DRAMATIS PERSONE.

OCTAVIO, marquis of Sienna.
TROYLO-SAVELLI, his nephew.

LIVIO, brother to CASTAMELA.

ROMANELLO, (Pragniolo,) brother to FLAVIA. JULIO DE VARANA, lord of Camerino.

CAMILLO,

VESPUCCI,

FLORIA,

The FANCIES.

FLAVIA, wife to JULIO.

MOROSA, guardianess to the FANCIES.

THE SCENE-Sienna.

THE

FANCIES, CHASTE AND NOBLE.

ACT I. SCENE I.

An Apartment in the Palace.

Enter TROYLO-SAVELLI, and LIVIO.

Troy. Do, do; be wilful, desperate; 'tis manly. Build on your reputation! such a fortune

May furnish out your tables, trim your liveries,
Enrich your heirs with purchase of a patrimony,
Which shall hold out beyond the waste of riot;
Stick honours on your heraldry, with titles
As swelling, and as numerous as may likely
Grow to a pretty volume-here's eternity!
All this can reputation, marry, can it;
Indeed, what not?

Liv. Such language from a gentleman
So noble in his quality as you are,

Deserves, in my weak judgment, rather pity
Than a contempt.

Troy. Could'st thou consider, Livio,

The fashion of the times, their study, practice, Nay, their ambitions, thou would'st soon distinguish

Betwixt the abject lowness of a poverty,

And the applauded triumphs of abundance, Though compass'd by the meanest service. Where

in

Shall you betray your guilt to common censure,
Waving the private charge of your opinion,
By rising up to greatness, or at least

To plenty, which now buys it?

Liv. Troylo-Savelli

Plays merrily on my wants.

Troy. Troylo-Savelli

Speaks to the friend he loves, to his own Livio.
Look, prithee, through the great duke's court in
Florence;

Number his favourites, and then examine
By what steps some chief officers in state
Have reach'd the height they stand in.

Liv. By their merits.

Troy. Right, by their merits: well he merited The intendments o'er the gallies at Leghorn, (Made grand collector of the customs there,) Who led the prince unto his wife's chaste bed, And stood himself by, in his night-gown, fearing The jest might be discover'd! was 't not handsome?

The lady knows not yet on't.

Liv. Most impossible.

Troy. He merited well to wear a robe of cham

let,

Who train'd his brother's daughter, scarce a girl, Into the arms of Mont-Argentorato;

Whilst the young lord of Telamon, her husband, Was packeted to France, to study courtship,* Under, forsooth, a colour of employment, Employment! yea, of honour.

Liv. You are well read

In mysteries of state.

Troy. Here, in Sienna,

Bold Julio de Varana, lord of Camerine,
Held it no blemish to his blood and greatness,
From a plain merchant, with a thousand ducats,
To buy his wife, nay, justify the purchase ;-
Procured it by a dispensation

From Rome, allow'd and warranted: 'twas thought
By his physicians, that she was a creature
Agreed best with the cure of the disease

His present new infirmity then labour'd in.
Yet these are things in prospect of the world,
Advanced, employ'd, and eminent.

Liv. At best,

'Tis but a goodly pandarism.

Troy. Shrewd business!

Thou child in thrift, thou fool of honesty,

Is't a disparagement for gentlemen,

For friends of lower rank, to do the offices

Of necessary kindness, without fee,

For one another, courtesies of course,

To study courtship.] i. e. the language and manners of a court.

Thus Massinger

"What she wanted

In courtship, was, I hope, supplied in civil

And modest entertainment."

Great Duke of Florence.