The Duenna | Page 2

your brain.
[Exeunt severally.]

SCENE II--A Piazza.
Enter DON FERDINAND and LOPEZ.
Lop. Truly, sir, I think that a little sleep once in a week or so---

Don Ferd. Peace, fool! don't mention sleep to me.
Lop. No, no, sir, I don't mention your lowbred, vulgar, sound sleep; but
I can't help thinking that a gentle slumber, or half an hour's dozing, if it
were only for the novelty of the thing----
Don Ferd. Peace, booby, I say!--Oh, Clara dear, cruel disturber of my
rest!
Lop. [Aside.] And of mine too.
Don Ferd. 'Sdeath, to trifle with me at such a juncture as this!-- now to
stand on punctilios!--Love me! I don't believe she ever did.
Lop. [Aside.] Nor I either.
Don Ferd. Or is it, that her sex never know their desires for an hour
together?
Lop. [Aside.] Ah, they know them oftener than they'll own them.
Don Ferd. Is there, in the world, so inconsistent a creature as Clara?
Lop. [Aside.] I could name one.
Don Ferd. Yes; the tame fool who submits to her caprice.
Lop. [Aside.]I thought he couldn't miss it.
Don Ferd. Is she not capricious, teasing, tyrannical, obstinate, perverse,
absurd? ay, a wilderness of faults and follies; her looks are scorn, and
her very smiles--'Sdeath! I wish I hadn't mentioned her smiles; for she
does smile such beaming loveliness, such fascinating brightness--Oh,
death and madness! I shall die if I lose her.
Lop. [Aside.] Oh, those damned smiles have undone all!
AIR--Don Ferd.

Could I her faults remember, Forgetting every charm, Soon would
impartial reason The tyrant love disarm: But when enraged I number
Each failing of her mind, Love still suggests each beauty, And
sees--while reason's blind.
Lop. Here comes Don Antonio, sir.
Don Ferd. Well, go you home--I shall be there presently.
Lop. Ah, those cursed smiles! [Exit.]
Enter DON ANTONIO.
Don Ferd. Antonio, Lopez tells me he left you chanting before our
door--was my father waked?
Don Ant. Yes, yes; he has a singular affection for music; so I left him
roaring at his barred window, like the print of Bajazet in the cage. And
what brings you out so early?
Don Ferd. I believe I told you, that to-morrow was the day fixed by
Don Pedro and Clara's unnatural step-mother, for her to enter a convent,
in order that her brat might possess her fortune: made desperate by this,
I procured a key to the door, and bribed Clara's maid to leave it
unbolted; at two this morning, I entered unperceived, and stole to her
chamber--I found her waking and weeping.
Don Ant. Happy Ferdinand!
Don Ferd. 'Sdeath! hear the conclusion.--I was rated as the most
confident ruffian, for daring to approach her room at that hour of the
night.
Don Ant. Ay, ay, this was at first.
Don Ferd. No such thing! she would not hear a word from me, but
threatened to raise her mother, if I did not instantly leave her.
Don Ant. Well, but at last?

Don Ferd. At last! why I was forced to leave the house as I came in.
Don Ant. And did you do nothing to offend her?
Don Ferd. Nothing, as I hope to be saved!--I believe, I might snatch a
dozen or two of kisses.
Don Ant. Was that all? well, I think, I never heard of such assurance!
Don Ferd. Zounds! I tell you I behaved with the utmost respect.
Don Ant. O Lord! I don't mean you, but in her. But, hark ye, Ferdinand,
did you leave your key with them?
Don Ferd. Yes; the maid who saw me out, took it from the door.
Don Ant. Then, my life for it, her mistress elopes after you.
Don Ferd. Ay, to bless my rival, perhaps. I am in a humour to suspect
everybody.--You loved her once, and thought her an angel, as I do now.
Don Ant. Yes, I loved her, till I found she wouldn't love me, and then I
discovered that she hadn't a good feature in her face.
AIR.
I ne'er could any lustre see In eyes that would not look on me; I ne'er
saw nectar on a lip, But where my own did hope to sip. Has the maid
who seeks my heart Cheeks of rose, untouch'd by art? I will own the
colour true, When yielding blushes aid their hue.
Is her hand so soft and pure? I must press it, to be sure; Nor can I be
certain then, Till it, grateful, press again. Must I, with attentive eye,
Watch her heaving bosom sigh? I will do so, when I see That heaving
bosom sigh for me.
Besides, Ferdinand, you have full security in my love for your sister;
help me there, and I can never disturb you with Clara.

Don Ferd. As far