No shameful bonds, but honourable death.
Duke. Break up the council. Captain, guard
your prisoners.
Jaffier, you are free, but these must wait for
judgment. [Exeunt all the Senators.
Pier. Come, where's my dungeon? Lead me
to my straw:

It will not be the first time I've lodged hard,
To do the senate service.

Jaf. Hold, one moment.

Pier. Who's he disputes the judgment of the senate?

Presumptuous rebel—on—

Jaf. By Heaven, you stir not!

[Strikes Jaffier.

I must be heard;. I must have leave to speak.
Thou hast disgraced me, Pierre, by a vile blow:
Had not a dagger done thee nobler justice?
But use me as thou wilt, thou cans't not wrong

me,

For I am fallen beneath the basest injuries :
Yet look upon me with an eye of mercy,
With pity and with charity behold me;
Shut not thy heart against a friend's repentance;
But, as there dwells a godlike nature in thee,
Listen with mildness to my supplications!

Pier. What whining monk art thou? what holy cheat,

That would encroach upon my credulous ears,
And cant'st thus vilely? Hence! I know thee not;
Dissemble and be nasty. Leave, hypocrite.
Jaf. Not know me, Pierre !

Pier. No, I know thee not! What art thou? Juf. Jaffier, thy friend, thy once-loved valued friend!

Tho' now deservedly scorned, and used most hardly.

Pier. Thou, Jaffier! thou my once-loved valued friend!

By Heavens thou lyest; the man so called, my friend,

Was generous, honest, faithful, just, and valiant;
Noble in mind, and in his person lovely;
Dear to my eyes, and tender to my heart:

But thou! a wretched, base, false, worthless coward,

Poor, even in soul, and loathsome in thy aspect; All eyes must shun thee, and all hearts detest thee.

Prithee avoid; nor longer cling thus round me, Like something baneful, that my nature's chilled at. Jaf. I have not wronged thee, by these tears I

have not,

But still am honest, true, and, hope too, valiant;
My mind still full of thee, therefore still noble.
Let not thy eyes then shun me, nor thy heart
Detest me utterly. Oh! look upon me,
Look back, and see my sad, sincere submission!
How my heart swells, as e'en 'twould burst my
bosom;

Fond of its goal, and labouring to be at thee. What shall I do? what say, to make thee hear me?

Pier. What's that?

Jaf. To take thy life, on such conditions The council have proposed: thou, and thy friends, May yet live long, and to better treated.

Pier. Life! ask my life! Confess! record myself

A villain, for the privilege to breathe!
And carry up and done this cursed city,
A discontented and repining spirit,
Burthensome to itself, a few years longer;
To lose it, may be, at last, in a lewd quarrel
For some new friend, treacherous and false as
thou art!

No, this vile world and I have long been jangling,

And cannot part on better terms than now,
When only men, like thee, are fit to live in it.
Jaf. By all that's just-

Pier. Swear by some other powers,

For thou hast broke that sacred oath too lately. Jaf. Then, by that hell I merit, I'll not leave thee,

Till to thyself, at least, thou art reconciled,
However thy resentment deal with me.

Pier. Not leave me !

Jaf. No; thou shalt not force me from thee. Use me reproachfully, and like a slave; Tread on me, buffet me, heap wrongs on wrongs On my poor head: I'll bear it all with patience, Shall weary out thy most unfriendly cruelty; Lie at thy feet, and kiss them, though they spurn

Never from this cursed hour to hold communion, Friendship, or interest, with thee, though our years

Were to exceed those limited the world.

Take it-farewell-for now I owe thee nothing. Jaf. Say thou wilt live, then,

Pier. For my life, dispose it

To my divided soul, that wars within me,
And raises every sense to my confusion:
By heaven, I'm tottering on the very brink
Of peace, and thou art all the hold I've left.
Bel. Alas! I know thy sorrows
mighty:

are most

Jaf. Oh, Pierre !

Pier. No more.

Jaf. My eyes won't lose the sight of thee, But languish after thee, and ache with gazing. Pier. Leave me-Nay, then, thus, thus I throw thee from me;

And curses, great as is thy falshood, catch thee! [Erit.

Jaf. Amen.

He's gone, my father, friend, preserver,
And here's the portion he has left me:

[Holds the dagger up. This dagger. Well remembered! with this dagger, I gave a solemn vow of dire importance; Parted with this, and Belvidera together. Have a care, memory! drive that thought no farther:

No, I'll esteem it, as a friend's last legacy; Treasure it up within this wretched bosom, Where it may grow acquainted with my heart, That, when they meet, they start not from each

other.

So now for thinking-A blow! called traitor, villain,

Coward, dishonourable coward!

Oh! for a long sound sleep, and so forget it
Down, busy devil!

Enter BELVIDERA.

Bel. Whither shall I fly?

Where hide me and my miseries together? Where's now the Roman constancy I boasted? Sunk into trembling fears and desperation, Not daring to look up to that dear face,

Which used to smile, even on my faults; but, down,

Bending these miserable eyes on earth,

Jaf. Oh! I have lost what can't be counted.
My friend too, Belvidera, that dear friend,
Who, next to thee, was all my heart rejoiced in,
Has used me like a slave, shamefully used me:
'Twould break thy pitying heart to hear the story.
What should I do? Rescatment, indignation,
Love, pity, fear, and memory how I've wronged
him,

Distract my quiet with the very thought of it,
And tear my heart to pieces in my bosom.
Bel. What has he done?

Jaf. Thou'dst hate me, should I tell thee.
Bel. Why?

Juf. Oh! he has used me--yet, by heaven, I

bear it;

He has used me, Belvidera-but first swear, That when I've told thee, thou wilt not loath me

Jaf. Before we parted,

E're yet his guards had led him to his prison,

Pri. WHY, cruel Heaven, have my unhappy days

Been lengthened to this sad one? Oh! dishonour
And deathless infamy is fallen upon me!
Was it my fault? Am I a traitor? No.
But then, my only child, my daughter wedded;
There my best blood runs foul, and a disease
Incurable has seized upon my memory,
To make it rot and stink to after-ages!
Curst be the fatal minute, when I got her;
Or would that I had been any thing but man,
And raised an issue, which would ne'er have
wronged me.

The miserablest creatures (man excepted)
Are not the less esteemed, though their posterity
Degenerate from the virtues of their fathers:
The vilest beasts are happy in their offspring,
While only man gets traitors, whores, and villains!
Cursed be the names, and some swift blow from
fate

Pri. What wouldst thou beg for?

Bel. Pity and forgiveness. [Throws up her veil. By the kind tender names of child and father, Hear my complaints, and take me to your love! Pri. My daughter!

Bel. Yes, your daughter, by a mother Virtuous and noble, faithful to your honour, Obedient to your will, kind to your wishes, Dear to your arms: By all the joys she gave you, When, in her blooming years, she was your trea

sure,

Look kindly on me. In my face behold
The lineaments of her's you have kissed so often,
Pleading the cause of your poor cast-off child.
Pri. Thou art my daughter.

Bel. Yes-and you have often told me,
With smiles of love and chaste paternal kisses,
I had much resemblance of my inother.
Pri. Oh!

Hadst thou inherited her matchless virtues,
I had been too blessed!

Bel. Nay, do not call to memory
My disobedience; but let pity enter

Enter BELVIDERA, in a long mourning veil. Bel. He's there, my father, my inhuman father, That for three years has left an only child Exposed to all the outrages of fate, And cruel ruin!-Oh

Pri. What child of sorrow

Art thou, that comest wrapt in weeds of sadness, And movest, as if thy steps were towards a grave? Bel. A wretch, who, from the very top of happiness,

Am fallen into the depths of misery,

And want your pitying hand to raise me up again. Pri. Indeed thou talkst as thou hadst tasted

For could you think how mine's perplexed, what sadness,

Fears and despair distract the peace within me, Oh! you would take me in your dear, dear arms, Hover with strong compassion o'er your young

Pri. Damn him.

Bel. Oh! do not curse him;

He would not speak so hard a word towards you
On any terms, howe'er he deals with me.
Pri. Ha! what means my child?

Bel. Oh! there's but this short moment
"Twixt me and fate: yet send me not with curses
Down to my grave; afford me one kind blessing
Before we part: just take me in your armis,
And recommend me with a prayer to heaven,
That I may die in peace; and when I am dead-~
Pri. How my soul's catch'd!
Bel. Lay me, I beg you, lay me
By the dear ashes of my tender mother.
Ee