--
[ENTER LISANDER AND LIVIA.
[ENTER LISANDER AND LIVIA.
Shelley
]
DAEMON:
Woman, thou hast subdued me,
Only by not owning thyself subdued. _135
But since thou thus findest defence in God,
I will assume a feigned form, and thus
Make thee a victim of my baffled rage.
For I will mask a spirit in thy form
Who will betray thy name to infamy, _140
And doubly shall I triumph in thy loss,
First by dishonouring thee, and then by turning
False pleasure to true ignominy.
[EXIT. ]
JUSTINA: I
Appeal to Heaven against thee; so that Heaven
May scatter thy delusions, and the blot _145
Upon my fame vanish in idle thought,
Even as flame dies in the envious air,
And as the floweret wanes at morning frost;
And thou shouldst never--But, alas! to whom
Do I still speak? --Did not a man but now _150
Stand here before me? --No, I am alone,
And yet I saw him. Is he gone so quickly?
Or can the heated mind engender shapes
From its own fear? Some terrible and strange
Peril is near. Lisander! father! lord! _155
Livia!
--
[ENTER LISANDER AND LIVIA. ]
LISANDER:
Oh, my daughter! What?
LIVIA:
What!
JUSTINA:
Saw you
A man go forth from my apartment now? --
I scarce contain myself!
LISANDER:
A man here!
JUSTINA:
Have you not seen him?
LIVIA:
No, Lady.
JUSTINA: I saw him.
LISANDER: 'Tis impossible; the doors _160
Which led to this apartment were all locked.
LIVIA [ASIDE]:
I daresay it was Moscon whom she saw,
For he was locked up in my room.
LISANDER:
It must
Have been some image of thy fantasy.
Such melancholy as thou feedest is _165
Skilful in forming such in the vain air
Out of the motes and atoms of the day.
LIVIA:
My master's in the right.
JUSTINA:
Oh, would it were
Delusion; but I fear some greater ill.
DAEMON:
Woman, thou hast subdued me,
Only by not owning thyself subdued. _135
But since thou thus findest defence in God,
I will assume a feigned form, and thus
Make thee a victim of my baffled rage.
For I will mask a spirit in thy form
Who will betray thy name to infamy, _140
And doubly shall I triumph in thy loss,
First by dishonouring thee, and then by turning
False pleasure to true ignominy.
[EXIT. ]
JUSTINA: I
Appeal to Heaven against thee; so that Heaven
May scatter thy delusions, and the blot _145
Upon my fame vanish in idle thought,
Even as flame dies in the envious air,
And as the floweret wanes at morning frost;
And thou shouldst never--But, alas! to whom
Do I still speak? --Did not a man but now _150
Stand here before me? --No, I am alone,
And yet I saw him. Is he gone so quickly?
Or can the heated mind engender shapes
From its own fear? Some terrible and strange
Peril is near. Lisander! father! lord! _155
Livia!
--
[ENTER LISANDER AND LIVIA. ]
LISANDER:
Oh, my daughter! What?
LIVIA:
What!
JUSTINA:
Saw you
A man go forth from my apartment now? --
I scarce contain myself!
LISANDER:
A man here!
JUSTINA:
Have you not seen him?
LIVIA:
No, Lady.
JUSTINA: I saw him.
LISANDER: 'Tis impossible; the doors _160
Which led to this apartment were all locked.
LIVIA [ASIDE]:
I daresay it was Moscon whom she saw,
For he was locked up in my room.
LISANDER:
It must
Have been some image of thy fantasy.
Such melancholy as thou feedest is _165
Skilful in forming such in the vain air
Out of the motes and atoms of the day.
LIVIA:
My master's in the right.
JUSTINA:
Oh, would it were
Delusion; but I fear some greater ill.
