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(That mortified old withered winter rogue)
Loves simple fornication like a priest;

I found him out for watering at my wife;
He visited her last night, like a kind guardian:
Faith! she has some temptation, that's the truth
on't.

Pier. He durst not wrong his trust?
Jaf. 'Twas something late, though,
To take the freedom of a lady's chamber.
Pier. Was she in bed?

Jaf. Yes, faith, in virgin sheets,

White as her bosom, Pierre, dished neatly up,
Might tempt a weaker appetite to taste.

Oh! how the old fox stunk, I warrant thee,
When the rank fit was on him!

Pier. Patience guide me!

He used no violence?

Jaf. No; no; out on it, violence! Played with her neck; brushed her with his grey beard;

Struggled and touzed; tickled her, till she squeak

ed a little,

May be, or so-but not a jot of violence——
Pier. Damn him.

Juf. Ay, so say I: but hush, no more of it.
All hitherto is weil, and I believe

Myself no monster yet, though no man knows What fate he is born to. Sure 'tis near the hour We all should meet for our concluding orders: Will the ambassador be here in person?

Pier. No, he has sent commission to that vil-
lain Renault,

To give the executing charge:
I'd have thee be a man if possible,

And keep thy temper; for a brave revenge
Ne'er comes too late.

Juf. Fear not, I am as cool as patience.
Had he completed my dishonour, rather
Than hazard the success our hopes are ripe for,
I'd bear it all with mortifying virtue.

Pier. He's yonder, coming this way through the hall;

His thoughts seem full.

Jaf. Prithee retire, and leave me

With him alone; I'll put him to some trial; See how his rotten part will bear the touching. Pier. Be careful, then.

[Exit.

Jaf. Nay, never doubt, but trust me.What! be a devil, take a damning oath For shedding native blood! Can there be a sin In merciful repentance? Oh, this villain!

Enter RENAULT.

Ren. Perverse and peevish! What a slave is

man,

To let his itching flesh thus get the better of him! Dispatch the tool her husband-that were well. Who's there?

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Neither too hot nor cold?

Ren. What means that question?

Jaf. Oh, women have fantastic constitutions,
Inconstant in their wishes, always wavering,
And never fixed. Was it not boldly done,
Even at first sight, to trust the thing I loved
(A tempting treasure too) with youth so fierce
And vigorous as thine? but thou art honest.
Ren. Who dares accuse me?
Jaf. Cursed be he that doubts

Thy virtue! I have tried it, and declare,
Were I to chuse a guardian of my honour,
I'd
put it in thy keeping: for I know thee.
Ren. Know me!

Jaf. Ay, know thee. There's no falsehood in

thee;

Thou look'st just as thou art. Let us embrace!
Now, would'st thou cut my throat, or I cut thine?
Ren. You dare not do it.
Juf. You lie, sir.

Ren. How!

Jaf. No more,

'Tis a base world, and must reform, that's all.
Enter SPINOSA, THEODORE, ELIOT, REVILLI-
Do, DURAND, BRAMVEIL, and the rest of the
Conspirators.

Ren. Spinosa, Theodore!
Spin. The same.
Ren. You are welcome.
Spin. You are trembling, sir.

Ren. 'Tis a cold night, indeed, and I am aged; Full of decay and natural infirmities:

[PIER. re-enters. We shall be warm, my friends, I hope, to mor

row.

Pier. 'Twas not well done; thou should'st have stroaked him,

And not have galled him.

Jaf. Damn him, let him chew on't. Heaven! Where am I? beset with cursed fiends, That wait to damn me! What a devil's man, When he forgets his nature-hush, my heart. Ren. My friends, 'tis late; are we assembled all?

Where's Theodore?

Theod. At hand.
Ren. Spinosa.
Spin. Here.

Ren. Bramveil.

Bram. I'm ready.

Ren. Durand and Brabe.
Dur. Command us;
We are both prepared.
Omnes. All; all.

Ren. Mezzano, Revillido,

Ternon, Retrosi! Oh! you are men, I find,

Fit to hold your fate, and meet her summons.

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Jaf. Oh! reverend cruelty! damned bloody
villain!
[Aside,
Ren. During this execution, Durand, you
Must in the midst keep your battalia fast;
And, Theodore, be sure to plant the cannon
That may command the streets; whilst Revillido,
Mezzano, Ternon, and Retrosi guard you.
This done, we'll give the general alarin,
Apply petards, and force the arsenal gates ;
Then fire the city round in several places,
Or with our cannon (if it dare resist)

Batter to ruin, But, above all, I charge you,
Shed blood enough; spare neither sex nor age,
Name nor condition; if there live a senator
After to-morrow, though the dullest rogue
That e'er said nothing, we have lost our ends.
If possible, let's kill the
very name
Of senator, and bury it in blood.

Jaf. Merciless, horrid slave-Ay, blood enough! Shed blood enough, old Renault! how thou charm'st me!

Ren. But one thing more, and then farewell, till fate

Join us again, or separate us for ever:
First let's embrace. Heaven knows, who next
shall thus

Wing ye together; but let's all remember,
We wear no common cause upon our swords:
Let each man think, that on his single virtue
Depends the good and fame of all the rest;
Eternal honour, or perpetual infamy.
Let us remember through what dreadful hazards
Propitious fortune hitherto has led us :
How often on the brink of some discovery
Have we stood tottering, yet still kept our ground
So well, that the busiest searchers ne'er could
follow

Those subtle tracks, which puzzled all suspicion.-
You droop, sir.

Jaf. No; with most profound attention
I've heard it all, and wonder at thy virtue.
Ren. Though there be yet few hours 'twixt
them and ruin,

Are not the senate lulled in full security,
Quiet and satisfied, as fools are always?
Never did so profound repose fore-run
Calamity so great. Nay, our good fortune
Has blinded the most piercing of mankind,
Strengthened the fearfullest, charmed the most
suspectful,

VOL. I.

Confounded the most subtle: for we live,
We live, my friends, and quickly shall our life
Prove fatal to these tyrants. Let's consider,
That we destroy oppression, avarice,
A people nursed up equally with vices
And loathsome lusts, which nature most abhors,
And such as without shame she cannot suffer.
Jaf. Oh, Belvidera! take me to thy arms,
And shew me where's my peace, for I have lost
it!
[Exit.

Ren. Without the least remorse, then, let's

resolve

With fire and sword to exterminate these tyrants;
And when we shall behold those cursed tribunals,
Stained by the tears and sufferings of the innocent,
Burning with flames rather from heaven than ours,
The raging, furious, and unpitying soldier
Pulling his reeking daggers from the bosoms
Of gasping wretches; death in every quarter;
With all that sad disorder can produce,
To make a spectacle of horror: then,
Then let us call to mind, my dearest friends,
That there is nothing pure upon the earth;
That the most valued things have most allays,
And that in change of all these vile enormities,
Under whose weight this wretched country la-
bours,

The means are only in our hands to crown them.
Pier. And may those powers above, that are

propitious

To gallant minds, record this cause and bless it! Ren. Thus happy, thus secure of all we wish

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Ren. Let that be my lot, if, as here I stand, Listed by fate among her darling sons, Though I had one only brother, dear by all The strictest ties of nature; though one hour Had given us birth, one fortune fcd our wants, One only love, and that but of each other,

Still filled our minds; could I have such a friend
Joined in this cause, and had but ground to fear
He meant foul play; may this right hand drop
from me,

If I'd not hazard all my future peace,
And stab him to the heart before you. Who,
Who would do less? Would'st thou not, Pierre,
the same?

Pier. You've singled me, sir, out for this hard question,

As if 'twere started only for my sake:
Am I the thing you fear? Here, here's my bosom,
Search it with all your swords. Am I a traitor?
Ren. No; but I fear your late commended

friend

Is little less. Come, sirs, 'tis now no time
To trifle with our safety. Where's this Jaffier?
Spin. He left the room just now in strange
disorder.

Ren. Nay, there is danger in him; I observed
him;
2 F

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the blood,

That's dear to me? is't you, or you, or you, sir? What, not one speak! how you stand, gaping all On your grave oracle, your wooden god there! Yet not a word! Then, sir, I'll tell you a secret; Suspicion's but at best a coward's virtue.

[To REN. Ren. A coward!- [Handles his sword. Pier. Put up thy sword, old man; Thy hand shakes at it. Come, let's heal this breach;

I am too hot, we yet may all live friends.

Spin. Till we are safe, our friendship cannot

be so.

Pier. Again! Who's that? Spin. 'Twas I.

Theo, And I.

Ren. And I.

Omnes. And all.

Ren. Who are on my side?

Spin. Every honest sword.

Let's die like men, and not be sold like slaves. Pier. One such word more, by heaven I'll to the senate,

And hang ye all, like dogs, in clusters.

Why peep your coward swords half out their shells?

Why do you not all brandish them like mine? You fear to die, and yet dare talk of killing! Ren. Go to the senate, and betray us! haste! Secure thy wretched life: we fear to die

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Rev. Here, take our swords, and crush them with your feet.

Spin. Forgive us, gallant friend.

Pier. Nay, now you've found

The way to melt, and cast me as you will.
I'll fetch this friend, and give him to your mercy:
Nay, he shall die, if you will take him from me.
For your repose, I'll quit my heart's best jewdi
But would not have him torn away by villains,
And spiteful villany.

Spin. No, may you both

For ever live, and fill the world with fame.

Pier. Now ye are too kind. Whence rose all this discord?

Oh, what a dangerous precipice have we 'scaped! How near a fall was all we had long been build

ing!

What an eternal blot had stained our glories,
If one, the bravest and the best of men,
Had fallen a sacrifice to rash suspicion,
Butchered by those, whose cause he came to che

rish!

Oh! could you know him all, as I have known

him;

How good he is, how just, how true, how brave, You would not leave this place till you had seen him;

| Humbled yourselves before him, kissed his feet, And gained remission for the worst of follies. Come but to-morrow, all your doubts shall end, And to your loves me better recommend, That I've preserved your fame, and saved my friend. [Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-The Rialto.

Enter JAFFIER and BELVIDERA.

Jaf. Where dost thou lead me? Every step I

move,

Methinks I tread upon some mangled limb Of a racked friend. Oh, my charming ruin! Where are we wandering?

Bel. To eternal honour.

To do a deed, shall chronicle thy name
Among the glorious legends of those few,

That have saved sinking nations. Thy renown
Shall be the future song of all the virgins,
Who, by thy piety, have been preserved
From horrid violation. Every street
Shall be adorned with statues to thy honour;
And at thy feet this great inscription written,
Remember him, that propped the fall of Venice.
Jaf. Rather, remember him, who, after all
The sacred bonds of oaths, and holier friendship,
In fond compassion to a woman's tears,
Forgot his manhood, virtue, truth, and honour,
To sacrifice the bosom, that relieved him.
Why wilt thou damn me?

Bel. Oh, inconstant man!

How will you promise! how will you deceive!
Do, return back, replace me in my bondage,
Tell all thy friends how dangerously thou lov'st me,
And let thy dagger do its bloody office.
Oh! that kind dagger, Jaffier, how 'twill look
Struck through my heart, drenched in my blood
to the hilt!

Whilst these poor dying eyes shall, with their tears,
No more torment thee; then thou wilt be free:
Or, if thou think'st it nobler, let me live,
Till I'm a victim to the hateful lust
Of that infernal devil, that old fiend,
That's damn'd himself, and would undo mankind.
Last night, my love!

Jaf. Name it not again!

tshews & beastly image to my fancy,

Will wake me into madness. Oh, the villain!
That durst approach such purity as thine
On terms so vile: Destruction, swift destruction,
all on my coward head, and make my name
The common scorn of fools, if I forgive him!
fI forgive him? If I not revenge
With utmost rage, and most unstaying fury,
Thy sufferings, thou dear darling of my life.
Bel. Delay no longer then, but to the senate,
And tell the dismallest story ever uttered:
Tell them what bloodshed, rapines, desolations,
Have been prepared: how near's the fatal hour.
Save thy poor country, save the reverend blood
Of all its nobles, which to-morrow's dawn
Must else see shed.

Save the poor tender lives
Of all those little infants, which the swords
Of murderers are whetting for this moment.
Think, thou already hear'st their dying screams;
Think, that thou seest their sad distracted mo-

thers,

Kneeling before thy feet, and begging pity

With torn dishevelled hair, and streaming eyes, Their naked mangled breasts besineared with blood,

And even the milk, with which their fondled babes Softly they hushed, dropping in anguish from them; Think thou seest this, and then consult thy heart. Jaf. Oh!

Bel. Think too, if you lose this present minute, What miseries the next day brings upon thee: Imagine all the horrors of that night; Murder and rapine, waste, and desolation, Confusedly raging: Think, what then may prove My lot; the ravisher may then come safe, And, 'midst the terror of the public ruin,

Do a damn'd deed; perhaps may lay a train
To catch thy life: Then where will be revenge,
The dear revenge, that's due to such a wrong?
Jaf. By all heaven's powers, prophetic truth
dwells in thee!

For every word thou speak'st strikes through my heart,

Like a new light, and shews it how't has wandered.

Just what thou'st made me, take me, Belvidera,
And lead me to the place, where I am to say
This bitter lesson; where I must betray
My truth, my virtue, constancy, and friends.
Must I betray my friend? Ah! take me quickly
Secure me well before that thought's renewed;
If I relapse once more, all's lost for ever.

Bel. Hast thou a friend more dear than Belvidera?

Jaf. No: thou'rt my soul itself; wealth, friendship, honour,

All present joys, and earnest of all future,
Are summed in thee. Methinks, when in thy

arms,

Thus leaning on thy breast, one minute's more
Than a long thousand years of vulgar hours.
Why was such happiness not given me pure?
Why dashed with cruel wrongs, and bitter warn-
ings?

Come, lead me forward, now, like a tame lamb
To sacrifice. Thus, in his fatal garlands
Decked fine and pleased, the wanton skips and

plays,

Trots by the enticing flattering priestess' side,
And much transported with its little pride,
Forgets his dear companions of the plain;
Till, by her bound, he's on the altar lain,
Yet then too hardly bleats, such pleasure's in the
pain.

Enter Officer and Six Guards.
Offi. Stand! who goes there?
Bel. Friends.

Jaf. Friends, Belvidera! Hide me from my friends!

By Heaven, I would rather see the face of hell, Than meet the man I love.

Offi. But what friends are you?

Bel. Friends to the senate, and the state of Venice.

Offi. My orders are to seize on all I find At this late hour, and bring them to the council, Who are now sitting.

Juf. Sir, you shall be obeyed.Hold, brute, stand off! none of your paws upon me. Now, the lot's east, and, Fate, do what thou wilt. [Exeunt guarded.

SCENE II.

The Senate-House, where appear sitting the Duke of VENICE, PRIULI, ANTONIO, and eight other Senators.

Duke. Antony, Priuli, senators of Venice, Speak, why are we assembled here this night!

What have you to inform us of, concerns
The state of Venice' honour, or its safety?
Pri. Could words express the story I have to
tell you,

Fathers, these tears were useless; these sad tears,
That fall from my old eyes; but there is cause
We all should weep, tear off these purple robes,
And wrap ourselves in sackcloth, sitting down
On the sad earth, and cry aloud to heaven:
Heaven knows, if yet there be an hour to come,
Ere Venice be no more.

All Sen. How!

Pri. Nay, we stand

Upon the very brink of gaping ruin.
Within this city's formed a dark conspiracy,
To massacre us all, our wives and children,
Kindred and friends, our palaces and temples
To lay in ashes; nay, the hour too fixed;
The swords, for aught I know, drawn e'en this
moment,

And the wild waste begun. From unknown hands
I had this warning; but, if we are men,
Let's not be tamely butchered, but do something
That may inform the world, in after ages,
Our virtue was not ruined, though we were.
[A noise without.
Room, room, make room for some prisoners-
Sen. Let us raise the city.

Enter Officer and Guards.

Duke. Speak, there. What disturbance?
Offi. Two prisoners have the guards seized in

the street,

Who say, they come to inform this reverend senate About the present danger.

Enter JAFFIER and Officer.

Into confessions: but a steady mind
Acts of itself, ne'er asks the body counsel.
Give him the torture! Name but such a thing
Again, by heaven I'll shut these lips for ever.
Not all your racks, your engines, or your wheels,
Shall force a groan away, that you may guess at
Ant. A bloody-minded fellow, I'll warrant;
damn'd bloody-minded fellow.

Duke. Name your conditions.
Juf. For myself full pardon,
Besides the lives of two and twenty friends,
Whose names are here enrolled-Nay, let the

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Now, Fate, thou hast caught me.

Ant. Why, what a dreadful catalogue of c ting throats is here! I'll warrant you, not one d

All. Give them entrance-Well, who are you? these fellows but has a face like a lion. I de

Jaf. A villain.

Ant. Short and pithy.

The man speaks well.

Jaf. Would every man, that hears me, Would deal so honestly, and own his title.

Duke. 'Tis rumoured, that a plot has been contrived

Against this state; and you've a share in't too. If you're a villain, to redeem your honour Unfold the truth, and be restored with mercy. Jaf. Think not, that I to save my life came hi

ther;

I know its value better; but in pity

To all those wretches, whose unhappy dooms
Are fixed and sealed. You see me here before you,
The sworn and covenanted foe of Venice:
But use me as my dealings may deserve,
And I may prove a friend.

Duke. The slave capitulates !—

Give him the torture!

Jaf. That you dare not do':

Your fears wont let you, nor the longing itch
To hear a story, which you dread the truth of
Truth, which the fear of smart shall ne'er get
from me.

Cowards are scared with threatenings; boys are whipt

not so much as read their names over.

Duke. Give order, that all diligent search b

made

To seize these men: their characters are pubin
The paper intimates their rendezvous
To be at the house of a famed Grecian courte
Called Aquilina; see that place secured.
You, Jaffier, must with patience bear, till morni
To be our prisoner.

Jaf. Would the chains of death
Had bound me safe, e'er I had known this minute
I've done a deed will make my story hereafter
Quoted in competition with all ill ones:
The history of my wickedness shall run
Down through the low traditions of the vulgar.
And boys be taught to tell the tale of Jaffier.
Duke. Captain, withdraw your prisoner.
Jaf. Sir, if possible,

Lead me, where my own thoughts themselves may lose me;

Where I may doze out what I've left of life,
Forget myself, and this day's guilt and falsehood
Cruel remembrance! how shall I appease thee
[Exit guard

Offi. [Without.] More traitors; room, room
room, make room there.
Duke. How's this? guards!

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