ACT IV.
SCENE I.—A Prison in the Castle. Antonio discovered disconsolate near the Front of the Stage. A high Door at the Bottom, with Stairs from it, leading down into the Prison.
ANTONIO (after shifting his posture several times, and sighing heavily, raises his eyes on hearing the door open gently).
By oft-repeated questions, to betray
A spent, enfeebled mind into confession?
It is a woman! it is Mencia's self!
Enter Mencia, descending the steps into the prison.
And comest thou to visit me, to bless
My dismal prison-house with what were bliss
Ev'n in the lowest state of human misery?
Sweet Mencia! thou hast pity on me then.
Pity embedded lies where love hath been,
And love again doth from that pity spring,
As the dropp'd seed of some fair faded flower
Shoots its sheath'd bud from the cleft mould, first peeping
