Landscapes how gay the bow'ry grotto yields, Till Vanbrugh fram'd, and Marlbro' rais'd the dome. Alike they mourn, alike they bless their fate, Since love, which made them wretched, makes them great; Unrival'd as thy merit be thy fame, And thy own laurels shade thy envied name: While the charm'd reader with thy thought complies; ROSAMON D. ACT THE FIRST. SCENE I. A prospect of Woodstock park, terminating in the bower. Enter QUEEN and PAGE. QUEEN. WHAT place is here! What scenes appear! Where'er I turn my eyes, All around Enchanted ground And soft Elysiums rise: Flow'ry mountains, Mossy fountains, Shady woods, Crystal floods, With wild variety surprise, As o'er the hollow vaults we walk', From hill to hill the voice is tost, Rocks rebounding, Caves resounding, Not a single word is lost. Alluding to the famous echo in Woodstock park. PAGE. There gentle Rosamond immured Lives from the world and you secured. QUEEN. Curse on the name! I faint, I die, With secret pangs of jealousy.— [Aside. PAGE. There does the pensive beauty mourn, And languish for her lord's return. QUEEN. Death and confusion! I'm too slow -[Aside. Show me the happy mansion, show— PAGE. Great Henry there QUEEN. Trifler, no more! "PAGE. -Great Henry there Will soon forget the toils of war. QUEEN. No more! the happy mansion show That holds this lovely guilty foe. My wrath, like that of heav'n, shall rise, And blast her in her paradise. PAGE. Behold on yonder rising ground In meanders, Ever bending, Never ending, Glades on glades, Shades in shades, Running an eternal round. QUEEN. In such an endless maze I rove, My breast with hoarded vengeance burns, With hope engage, And rule my wav'ring soul by turns. PAGE. The path yon verdant field divides, Which to the soft confinement guides. B |