Black Bess of Castile? Ah, Mungo, if you had heard me sing when I was young. Mun. 'Gad, I'm sure I hear your voice often enough now you old. Urs. I could quaver like any black bird. Mun. And now you halloo like a screech-owl.Come, throw a a poor soul a penny, he play a tune for you. Urs. How did you lose the use of your leg? Leand. In the wars, my good dame: I was taken by a Barbary corsair, and carried into Sallee, where I lived eleven years and three-quarters upon cold water and the roots of the earth, without having a coat on my back, or laying my head on a pillow: an infidel bought me for a slave: he gave me the strappado on my shoulders, and the bastinado on the soles of my feet: now, as I said before, this infidel Turk had fiftythree wives, and one hundred and twelve concubines. Urs. Then he was an unreasonable villain. Leon. [Appears at another Window] Ursula! Urs. Odds my life, what's here to do! Go back, go back; fine work we shall have indeed! good man, good bye. Leon. I could not stay any longer by myself; pray let me take a little air at the grate. Leand. Do, worthy madam, let the young gentlewoman stay; I'll play her a love-song for nothing. Urs. No, no, none of your love-songs here; if you could play a saraband indeed, and there was room for one's motion Leand. I am but a poor man, but if your ladyship will let me in as far as the hall or the kitchen, you may all dance, and I shan't ask any thing. Urs. Why, if it was not on my master's account, I should think no harm in a little innocent recreation. Mun. Do, and let us dance. Leand. Has madam the keys then? Leand. Have you the key of this padlock too, madam? Here's a padlock upon the door, heaven help us, large enough for a state prison. Urs. Eh-how-what, a padlock! Mun. Here it is, I feel it; adod, its a tumper. Mun. And if de house was a fire, we none of us get out to save ourselves. Leand. Well, madam, not to disappoint you and the young lady, I know the back of your garden wall, and I'll undertake to get up at the outside of it, if you can let me down on the other. Urs. Do you think you could with your lame leg? Urs. Then by my faith you shall, for now I'm set on't -A padlock! Mungo, come with me into the garden. [Mungo and Ursula going off, Leander and Leonora are left together. The first Part of the Quartetto is sung by them in Duett; then Mungo and Ursula return one after another to the Stations they had quitted. Leon. Pray let me go with you. Leand. Stay, charming creature: why will you fly the youth that adores you? Leon. Oh, Lord I'm frightened out of my wits! Leand. Have you not taken notice, beauteous Leonora, of the pilgrim who has so often met you at church? am that pilgrim; one who would change shapes as often as Proteus, to be bless'd with a sight of you. QUARTETTO.-LEANDER, LEONORA, URSULA, and MUNGO. Leand. O thou whose charms enslave my heart! Leon. I must not hear-dear youth, depart— A gentleman like you to gain. Leand. Then do I seek your love in vain? Leand. And he, Distracting thought! must happy be, B Urs. Come round, young man, I've been to try. Mun. And so have I. I'm sure the wall is not too high. You'll mount with ease. Leand. Can you to aid my bliss deny? If you say no, Leon. I must consent, however loath; ~ Urs. Make him promise to retire. Nay, marry, he shall take his oath. Mun. Urs. Your cheeks, where rose and lily blend; All stand an end! Come, that's enough, ascend, ascend. Laugh, and sing, and dance, and play: [Exeunt. SCENE I. A Hall in DON DIEGO's House, with Folding-doors, which open in the back Scene. On one Side a Staircase, leading to an Apartment, by which the Characters pass up and down; on the other, a Door leading to a Cellar, which is so contrived that a Bottle and Glass, two Candles, a Guitar, and LEANDER'S Disguise may be placed upon it. Enter URSULA, followed by LEANDER, in a rich Urs. Oh, shame! out upon't, sir, talk to me no more; I that have been famed throughout all Spain, as I may say, for virtue and discretion; the very flower and quintessence of duennas; you have cast a blot upon me, a blot upon my reputation, that was as fair as a piece of white paper; and now I shall be reviled, pointed at; nay, men will call me filthy names upon your account. Leand. What filthy names will they call you? Urs. They'll say I'm an old procuress. Leand. Fie, fie, men know better things-besides, though I have got admittance into your house, be assured I shall commit no outrage here; and if I have been guilty of any indiscretion, let love be my excuse. Urs. Well, as I live, he's a pretty young fellow. Leand. You, my sweet Ursula, have known what it is to be in love, and I warrant have had admirers often at your feet; your eyes still retain fire enough to tell me that. Urs. They tell you no lie; for, to be sure, when I was a young woman, I was greatly sought after; nay, it was reported that a youth died for love of me; one Joseph Perez, a tailor by trade, of the greyhound make, lank; and if my memory fail me not, his right shoulder about the breadth of my hand higher than his left; but he was upright as an arrow, and, by all accounts, one of the finest workmen at a button-hole. Leand. But where is Leonora? Urs. Where is she! by my troth, I have shut her up in her chamber, under three bolts and a double lock. Leand. And will you not bring us together? Urs. Who, I?-How can you ask me such a question? Really, sir, I take it extremely unkind. Leand. Well, but you misapprehend Urs. I told you just now, that if you mentioned that to me again, it would make me sick; and so it has, turn'd me upside down as it were. Leand. Indeed, my best friend Urs. Oh, oh, hold me, or I shall fall. Urs. And do you feel any compassion for me? Urs. Why truly you have a great deal to answer for, to bring tears into my eyes at this time o'day; I'm sure they are the first I have shed since my poor dear husband's death. Leand. Nay, don't think of that now. Urs. For you must understand, sir, to play a trick upon a grave, discreet matron—And yet, after all, by my faith, I don't wonder you should love the young thing under my care; for it is one of the sweetest con |