Bel. Would I had died indeed! I wish it too:
And so I must have done by vow, ere published
What I have told, but that there was no means
To hide it longer. Yet I joy in this,
The princess is all clear.

King. What, have you done?

Dion. All is discovered.

Phi. Why then hold you me?

All is discovered!

King. Stay him.

140

[Offers to stab himself.

Pray you, let me go.

Are. What is discovered?

Dion. Why, my shame.

It is a woman: let her speak the rest.

Phi. How? that again!

Dion. It is a woman.

Phi. Blessed be you powers that favour innocence !

King. Lay hold upon that lady.

150

[MEGRA is seized.

Phi. It is a woman, sir!— Hark, gentlemen,

My soul into thy breast, that would be gone

With joy. It is a woman! Thou art fair,
And virtuous still to ages, in despite

Of malice.

King. Speak you, where lies his shame?
Bel. I am his daughter.

Phi. The gods are just.

Dion. I dare accuse none; but, before you two,

The virtue of our age, I bend my knee

For mercy.

Phi. (raising him). Take it freely; for I know, Though what thou didst were undiscreetly done, 'Twas meant well.

160

[Kneels.

(For I must call thee still so,) tell me why
Thou didst conceal thy sex. It was a fault,

A fault, Bellario, though thy other deeds
Of truth outweighed it: all these jealousies
Had flown to nothing, if thou hadst discovered
What now we know.

Bel. My father oft would speak

Your worth and virtue; and, as I did grow
More and more apprehensive, I did thirst
To see the man so praised. But yet all this
Was but a maiden-longing, to be lost
As soon as found; till, sitting in my window,
Printing my thoughts in lawn, I saw a god,
I thought, (but it was you,) enter our gates:
My blood flew out and back again, as fast
As I had puffed it forth and sucked it in
Like breath: then was I called away in haste
To entertain you. Never was a man,
Heaved from a sheep-cote to a sceptre, raised
So high in thoughts as I : you left a kiss
Upon these lips then, which I mean to keep
From you for ever: I did hear you talk,
Far above singing. After you were gone,
I grew acquainted with my heart, and searched
What stirred it so: alas, I found it love!
Yet far from lust; for, could I but have lived
In presence of you, I had had my end.

170

180

190

200

For this I did delude my noble father
With a feigned pilgrimage, and dressed myself
In habit of a boy; and, for I knew

My birth no match for you, I was past hope
Of having you; and, understanding well
That when I made discovery of my sex
I could not stay with you, I made a vow,
By all the most religious things a maid
Could call together, never to be known,

Whilst there was hope to hide me from men's eyes,
For other than I seemed, that I might ever

Abide with you. Then sat I by the fount,

Where first you took me up.

King. Search out a match

Within our kingdom, where and when thou wilt,

And I will pay thy dowry; and thyself

Wilt well deserve him.

Bel. Never, sir, will I

Marry; it is a thing within my vow :

But, if I may have leave to serve the princess,

To see the virtues of her lord and her,

I shall have hope to live.

Are. I, Philaster,

Cannot be jealous, though you had a lady
Drest like a page to serve you; nor will I

Suspect her living here. - Come, live with me;
Live free as I do. She that loves my lord,
Cursed be the wife that hates her!

Phi. I grieve such virtue should be laid in earth
Without an heir. Hear me, my royal father:
Wrong not the freedom of our souls so much,
To think to take revenge of that base woman;

210

220

230

Her malice cannot hurt us. Set her free

As she was born, saving from shame and sin.

King. Set her at liberty.

This is no place for such.

But leave the court;

You, Pharamond,

Shall have free passage, and a conduct home

Worthy so great a prince. When you come there,
Remember 'twas your faults that lost you her,

And not my purposed will.

Pha. I do confess,

Renowned sir.

King. Last, join your hands in one. Enjoy, Philaster, This kingdom, which is yours, and, after me, Whatever I call mine. My blessing on you! All happy hours be at your marriage-joys, That you may grow yourselves over all lands, And live to see your plenteous branches spring Wherever there is sun! Let princes learn By this to rule the passions of their blood; For what Heaven wills can never be withstood.

240

250

[Curtain falls.1

1 Of Euphrasia, disguised as Bellario, Dyce says: "She is one of our authors' most perfect creations, — unequalled in the romantic tenderness and the deep devotedness of her affection by any character which at all resembles her in the wide range of fiction, from her supposed prototype, the Viola of Shakespeare, down to the Constance of Scott and the Kaled of Byron."

IV.

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.

BY JOHN FLETCHER AND WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

Probably written between 1608 and 1612. The story is borrowed from The Knighte's Tale of Chaucer, who took it from

Boccaccio's Teseide.