The Duenna | Page 3

as I can, consistently with the honour of our family,
you know I will; but there must be no eloping.
Don Ant. And yet, now, you would carry off Clara?
Don Ferd. Ay, that's a different case!--we never mean that others
should act to our sisters and wives as we do to others'.--But, to- morrow,
Clara is to be forced into a convent.
Don Ant. Well, and am not I so unfortunately circumstanced? To-
morrow, your father forces Louisa to marry Isaac, the Portuguese--but
come with me, and we'll devise something I warrant.
Don Ferd. I must go home.
Don Ant. Well, adieu!
Don Ferd. But, Don Antonio, if you did not love my sister, you have
too much honour and friendship to supplant me with Clara--
AIR--Don Ant.
Friendship is the bond of reason; But if beauty disapprove, Heaven
dissolves all other treason In the heart that's true to love.
The faith which to my friend I swore, As a civil oath I view; But to the
charms which I adore, 'Tis religion to be true. [Exit.]
Don Ferd. There is always a levity in Antonio's manner of replying to
me on this subject that is very alarming.--'Sdeath, if Clara should love
him after all.
SONG.
Though cause for suspicion appears, Yet proofs of her love, too, are
strong; I'm a wretch if I'm right in my fears, And unworthy of bliss if
I'm wrong. What heart-breaking torments from jealousy flow, Ah! none
but the jealous--the jealous can know!

When blest with the smiles of my fair, I know not how much I adore:
Those smiles let another but share, And I wonder I prized them no
more! Then whence can I hope a relief from my woe, When the falser
she seems, still the fonder I grow? [Exit.]

SCENE III.--A Room in DON JEROME'S House.
Enter DONNA LOUISA and DUENNA.
_Don. Louisa_. But, my dear Margaret, my charming Duenna, do you
think we shall succeed?
Duen. I tell you again, I have no doubt on't; but it must be instantly put
to the trial. Everything is prepared in your room, and for the rest we
must trust to fortune.
_Don. Louisa_. My father's oath was, never to see me till I had
consented to----
Duen. 'Twas thus I overheard him say to his friend, Don Guzman,--_I
will demand of her to-morrow, once for all, whether she will consent to
marry Isaac Mendoza; if she hesitates, I will make a solemn oath never
to see or speak to her till she returns to her duty_.--These were his
words.
_Don. Louisa_. And on his known obstinate adherence to what he has
once said, you have formed this plan for my escape.--But have you
secured my maid in our interest?
Duen. She is a party in the whole; but remember, if we succeed, you
resign all right and title in little Isaac, the Jew, over to me.
_Don. Louisa_. That I do with all my soul; get him if you can, and I
shall wish you joy most heartily. He is twenty times as rich as my poor
Antonio.
AIR. Thou canst not boast of fortune's store, My love, while me they
wealthy call: But I was glad to find thee poor-- For with my heart I'd

give thee all. And then the grateful youth shall own I loved him for
himself alone.
But when his worth my hand shall gain, No word or look of mine shall
show That I the smallest thought retain Of what my bounty did bestow;
Yet still his grateful heart shall own I loved him for himself alone.
Duen. I hear Don Jerome coming.--Quick, give me the last letter I
brought you from Antonio--you know that is to be the ground of my
dismission.--I must slip out to seal it up, as undelivered. [Exit.]
Enter DON JEROME and DON FERDINAND.
Don Jer. What, I suppose you have been serenading too! Eh, disturbing
some peaceable neighbourhood with villainous catgut and lascivious
piping! Out on't! you set your sister, here, a vile example; but I come to
tell you, madam, that I'll suffer no more of these midnight
incantations--these amorous orgies, that steal the senses in the hearing;
as, they say, Egyptian embalmers serve mummies, extracting the brain
through the ears. However, there's an end of your frolics.--Isaac
Mendoza will be here presently, and to-morrow you shall marry him.
_Don. Louisa_. Never, while I have life!
Don Ferd. Indeed, sir, I wonder how you can think of such a man for a
son-in-law.
Don Jer. Sir, you are very kind to favour me with your sentiments--
and pray, what is your objection to him?
Don Ferd. He is a Portuguese, in the first place.
Don Jer. No such thing, boy; he has forsworn his country.
_Don. Louisa_. He