Page:A Series of Plays on the Passions Volume 1.pdf/312

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DE MONFORT: A TRAGEDY.

But now returning from a midnight mask,
My husband did insist that we should enter.

Freb. No, say not so; no hour untimely call,
Which doth together bring long absent friends.
Dear Monfort, wherefore hast thou play'd so sly,
To come upon us thus all suddenly?

De Mon. O! many varied thoughts do cross our brain,
Which touch the will, but leave the memory trackless;
And yet a strange compounded motive make
Wherefore a man should bend his evening walk
To th' east or west, the forest or the field.
Is it not often so?

Freb. I ask no more, happy to see you here
From any motive. There is one behind,
Whose presence would have been a double bliss;
Ah! how is she? The noble Jane de Monfort.

De Mon. (Confused.) She is—I have—I have left my sister well.

Lady. (To Freberg.) My Freberg, you are heedless of respect:
You surely meant to say the Lady Jane.

Freb. Respect! No, Madam; Princess, Empress, Queen,
Could not denote a creature so exalted
As this plain native appellation doth,
The noble Jane de Monfort.

Lady. (Turning from him displeased to Monfort.)
You are fatigued, my Lord; you want repose;