The Faithful Shepherdess | Page 9

voyce,
And I must answer, Cloe! Oh the choice
Of
dear embraces, chast and holy strains
Our hands shall give! I charge
you all my veins
Through which the blood and spirit take their way,

Lock up your disobedient heats, and stay
Those mutinous desires
that else would grow
To strong rebellion: do not wilder show
Than
blushing modesty may entertain.
Alexis within. Cloe!
Daph. There sounds that [blessed] name again,
Enter Alexis.
And I will meet it: let me not mistake,
This is some Shepherd! sure I
am awake;
What may this riddle mean? I will retire,
To give my
self more knowledg.
Alex. Oh my fire,
How thou consum'st me! Cloe, answer me,

Alexis_, strong _Alexis , high and free,
Calls upon Cloe. See mine
arms are full
Of entertainment, ready for to pull
That golden fruit
which too too long hath hung
Tempting the greedy eye: thou stayest
too long,
I am impatient of these mad delayes;
I must not leave
unsought these many ways
That lead into this center, till I find

Quench for my burning lust. I come, unkind. [Exit Alexis.
Daph. Can my imagination work me so much ill,
That I may credit
this for truth, and still
Believe mine eyes? or shall I firmly hold
Her
yet untainted, and these sights but bold
Illusion? Sure such fancies oft
have been
Sent to abuse true love, and yet are seen,
Daring to blind
the vertuous thought with errour.
But be they far from me with their
fond terrour:
I am resolv'd my Cloe yet is true. [Cloe within.

Cloe_,
hark, _Cloe: Sure this voyce is new,
Whose shrilness like the
sounding of a Bell,
Tells me it is a Woman: Cloe, tell
Thy blessed

name again. Cloe. [within] Here.
Oh what a grief is this to be so near,

And not incounter!
Enter Cloe.
Clo. Shepherd, we are met,
Draw close into the covert, lest the wet

Which falls like lazy mists upon the ground
Soke through your
Startups.
Daph. Fairest are you found?
How have we wandred, that the better
part
Of this good night is perisht? Oh my heart!
How have I long'd
to meet ye, how to kiss
Those lilly hands, how to receive the bliss

That charming tongue gives to the happy ear
Of him that drinks your
language! but I fear
I am too much unmanner'd, far too rude,
And
almost grown lascivious to intrude
These hot behaviours; where
regard of fame,
Honour, and modesty, a vertuous name,
And such
discourse as one fair Sister may
Without offence unto the Brother say,

Should rather have been tendred: but believe,
Here dwells a better
temper; do not grieve
Then, ever kindest, that my first salute

Seasons so much of fancy, I am mute
Henceforth to all discourses,
but shall be
Suiting to your sweet thoughts and modestie.
Indeed I
will not ask a kiss of you,
No not to wring your fingers, nor to sue

To those blest pair of fixed stars for smiles,
All a young lovers
cunning, all his wiles,
And pretty wanton dyings, shall to me
Be
strangers; only to your chastitie
I am devoted ever.
Clo. Honest Swain,
First let me thank you, then return again
As
much of my love: no thou art too cold,
Unhappy Boy, not tempred to
my mold,
Thy blood falls heavy downward, 'tis not fear
To offend
in boldness wins, they never wear
Deserved favours that deny to take


When they are offered freely: Do I wake
To see a man of his youth,
years and feature,
And such a one as we call goodly creature,
Thus
backward? What a world of precious Art
Were meerly lost, to make
him do his part?
But I will shake him off, that dares not hold,
Let

men that hope to be belov'd be bold.
Daphnis, I do desire, since we
are met
So happily, our lives and fortunes set
Upon one stake, to
give assurance now,
By interchange of hands and holy vow,
Never
to break again: walk you that way
Whilest I in zealous meditation
stray
A little this way: when we both have ended
These rites and
duties, by the woods befriended,
And secrecie of night, retire and find

An aged Oak, whose hollowness may bind
Us both within his body,
thither go,
It stands within yon bottom.
Daph. Be it so. [Ex. Daph.
Clo. And I will meet there never more with thee,
Thou idle
shamefastness.
_Alex. [within] Chloe!_
Clo. 'Tis he
That dare I hope be bolder.
Alex. Cloe!
Clo. Now
Great Pan_ for _Syrinx sake bid speed our Plow. [Exit
Cloe.
_Actus Tertius. Scena Prima.
Enter_ Sullen Shepherd _with_ Amaryllis _in a sleep.
Sull. From thy forehead thus I take
These herbs, and charge thee not
awake
Till in yonder holy Well,
Thrice with powerful Magick spell,

Fill'd with many a baleful word,
Thou hast been dipt; thus with my
cord
Of blasted Hemp, by Moon-light twin'd,
I do thy sleepy body
bind;
I turn thy head into the East,
And thy feet into the West,

Thy left arm to the South put forth,
And thy right unto the North:
I
take thy body from the ground,
In this deep and deadly swound,

And into this holy spring
I let thee slide down by my string.
Take
this Maid thou holy pit,
To thy bottom, nearer yet,

In thy water pure

and sweet,
By thy leave I dip her feet;
Thus