, I die with thy Beauty’s Luxury! by Heaven, I’m all Rapture, Love, and Joy: Such a dear Night, _Lejere_!--Poets may fancy pressing Goddesses, on downy Beds of Clouds--But oh, _Lejere_!--Those Gods were never half so blest as I! _Geo._ What pity ‘twere to wake you from this Dream. _Prince._ It is not in the power of Time nor Age: For even then _Mirtilla_ will have Charms! Oh, how she speaks! how well she’ll grace a Story! _Geo._ How gay her Wit! how movingly she writes! _Prince._ I do believe she does. [A little seriously. _Geo._ Would it displease you, should you see a Billet from her? _Prince._ That’s as it were directed. [Gravely. _Geo._ You would not credit what you saw last Night. _Prince._ Nor wou’d have lost that Night for all the Treasure the vast Ocean hides. _Geo._ I wou’d not have a Man, so good and great, be made a Woman’s Property--There, Sir. [Gives him the Billet. _Prince._ I’ll not believe it her’s; there are a thousand ways to ruin Innocence; if she be false--she’s damn’d. Confirm me, and of course I shall despise her. You cure me, when you shew her worth my Scorn. _Geo._ Will you be rul’d then, and believe it Friendship in me? _Prince._ I will. _Geo._ Give her, by Absence, but an Opportunity; feign some Excuse to leave the Town to day. _Prince._ See where she comes-- Enter _Mirtilla_. Adorn’d with all the beauteous Wonders of her Sex. The Gods of Love are playing in her Eyes, and give us Wounds from ev’ry graceful Motion. Ah, my _Mirtilla_! how shall I support the Absence of a many coming Hours, that languish, being from thee but a Moment? _Mir._ I hope, my Lord, Fate is not so unkind, to let me live without you many Hours. _Prince._ Can all this be dissembl’d? [Aside to _George_. _Geo._ How much more have I heard? yet all was false. _Prince._ I must this Day--this tedious live-long Day, be absent from thy Sight--but shall be back i’th’ Evening: I’ll leave _Lejere_ to wait on your Commands. _Mir._ _Lejere_ shall ever, Sir, be dear to me--But I’ll retire, and sigh till your Return--that World affords no Pleasure where you are not. _Prince._ Do you hear that, Sir? [Aside to _George_. Till Night, thou dearest Blessing of my Life--Adieu. [_Mirtilla_ going out, pulls _Lejere_ by the Sleeve.