r ye the sheep, to the husbanding rams
how they bleat to the shade!
Or behear ye the birds, at the Goddess' command
how they sing unafraid!

Jam loquaces ore rauco stagna cycni perstrepunt;
Adsonat Terei puella subter umbram populi, 85
Ut putes motus amoris ore dici musico,
Et neges queri sororem de marito barbaro.
Ilia cantat, nos tacemus. Quando ver venit meum?
Quando fiam uti chelidon, ut tacere desinam?
Perdidi Musam tacendo, nec me Apollo respicit; 90
Sic Amyclas, cum tacerent, perdidit silentium.
_Cras amet qui nunquam amavit; quique amavit cras
amet_.

Be it harsh as the swannery's clamour that shatters the hush of the lake,
Be it dulcet as where Philomela holds darkling the poplar awake, 85
So melting her soul into music, you'd vow 'twas her passion, her own,
She plaineth--her sister forgot, with the Daulian crime long-agone.
Hark! Hush! Draw around to the circle ... Ah, loitering Summer! Say when
For me shall be broken the charm, that I chirp with the swallow again?
I am old; I am dumb; I have waited to sing till Apollo withdrew-- 90
So Amyclae a moment was mute, and for ever a wilderness grew.
_Now learn ye to love who loved never--now ye who have loved, love anew,_
_To-morrow!--to-morrow!_

TO
CHARLES THURSBY

THE "ONLIE BEGETTER"

THE REGENT

A DRAMA IN ONE ACT

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

CARL'ANTONIO, _Duke of Adria_

TONINO, _his young son_

LUCIO; _Count of Vallescura, brother to the Duchess_

CESARIO, _Captain of the Guard_

GAMBA, _a Fool_

OTTILIA, _Duchess and Regent of Adria_

LUCETTA, _a Lady-in-Waiting_

FULVIA, _a Lady of the Court_

_Courtiers, Priests, Choristers, Soldiers, Mariners,
Townsfolk, etc._

_The Scene is the Ducal Palace of Adria, in the N. Adriatic_

_The Date, 1571_

THE REGENT

SCENE.--_A terraced courtyard before the Ducal Palace.
Porch and entrance of Chapel, R. A semicircular
balcony, L., with balustrade and marble seats, and an
opening whence a flight of steps leads down to the
city. The city lies out of sight below the terrace;
from which, between its cypresses and statuary, is
seen a straight stretch of a canal; beyond the canal are
sand-hills and the line of the open sea. Mountains,
L., dip down to the sea and form a curve of the
coast._

_As the curtain rises, a crowd of town and country
folk is being herded to the back of the terrace by the
Ducal Guard, under Cesario. Within the Chapel,