And all his wretched race, by conqu❜ring Theseus? And do you still watch o'er his consort Phædra? And still repay such cruelty with love?

Ism. Let them be cruel that delight in mischief: I'm of a softer mould; poor Phædra's sorrows Pierce thro' my yielding heart, and wound my soul.

Lyc. Now thrice the rising sun has chear'd the world, Since she renew'd her strength with due refreshment; Thrice has the night brought ease to man, to beast, Since wretched Phædra clos'd her streaming eyes: "She flies all rest, all necessary food,

"Resolv'd to die, nor capable to live.”

Ism. But now her grief has wrought her into phrenzy ;

The images her troubled fancy forms

Are incoherent, wild; her words disjointed :
Sometimes she raves for musick, light, and air.
Nor air, nor light, nor musick, calm her pains;
Then with extatic strength she springs aloft,
And moves and bounds with vigour not her own.

Lyc. Then life is on the wing; then most she sinks
When most she seems reviv'd. Like boiling water,
That foams and hisses o'er the crackling wood,
And bubbles to the brim; ev'n then most wasting,
When most it swells.

Ism. My lord, now try your art;

Her wild disorder may disclose the secret
Her cooler sense conceal'd; "the Pythian goddess
Is dumb and sullen, 'till with fury fill'd
"She spreads, she rises, growing to the sight,

"She stares, she foams, she raves; the awful secrets "Burst from her trembling lips, and ease the tortur'd maid;"

But Phædra comes, ye gods, how pale, how weak!

PHEDRA and Attendants enter.

Phad. Stay, virgins, stay; I'll rest my weary steps:
My strength forsakes me, and my dazzled eyes
Ake with the flashing light; my loosen'd knees
Sink under their dull weight. Support me, Lycon.
Alas! I faint.

Lyc. Afford her ease, kind Heav'n!

J Phad, Why blaze these jewels round my wretched head?

"Why all this labour'd elegance of dress?

"Why flow these wanton curls in artful rings ?”
Take, snatch 'em hence. Alas! you all conspire
To heap new sorrows on my tortur'd soul:
All, all conspire to make your queen unhappy.

Lady. This you requir'd, and to the pleasing task
Call'd your officious maids, and urg'd their art:
You bid 'em lead you from yon hideous darkness
To the glad chearing day, yet now avoid it,
And hate the light you sought.

Phad. O my Lycon!

Oh! how I long to lay my weary head

On tender flow'ry beds and springing grass,

To stretch my limbs beneath the spreading shades

Of venerable oaks, to slake my thirst

With the cool nectar of refreshing springs.

B

Lyc. I'll soothe her phrenzy. Come, Phædra, let's

away;

Let's to the woods and lawns, and limpid streams.

Phad. Come, let's away; and thou most bright
Diana,

Goddess of woods, immortal, chaste Diana,
"Goddess presiding o'er the rapid race,"
Place me, O place me in the dusty ring,
Where youthful charioteers contend for glory;
See how they mount and shake the flowing reins,
See from the goal the fiery coursers bound,

Now they strain panting up the steepy hill,
Now sweep along its top, now neigh along the vale;
How the car rattles, how its kindling wheels
Smoak in the whirl! the circling sand ascends,
And in the noble dust the chariot's lost.

Lyc. What, madam!

Phad. Ah, my Lycon! ah, what said I ?
Where was I hurry'd by my roving fancy?
My languid eyes are wet with sudden tears,
And on my cheeks unbidden blushes glow.

Lyc. Then blush, but blush for your destructive
silence,

That tears your soul, and weighs you down to death.
Oh! should you die (ye pow'rs forbid her death)
Who then would shield from wrongs your helpless

orphan?

He then might wander, Phædra's son might wander,,
A naked suppliant through the world for aid;

"Then he may cry, invoke his mother's name:

"He may be doom'd to chains, to shame, to death,”

While proud Hippolitus "shall mount his throne." Phad. O Heav'ns!

Lyc. Ha! Phædra, are you touch'd at this?

Phad. Unhappy wretch! what name was that you spoke?

Lyc. And does his name provoke your just resent.

ments?

Then let it raise your fear, as well as wrath :

Think how you wrong'd him, to his father wrong'd him;
Think how you drove him hence a wand'ring exile
To distant climes; then think what certain vengeance
His rage may wreak on your unhappy orphan.
For his sake then renew your drooping spirits;
Feed with new oil the wasting lamp of life,
That winks and trembles, now, just now expiring:
Make haste, preserve your life.

Phad. Alas! too long,

Too long have I preserv'd that guilty life.

Lyc. Guilty! what guilt? has blood, has horrid murder

Imbru'd your hands?

Fhad. Alas! my hands are guiltless,

But oh! my heart's defil'd.

I've said too much; forbear the rest, my Lycon,
And let me die to save the black confession.

Lyc. Die then, but not alone; old faithful Lycon
Shall be a victim to your cruel silence.
Will you not tell? O lovely, wretched queen!
"By all the cares of your first infant years,”
By all the love, and faith, and zeal I've shew'd you,

Tell me your griefs, unfold your hidden sorrows, And teach your Lycon how to bring you comfort. "Phad. What shall I say, malicious cruel pow'rs? "O where shall I begin? O cruel Venus!

"How fatal love has been to all our race!"

Lyc. Forget it, madam; let it die in silence." Phad. O Ariadne! O unhappy sister!

Lyc. Cease to record your sister's grief and shame. Phad. And since the cruel god of Love requires it, I fall the last, and most undone of all.

Lyc. Do you then love?

Phad. Alas! I groan beneath

The pain, the guilt, the shame of impious love.
Lyc. Forbid it, Heav'n!

Phad. Do not upbraid me, Lycon :

I love.Alas! I shudder at the name;

My blood runs backward, and my fault'ring tongue
Sticks at the sound—I love.—O righteous Heav'n l
Why was I born with such a sense of virtue,
So great abhorrence of the smallest crime,
And yet a slave to such impetuous guilt?

Rain on me, gods, your plagues, your sharpest tortures,
Afflict my soul with any thing but guilt,

And yet that guilt is mine.- -I'll think no more;
I'll to the woods among the happier brutes.
Come, let's away; hark, the shrill horn resounds,
The jolly huntsmens cries rend the wide heav'ns.
Come, o'er the hills pursue the bounding stag;
Come, chase the lion and the foamy boar;
Come, rouse up all the monsters of the wood,
For there, ev'n there, Hippolitus will guard me.