Spare that, and for the reft 'tis equal all,

Be it as it may.

Tam.

Well was it for the world,

When, on their borders, neighbouring princes met,
Frequent in friendly parle, by cool debates
Preventing wafteful war: fuch fhould our meeting
Have been, hadft thou but held in juft regard
The fanctity of leagues fo often fworn to.
Canft thou believe thy Prophet, or, what's more,
That Power fupreme, which made thee and thy Prophet,
Will, with impunity, let pass that breach
Of facred faith given to the royal Greek?

Baj. Thou pedant talker! ha! art thou a king
Poffefs'd of facred power, Heaven's darling attribute,
And doft thou prate of leagues, and oaths, and prophets
I hate the Greek, (perdition on his name!)
As I do thee, and would have met you both,
As death does human nature, for destruction.
Tam. Caufelefs to hate, is not of human kind:
The favage brute, that haunts in woods remote
And defert wilds, tears not the fearful traveller,
If hunger, or fome injury, provoke not.

Baj. Can a king want a caufe, when empire bids Go on? What is he born for, but ambition? It is his hunger, 'tis his call of nature, The noble appetite which will be fatisfy'd, And, like the food of gods, makes him immortal. Tam. Henceforth I will not wonder we were foes, Since fouls that differ fo by nature, hate, And ftrong antipathy forbids their union.

Baj. The noble fire, that warms me, does indeed Tranfcend thy coldnefs. I am pleas'd we differ, Nor think alike.

Tam. No: for I think like man,

Thou like a monfter, from whofe baleful prefence
Nature starts back; and though fhe fix'd her ftamp
On thy rough mafs, and mark'd thee for a man,
Now, confcious of her error, fhe difclaims thee,
As form'd for her destruction.

'Tis true, I am a king, as thou hast been;
Honor and glory too have been my aim;

But though I dare face death, and all the dangers
Which furious war wears in its bloody front.
Yet would I choose to fix my name by peace,
By juftice, and by mercy; and to raife
My trophies on the bleffings of mankind:
Nor would I buy the empire of the world
With ruin of the people whom I fway,
On forfeit of my honor.

Baj. Prophet, I thank thee.

Confufion! couldft thou rob me of my glory
To dress up this tame king, this preaching dervife!
Unfit for war, thou shouldft have liv'd fecure
In lazy peace, and with debating fenates
Shar'd a precarious fceptre; fat tamely ftill,
And let bold facticas canton out thy power
And wrangle for the fpoils they robb'd three off;
Whilft I, (O blast the power that stops my ardor)
Would, like a tempeft, rush amidst the nations,
Be greatly terrible, and deal, like Alha,

My angry thunder on the frighted world.

Tam. The world! 'twould be too little for thy pride: Thou wouldft fcale heav'n.

Baj. I would. Away! my foul. Difdains thy conference.

Tam. Thou vain, rash thing,

That, with gigantic infolence, haft dar'd

To lift thy wretched felf above the stars,

And mate with power almighty, thou art fall'n!

Baj. Tis falfe! I am not fall'n from aught I have
been!

At least my foul refolves to keep her ftate,
And fcorns to make acquaintance with ill fortune.
Tam. Almost beneath my pity art thou fall'n ;
Since, while th' avenging hand of Heav'n is on thee,
And preffes to the duft thy fwelling foul,
Fool-hardy, with the ftronger thou contendeft.
To what vaft heights had thy tumultuous temper

Been hurry'd, if fuccefs had crown'd thy wishes!
Say, what had I to expect, if thou hadft conquer'd ?
Baj. Oh, glorious thought! Ye powers, I will en-
Though but in fancy: imagination fhall [joy it,

Make room to entertain the vaft idea...
Oh! had I been the mafter but of yesterday,
The world, the world had felt me; and for thee,
I had ufed thee, as thou art to me, a dog,
The object of my feorn and mortal hatred.
I would have cag'd thee for the fcorn of flaves.
I would have taught thy neck to know my weight,
And mounted from that footstool to the faddle:
Till thou hadst begg'd to die; and e'en that mercy
I had deny'd thee. Now thou know'ft my mind,
And question me no farther.

Tam. Well doft thou teach me
What juftice fhould exact from thee.
With one confent, cry out for

Mankind

vengeance on thee Loudly they call to cut off this league-breaker, This wild deftroyer, from the face of earth.

Baj. Do it, and rid thy fhaking foul at once Of its worst fear.

Tam. Why flept the thunder

That fhould have arm'd the idol deity,

And given thee power, ere yefter fun was fet,

To shake the foul of Tamerlane. Hadft thou an arm To make thee fear'd, thou fhouldst have prov'd it on me, Amidft the sweat and blood of yonder field,

When, through the tumult of the war, I fought thee, Fenc'd in with nations.

Baj. Oh, blaft the ftars

That fated us to different fcenes of flaughter!
Oh! could my fword have met thee!

Tam. Thou hadst then,

As now, been in my power, and held thy life
Dependent on my gift. Yes, Bajazet,

I bid thee live. So much my foul difdains

That thou shouldft think I can fear aught but Heaven.

Nay more; couldst thou forget thy brutal fiercenefs,

And form thyfelf to manhood, I would bid thee
Live and be ftill a king, that thou mayft learn
What man fhould be to man-

This royal tent, with fuch of thy domeftics
As can be found, thall wait upon thy fervice;
Nor will I use my fortune to demand

Hard terms of peace; but fuch as thou mayft offer
With honor, I with honor may receive.

COLONEL BARRE'S SPEECH IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, 1765, ON THE STAMP-ACT BILL.

N the firft reading of the bill, Mr. Townsend fpoke in its favour; and concluded with the following words: " And will thefe Americans, children planted by our care; nourished up by our indulgence until they are grown to a degree of ftrength and opulence and protected by our arms; will they grudge to contribute their mite, to relieve us from the heavy weight of that burthen which we lie under?”

On this Colonel Barre rofe, and anfwered Mr. Towfend in the following mafterly manner.

"They planted by YOUR care!" No; your oppreffions planted them in America. They fled from your tyranny, to a then uncultivated and unhofpitable country, where they expofed themfelves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable; and among others to the cruelties of a favage foe, the most fubtle, and I will take upon me to fay, the most formidable of any people upon the face of the earth; and yet actuated by principles of true English liberty, they met all hardships with pleasure, compared with those they fuffered in their own country, from the hands of those who should have been their friends.

"They nourished up by YOUR indulgence!" They grew by your neglect of them. As foon as you began to care about them, that care was exercised in sending.

perfons to rule them, in one department and another, who were, perhaps, the deputies of deputies to fome members of this House, fent to spy out their liberties, to mifrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them; men, whose behaviour, on many occafions, has caufed the blood of those fons of liberty to recoil within them; men promoted to the highest feat of juftice; fome, who, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to a foreign country, to efcape being brought to the bar of a court of justice in their own.

"They protected by YOUR arms!" They have nobly taken up arms in your defence; have exerted a valour, amidst their conftant and laborious industry, for the defence of a country, whose frontier was drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little favings to your emoluments.

And, believe me; remember I this day told you fo, that the fame fpirit of freedom, which actuated that people at first, will accompany them ftill. But prudence forbids me to explain myself further. Heaven knows, I do not at this time speak from motives of party heat; what I deliver are the genuine fentiments of my heart.

However fuperior to me in general knowledge and experience the refpectable body of this House may be, yet I claim to know more of America than most of you, having feen and been converfant in that country. The people, I believe, are as truly loyal as any fubjects the king has; but a people jealous of their liberties, and who will vindicate them, if ever they should be violated. But the fubject is too delicate, I will fay no

more.

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