After you have sounded thrice, let VENUS be let down from the top of the stage.

Venus. Poets are scarce, when goddesses themselves

Are forc'd to leave their high and stately seats,
Plac'd on the top of high Olympus' Mount,
To seek them out, to pen their champions' praise.
The time hath been when Homer's sugar'd Muse
Did make each echo to repeat his verse,
That every coward that durst crack a spear,
And tilt and tournay for his lady's sake,
Was painted out in colours of such price
As might become the proudest potentate.
But now-a-days so irksome idless' + sleights,

And cursed charms have witch'd each student's mind,

That death it is to any of them all,
If that their hands to penning you do call.
O Virgil, Virgil! wert thou now alive,
Whose painful pen, in stout Augustus' days,
Did dain to let the base and silly flys
To scape away without thy praise of her,
I do not doubt but long or ere this time
Alphonsus' fame unto the heavens should climb;
Alphonsus' fame, that man of Jove his seed,
Sprung from the loins of the immortal gods,
Whose sire, although he habit on the earth,
May claim a portion in the fiery pole,
As well as any one whate'er he be.

But setting by Alphonsus' power divine,
What man alive, or now amongst the ghosts,
Could countervail his courage and his strength?
But thou art dead, yea, Virgil, thou art gone,
And all his acts drown'd in oblivion.*
No, Venus, no, though poets prove unkind,
And loth to stand in penning of his deeds,
Yet rather than they shall be clean forgot,
I, which was wont to follow Cupid's games,
Will put in uret Minerva's sacred art;
And this my hand, which usèd for to pen
The praise of love and Cupid's peerless power,'
Will now begin to treat of bloody Mars,
Of doughty deeds and valiant victories.

Enter MELPOMENE, CLIO, ERATO, with their Sisters, playing all upon sundry instruments, CALLIOPE only excepted, who coming last, hangeth down the head, and plays not of her instrument.

But see whereas the stately Muses come,
Whose harmony doth very far surpass
The heavenly music of Apollo's pipe!
But what means this? Melpomene herself
With all her sisters sound their instruments,
Only excepted fair Calliope,

Who, coming last and hanging down her head,
Doth plainly show by outward actions
What secret sorrow doth torment her heart.
[Stands aside.

Mel. Calliope, thou which so oft didst crakeş
How that such clients cluster'd to thy court,
By thick and threefold, as not any one

* And all his acts, &c.] This line is printed twice over in the 4to.

Cal. Mock on apace; my back is broad enough
To bear your flouts as many as they be.
That year is rare that ne'er feels winter's storms;
That tree is fertile which ne'er wanteth fruit;
And that same Muse hath heaped well in store,
Which never wanteth clients at her door.
But yet, my sisters, when the surgent seas
Have ebb'd their fill, their waves do rise again,
And fill their banks up to the very brims;
And when my pipe hath eas'd herself a while,
Such store of suitors shall my seat frequent,
That you shall see my scholars be not spent.
Erato. Spent, quoth you, sister? then we were
to blame,

If we should say your scholars all were spent.
But pray now tell me when your painful pen
Will rest enough?

Mel. When husbandmen shear hogs.

Ven. [coming forward.] Melpomene, Erato,* and the rest,

From thickest shrubs Dame Venus did espy
The mortal hatred which you jointly bear
Unto your sister high Calliope.

What, do you think if that the tree do bend,
It follows therefore that it needs must break?
And since her pipe a little while doth rest,
It never shall be able for to sound?
Yes, Muses, yes, if that she will vouchsafe
To entertain Dame Venus in her school,
And further me with her instructions,
She shall have scholars which will daint to be
In any other Muse's company.

Cal. Most sacred Venus, do you doubt of that?
Calliope would think her three times blest
For to receive a goddess in her school,
Especially so high an one as you,

Which rules the earth, and guides the heavens too. Ven. Then sound your pipes, and let us bend our steps

Unto the top of high Parnassus Hill,
And there together do our best devoir
For to describe Alphonsus' warlike fame,

* Erato] Wrong quantity.

t dain] i. e. disdain.

And, in the manner of a comedy,
Set down his noble valour presently.

Cal. As Venus wills, so bids Calliope. Mel. And as you bid, your sisters do agree. [Exeunt.

Enter CARINUS and ALPHONSUS.

Cari. My noble son, since first I did recount
The noble acts your predecessors did
In Arragon against their warlike foes,
I never yet could see thee joy at all,
But hanging down thy head as malcontent,
Thy youthful days in mourning have been spent.
Tell me, Alphonsus, what might be the cause
That makes thee thus to pine away with care?
Hath old Carinus done thee any offence
In reckoning up these stories unto thee?
What, ne'er a word but mum?* Alphonsus, speak,
Unless your father's fatal day you seek.
Alphon. Although, dear father, I have often
vow'd

Ne'er to unfold the secrets of my heart
To any man or woman, whosome'er
Dwells underneath the circle of the sky;
Yet do your words so cónjure me, dear sire,
That needs I must fulfil that you require.
Then so it is. Amongst the famous tales
Which you rehears'd done by our sires in war,
Whenas you came unto your father's days,
With sobbing notes, with sighs and blubbering

tears,

And much ado, at length you thus began;
"Next to Alphonsus should my father come
For to possess the diadem by right
Of Arragon, but that the wicked wretch,
His younger brother, with aspiring mind,
By secret treason robb'd him of his life,
And me his son of that which was my due."
These words, my sire, did so torment my mind,
As, had I been with Ixiont in hell,
The ravening bird could never plague me worse;
For ever since my mind hath troubled been
Which way I might revenge this traitorous fact,
And that recover which is ours by right.

Cari. Ah, my Alphonsus, never think on that!
In vain it is to strive against the stream:
The crown is lost, and now in hucksters' hands,
And all our hope is cast into the dust.

* What, ne'er a word but mum ?] So, towards the end of Peele's Old Wives Tale, Sacrapant says;

"What, not a word but mum ?

Then, Sacrapant, thou art betray'd." Ixion] Wrong quantity again. And here Greene confounds the punishment of Tityus with that of Ixion. into] Equivalent to "unto": sec note t, p. 111, sec. col.

A quiet life doth pass an empery.

Alphon. Yet, noble father, ere Carinus' brood Shall brook his foe for to usurp his seat, He'll die the death with honour in the field, And so his life and sorrows briefly end. But did I know my froward fate were such As I should fail in this my just attempt, This sword, dear father, should the author be To make an end of this my tragedy. Therefore, sweet sire, remain you here a while, And let me walk my fortune for to try. I do not doubt but, ere the time be long, I'll quite his cost, or else myself will die.

Cari. My noble son, since that thy mind is such For to revenge thy father's foul abuse, As that my words may not a whit prevail To stay thy journey, go with happy fate, And soon return unto thy father's cell, With such a train as Julius Cæsar came To noble Rome, whenas he had achiev'd The mighty monarch of the triple world. Meantime Carinus in this silly grove Will spend his days with prayers and orisons To mighty Jove to further thine intent. Farewell, dear son, Alphonsus, fare you well.

[Exit.

Alphon. And is he gone? then hie, Alphonsus, hie,

To try thy fortune where thy fates do call.
A noble mind disdains to hide his head,
And let his foes triumph in his overthrow.

As ALPHONSUS is about to go out, enter ALBINIUS.

Albi. What loitering fellow have we spied here? Presume not, villain, further for to go, Unless you do at length the same repent. Alphon. [coming towards ALBINIUS.] "Villain,"

say'st thou? nay, "villain" in thy throat! What, know'st thou, skipjack, whom thou villain call'st?

Albi. A common vassal I do villain call.
Alphon. That shalt thou soon approve,+ per-
suade thyself,

Or else I'll die, or thou shalt die for me.
Albi. What, do I dream, or do my dazzling eyes
Deceive me? Is't Alphonsus that I see?
Doth now Medea use her wonted charms
For to delude Albinius' fantasy?

Or doth black Pluto, king of dark Avern,
Seek to flout me with his counterfeit ?

His face resembles much Alphonsus' hue;
His noble mind declares him for no less;
'Tis he indeed. Woe worth Albinius,
Whose babbling tongue hath caus'd his own annoy!
Why doth not Jove send from the glittering skies
His thunderbolts to chastise this offence?
Why doth Dame Terra cease with greedy jaws
To swallow up Albinius presently?

What, shall I fly and hide my traitorous head
From stout Alphonsus whom I so misus'd?
Or shall I yield? Tush, yielding is in vain,
Nor can I fly but he will follow me.
Then cast thyself down at his grace's feet,
Confess thy fault, and ready make thy breast
To entertain thy well-deservèd death. [Kneels.
Alphon. What news, my friend? why are you

so blank,*

That erst before did vaunt it to the skies?

Albi. Pardon, dear lord! Albinius pardon craves For this offence, which, by the heavens I vow, Unwittingly I did unto your grace;

For had I known Alphonsus had been here,
Ere that my tongue had spoke so traitorously,
This hand should make my very soul to die.
Alphon. Rise up, my friend, thy pardon soon is
got:
[ALBINIUS rises up.
But, prithee, tell me, what the cause might be
That in such sort thou erst upbraided'st me?
Albi. Most mighty prince, since first your
father's sire

Did yield his ghost unto the Sisters Three,
And old Carinus forced was to fly
His native soil and royal diadem;
I, for because I seemed to complain
Against their treason, shortly was forewarn'd
Ne'er more to haunt the bounds of Arragon
On pain of death. Then, like a man forlorn,
I sought about to find some resting-place;
And at the length did hap upon this shore,
Where showing forth my cruel banishment,
By King Belinus I am succourèd.
But now, my lord, to answer your demand:
It happens so, that the usurping king
Of Arragon makes war upon this land
For certain tribute which he claimeth here;
Wherefore Belinus sent me round about
His country,† for to gather up men
For to withstand this most injurious foe;
Which being done, returning with the king,

you so blank] Qy. "you now so blank"?

His country, &c.] Something has dropt out from this line.