OFFA.

How Sir?

KING.

So fpeaks Report,

As wanting to my Honor, and my Friend;

By you I ftand accus'd.

OF FA..

Now by our Friendship,

If that be yet an Oath, refolve me, Hengift

Whence are thefe Doubts between us, whence this

Coldnefs?

Say thou, who know'ft, what fudden fecret Thought
Has ftept between, and dafh'd the public Joy.

Thou call'ft me Brother; wherefore wait the Priefts,
And fuffer Hymen's holy Fires to languifh?
What hinders but that now the Rites begin,
That now we lofe all Thoughts of paft Difpleasure,
And in the Temple tie the facred Knot

Of Love and Friendship to endure for ever?

KING.

What hinders it indeed, but that which makes This medly War within? but that which causes This Sickness of the Soul, and weighs her down With more than mortal Cares?

OFFA.

What fhall I call

This fecret gloomy Grief, that hides its Head,
And loves to lurk in Shades? have royal Minds
Such Thoughts as fhun the Day?

KING.

Urge me no farther,
But, like a Friend, be willing not to know
What to reveal, would give thy Friend a Pain.
Be ftill the Partner of my Heart, and share
In Arms and Glory with me; but, Oh! leave,
Leave me alone to ftruggle thro' one Thought,
One fecret anxious Pang that jars within me,
That makes me act a Madman's Part before thee,
And talk Confufion-If thou art my Friend,

T

Thou

Thou haft heard me, and be fatisfied-if not,
I have too much descended from myfelf

To make the mean Requeft-but rest we here.
To you, fair Princefs-

RODOGUNE.

No!there needs no mores

For I would spare thee the unready Tale.

Know, faithlefs King, I give thee back thy Vows,
And bid thee fin fecure, be fafely perjur'd.

Since if our Gods behold thee with my Eyes,
Their Thunder fhall be kept for nobler Vengeance,
And what they fcorn, like me they fhall forgive,

When Anger lightens in the Fair Ones Eyes,
Lowly we bow, as to offended Heav'n,
With blind Obedience, and fubmiffive Worship;
Nor with too curious Boldness rafhly reason
Of what is juft or unjust, fuch high Pow'r
Is to itself a Rule, and cannot err.

Yet this may be permitted me to speak,
Howe'er the prefent Circumstance reproach me,
Yet ftill my Heart avows your Beauty's Pow'r,
My Eyes confefs you fair.

RODOG U N E.

Whate'er I am

Is of myfelf, by native Worth exifting,

Secure, and independent of thy Praife;
Nor let it seem too proud a Boaft, if Minds
By Nature great, are confcious of their Greatness,
And hold it mean to borrow ought from Flattery..

KING.

You are offended, Lady.

RODOGUNE.

Hengift, no.

Perhaps thou think'ft this gen'rous Indignation,
That blushing burns upon my glowing Cheek,
And sparkles in my Eyes, a Woman's Weakness,
The Malice of a poor forfaken Maid,

Who rails at faithlefs Man---Mistaken Monarch!--

For

For know ev'n from the first, my Soul disdain'd thee;
Nor am I left by thee, but thou by me.

So was thy Falihood to my Will fubfervient,
And by my Purpose bound. Thus Man, tho' limited
By Fate, may vainly think his Actions free,
While all he does, was at his Hour of Birth,
Or by his Gods, or potent Stars ordain'd.
OFFA.

No more, my Sifter: Let the Gown-Men talk,
And mark out Right and Wrong in noify Courts;
While the Brave find a nearer way to Justice,
They hold themselves the Balance and the Sword,
And fuffer Wrong from none. 'Tis much beneath me,
To afk again the Debt you owe to Honor;

So that be fatisfy'd, we ftill are Friends,
And Brothers of the War. But mark me, Hengift,
I am not us'd to wait; and if this Day

Pafs unregarded as the former two,
Soon as To-morrow dawns, expect me.

Tho' I could wish it otherwise.

And fince the Honor of the Saxon Name,
And Empire here in Britain, refts upon thee,
Believe me, I would still be found thy Friend.

[Exeunt Offa, Rodogune, and Attendants.
KING.

No, I renounce that Friendfhip; perish too, Perish that Name and Empire both for ever; What are the Kingdoms of the peopled Earth, What are their Purple, and their Crowns to me,

If

If I am curft within, and want that Peace

Which ev'ry Slave enjoys?

SEOFRID.

It racks my aged Heart to fee

My royal Mafter,

thus;

you

But Oh! what Aid, what Counsel can I bring you,
When all yon eaftern Down, ev'n to the Surge
That bellowing beats on Dover's chalky Cliff,
With crefted Helmets thick embattel'd fhines;
With these your Friends, what are you but the greatest ?
With thefe your Foes---Oh! let me lofe that Thought,
And rather think I fee you Britain's King,
Ambrofius vanquifh'd, and the fartheit Pics
Submitted to your Sway, tho' the fame Scene
Difcover'd to my View the haughty Rodogune
Plae'd on your Throne, and Partner of your Bed.
KING.

What! fhou'd I barter Beauty for Ambition,
Forfake my Heav'n of Love, to reign in Hell?
Take a domeftic Fury to my Breaft,

And never know one Hour of Peace again?
Statesman, thou reafon'ft ill. By mighty Thor,
Who wields the Thunder, I will rather choofe
To meet their Fury. Let 'em come together,
Young Offa and Ambrofius, Tho' my Date
Of mortal Life be fhort, it fhall be glorious,
Each Minute fhall be rich in fome great Action,
To speak the King, the Hero, and the Lover.
SEOFRID.

The Hero and the King are glorious Names;
But Oh! my Mafter, wherefore is the Lover?
In Honour's Name remember what you are,
Break from the Bondage of this feeble Paffion,
And urge your Way to Glory: Leave with Scorn
Unmanly Pleafures to unmanly Minds,

And through the rough, the thorny Paths of Danger,
Afpire to Virtue, and immortal Greatnefs.

KING.

Hence with thy hungry, dull, untimely Morals,
The fond deluding Sophiftry of Schools.
Who would be great, but to be happy too?
And yet fuch Ideots are we, to exchange
Our Peace and Pleasure for the Trifie, Glory;
What is the Monarch, mighty, rich, and great?
What? but the common Victim of the State:
Born to grow old in Cares, to wafte his Blood,
And still be wretched for the public Good.
So, by the Priefts, the nobleft of the Kind
Is to atone the angry Gods defign'd;

And while the meaner Sort from Death are freed,
The mighty Bull, that wont the Herd to lead,
Is doom'd for fatal Excellence to bleed.

[Exeunt.

}