Enter CHAMONT, disarmed, and seized by ACASTO

and Servants.
Cham. Gape, heH,and swallow me to quick damnation,
If I forgive your house, if I not live
An everlasting plague to thee, Acasto,
And all thy race. You've overpow'r'd me now;
But hear nie, heav'o!-Ah! here's the scene of death,
My sister, my Monimia ! Breathless! Now,
Ye pow'rs above, if ye have justice, strike,
Strike bolts thro' me, and thro' the curst Castalio.

Acast. My Polydore.
Pol. Who calls?
Acast. How cam'st thou wounded ?
Cast. Stand off, thou hot-brain'd, boist'rous, noisy

ruffian,
And leave me to my sorrows.

Cham. By the love
I bore ber living, I will ne'er forsake her!
But here remain till my heart burst with sobbing.

Cast. Vanish, I charge thee, or- [Draws a dagger.

Cham. Thou canst not kill me ;
That would be kindness, and against thy nature.

Acast. What means Castalio ? Sure thou wilt not pull
More sorrows on thy aged father's head.
Tell me, I beg you, tell me the sad cause
Of all this ruin.
Pol. That must be my

task:
But 'tis too long for one in pains to tell;
You'll in my closet find the story written
Of all our woes.

Castalio's innocent,
And so's Monimia; only I'm to blame:
Enquire no farther.

Cast. Thou, unkind Chanıont,
Unjustly hast pursu'd me with thy hate,
And sought the life of him that never wrong'd thee:
Now if thou wilt embrace a noble vengeance,
Come join with me and curse.

Cham. What?

Cast. First thyself,
As I do, and the hour that gave thee birth :
Confusion and disorder seize the world,
To spoil all trust and converse amongst men;
Twixt families engender endless feuds,
In countries needless fears, in cities factions,
In states rebellion, and in churches schism:
Till all things move against the course of nature;
Till form's dissolv'd, the chain of causes broken,
And the originals of Being lost.

Acast. Have patience.

Cast. Patience! preach it to the winds, To roaring seas, or raging fires! the kpaves That teach it, laugh at ye

when

ye

believe them,
Strip me of all the common needs of life,
Scald me with leprosy, letfriends forsake me,
I'll bear it all; but curst to the degree
That I am now, 'tis this must give me patience:
Thus I find rest, and shall complain no more.

[Stabs himself. Pol. Castalio! Oh!

[Dies. Cast. I come. Chamont, to thee my birthright I bequeath: Comfort my mourning father, heal his griefs;

[Acasto faints into the arms of a Servant. For I perceive they fall with weight upon him. And for Monimia's sake, whom thou wilt find I never wrong’d, be kind to poor Serina. Now all I beg is, lay me in one grave Thus with my love. Farewell. I now am-nothing.

[Dies. Cham. Take care of good Acasto, whilst I go To search the means by which the fates have plagu'd us. 'Tis thus that heav'n it's empire does maintain; It may afflict, but man must not complain.

[Exeunt omnes.

EPILOGUE.

You've seen one Orphan ruin'd here; and I
May be the next, if old Acasto die.
Should it prove so, I'd fain amongst you find
Whu 'tis would to the fatherless be kind.
To whose protection might I safely go?
Is there amongst you no good-nature? No.
What shall I do? Should I the godly seek,
And go a conventicling twice a week?
Quit the lewd stage, and it's profane pollution,
Affect each form and saint-like institution;
So draw the brethren all to contribution?
Or shall I (as I guess the poet may
Within these three days) fairly run away ?
No; to some city-lodgings I'll retire;
Seem very grave, and privacy desire;
Till I am thought some heiress rich in lands,
Fled to escape a cruel guardian's hands :
Which may produce a story worth the telling,
Of the next sparks that go a fortune-stealing.

THE

SOLDIER'S FORTUNE.

A COMEDY.

Quem recitas, meus est, O Fidentine, libellus ;

Sed male cum recitas, incipit esse tuus.

MARTIAL, LIB. 1. EP. 39.

VOL. II.