"Oh, merciless, wild, and unforgiving fiend! "For there is none so deadly; doubly curs'd "Alic. If thou wilt curse, curse rather thine own falsehood; "Curse the lewd maxims of thy perjur'd sex, "And urg'd my vengeance to undo us both.” Alic. Can'st thou—Oh, cruel Hastings, leave me Hear me, I beg thee-I conjure thee, hear me! While with an agonizing heart, I swear, By all the pangs I feel, by all the sorrows, Oh! had I once divin'd, false as thou art, I would have met it for thee, and made bare My ready faithful breast to save thee from it. Hast Now mark! and tremble at Heaven's just award: While thy insatiate wrath and fell revenge, Alic. Oh! yet before I go for ever from thee, And, in compassion of my strong affliction, The fatal rashness of ungovern'd love? [Kneeling. For, oh! 'tis certain, if I had not lov'd thee Beyond my peace, my reason, fame, and life, "Desir'd to death, and doated to destraction," This day of horror never should have known us. Hast. Oh, rise, and let me hush thy stormy sor[Raising her. Assuage thy tears, for I will chide no more, rows. No more upbraid thee, thou unhappy fair one. To punish me by thy mistaken hand. Most righteous doom! for, Oh, while I behold thee, Thy wrongs rise up in terrible array, And charge thy ruin on me; thy fair fame, Alic. And does thy heart relent for my undoing? Hast. Here then exchange we mutually forgiveness: So may the guilt of all my broken vows, My perjuries to thee, be all forgotten, As here my soul acquits thee of my death, As here I part without one angry thought, As here I leave thee with the softest tenderness, Mourning the chance of our disastrous loves, And begging Heav'n to bless and to support thee. Rat. My lord, dispatch; the duke has sent to chide me, For loitering in my duty————— Hast. I obey. Alic. Insatiate, savage monster! Is a moment So tedious to thy malice? Oh, repay him, Thou great avenger! Give him blood for blood : Guilt haunt him! fiends pursue him! lightnings blast him! "Some horrid, cursed kind of death o'ertake him, "Sudden, and in the fulness of his sins!" That he may know how terrible it is, To want that moment he denies thee now. Hast. This rage is all in vain, "that tears thy bosom; "Like a poor bird that flutters in its cage, "Thou beat'st thyself to death." Retire, I beg thee; To see thee thus, thou know'st not how it wounds me; Thy agonies are added to my own, And make the burthen more than I can bear. And bring thee peace and comfort from above. Hast. One thing I had forgot→→→ I charge thee, by our present common miseries; The innocence of thy unhappy friend; Thou know'st who 'tis I mean; Oh should'st thou wrong her, Just Heav'n shall double all thy woes upon thee, And make 'em know no end-Remember this, As the last warning of a dying man. Farewell, for ever! [The guards carry Hastings off. Alic. For ever! Oh, for ever! Oh, who can bear to be a wretch for ever! Devote the hour when such a wretch was born; "Like me, to desarts and to darkness run, [Exit. ACT V. SCENE I. The Street. Enter BELMOUR and DUMONT. You saw her, then? Dumont. Bel. I met her, as returning, In solemn penance from the public cross. Slaves in authority, the knaves of justice, |