that my aunt should force her
To marry the old Don you brought her.

_Hip_. Who could, that once had seen Gonsalvo's.
face?
Alas, she little thinks I am so near! [_Aside_.

_Man_. Mind not what she says.
A word with you--[_To GONSALVO._

_Amid_. Don Manuel eyes me strangely; the best is,
he never saw me yet but at a distance:
My brother's jealousy (who ne'er intended
I should be his) restrained our nearer converse. [_Aside_.

_Jul_. My pretty youth, I am enforced to trust thee
[_To AMIDEO_.
With my most near concerns; friends I have none,
If thou deny'st to help me.

_Amid_. Any thing
To break your marriage with my master.

_Jul_. Go to Roderick, and tell him my condition:
But tell it him as from thyself, not me.

_Amid_. That you are forced to marry?

_Jul_. But do not ask him
To succour me; if of himself he will not,
I scorn a love that must be taught its duty.

_Man_. What youth is that? I mean the little one.

_Gons_. I took him up last night.

_Man_. A sweet-faced boy,
I like him strangely: Would you part with him?

_Amid_. Alas, sir, I am good for nobody,
But for my master.

_Hip_. Sir, I'll do your errand
Another time, for letting Julia go. [_To AMIDEO_.

_Man_. Come, sir.

_Gons_. I beg your pardon for a moment,
I'll but dispatch some business in my ship,
And wait you presently:

_Man_. We'll go before;
I'll make sure Roderick shall never have her;
And 'tis at least some pleasure to destroy
His happiness, who mined first my joy.

[_Exeunt all but GONSALVO; who, before he goes, whispers HIPPOLITO_.

_Gons_. Against her will fair Julia to possess,
Is not to enjoy, but ravish happiness:
Yet women pardon force, because they find
The violence of love is still most kind:
Just like the plots of well built comedies,
Which then please most, when most they do surprise:
But yet constraint love's noblest end destroys,
Whose highest joy is in another's joys:
Where passion rules, how weak does reason prove!
I yield my cause, but cannot yield my love. [_Exit_.

ACT III.

SCENE I.--_A great room in DON MANUEL'S house_.

_HIPPOLITO solus_.

My master bid me speak for him to Julia:
Hard fate, that I am made a confident
Against myself!
Yet, though unwillingly I took the office,
I would perform it well: But how can I
Prove lucky to his love, who to my own
Am so unfortunate? he trusts his passion
Like him, that ventures all his stock at once
On an unlucky hand.

_Enter AMIDEO_.