lovers, the Viceroy's two nephews, Don Cinthio and Don Charmante, as
being men of men of mere terrestial mould. The girls are, however,
secretly assisted in their amours by Scaramouch, the doctor's man, who
is himself a rival of Harlequin, Cinthio's valet, for the hand of
Mopsophil, duenna to the young ladies. Harlequin, hoping to find his way
to his mistress, gets to Bellemante's chamber but when she appears
conceals himself. The doctor, however, who has been hastily summoned to
the bedside of his brother, reported dying, returns a moment after he
has set out for a key which has been accidently dropped from his bunch
and finds Cinthio and Elaria. The gallant can only escape by pretending
to be a lunatic brought to the house for medical treatment and cure. But
during the doctor's subsequent absence, whilst the two lovers are, as
they suppose, securely entertaining their mistresses, the father is
suddenly heard to return. For the moment they evade him by feigning to
be figures in a rich tapestry (their masquing habits aiding the trick),
which Scaramouch declares he has just purchased. But this sham being
discovered, Scaramouch runs off with the candles and all slip away in
the darkness and confusion, leaving him to return in his shirt as newly
risen from bed. The doctor is bawling for help when the wily servant
totters out yawning and rubbing his eyes to explain the whole affair
away as a delusion or a vision produced by lunar agency, declaring that
there has been a visit from the Moon World of their King and the Prince
of Thunderland, who have descended a-courting Elaria and Bellemante.
This is borne out by the girls themselves, who have previously been well
primed by Mopsophil. After some intriguing between Harlequin and
Scaramouch for the duenna's hand, in the course of which the former
disguises himself in female attire and again as a country lad, the
latter as a learned apothecary, Charmante visits the doctor, and
feigning to be a cabalist profound in occult lore, bids him prepare that
night to receive Irednozor, monarch of the Moon, and the Prince of
Thunderland who will appear to wed his daughter and his niece. Harlequin
shortly after makes his entry as an ambassador from the celestial
spheres to confirm this news, and as Baliardo, overjoyed, is conversing
with him strains of music are heard to herald the arrival of the lunar
potentates. All repair to an ancient gallery, long disused, whence the
sound proceeds, and