Contracts new horrors, and a deeper black, From this damned deed.-Mosby, thou hast thy wish;

Arden is dead; now count thy gains at leisure.
Dangers without, on every side suspicion;
Within, my starting conscience marks such
wounds,

As hell can equal, only murderers feel. [A pause.
This, this the end of all my flattering hopes!
O! happiest was I in my humble state:
Though I lay down in want, I slept in peace;
My daily toil begat my night's repose;
My night's repose made day-light pleasing to me.
But now I've climbed the top-bough of the tree,
And sought to build my nest among the clouds:
The gentlest gales of summer shake my bed,
And dreams of murder harrow up my soul.
But hark!-Not yet :-'Tis dreadful being alone.
This awful silence, that, unbroken, reigns
Through earth and air, awakes attention more,
Than thunder bursting from ten thousand clouds:
S'death!-'tis but Michael-Say-

Mar. Michael, your absence too has been ob

served.

Mos. Say we are coming. [Exit MARIA. Mich. One thing I'd forgot. [Returning. Soon as the company have left the house, The ruffians will return.

Mos. What would the villains ? Mich. They muttered threats and curses, And seemed not satisfied with their reward. [Eril MICHAEL. Mos. Let them take all. Ambition, avarice, lust, That drove me on to murder, now forsake me. Oh Arden! if thy discontented ghost Still hovers here to see thy blood revenged, View, view the anguish of this guilty breast, And be appeased!

[Exit.

[Aside.

Alic. Dares he do this? Mos. I'm much afflicted, that he stays so late; The times are perilous.

Green. And he has enemies.

Though no man, sure, did e'er deserve them less. Mos. This day he was assaulted in the street. Green. You saved him then.

Mos. Would I were with him now!

Mar. She starts, her looks are wild. [Aside. How fare you, madam?

Alic. I'm lost in admiration of your brother. Mar. I fear her more than ever. [Aside.]Madam, be merry.

Mos. Michael, some wine. Health and long life to Arden! [Rising.

Alic. The good you wish, and have procured for Arden, [Rising.

Mayor. Go you with these, and do as I directed. [Exeunt officers and others. I'm sorry that the duty of my office Demands a visit so unseasonable.

Mos. Your worship doubtless were a welcome guest

At any hour; but wherefore thus attended? Mayor. I have received a warrant from the council,

To apprehend two most notorious ruffians;
And information being made, on oath,
That they were seen to enter here to-night,
I'm come to search.

Green. I'm glad it is no worse.

[Aside. Mos. And can you think, that Arden entertains

Villains like those you speak of? Were he here, You'd not be thanked for this officiousness.

Mayor. I know my duty, sir, and that respect, So justly due to our good neighbour's worth.— But where is Arden?

Mayor. Search them.

Mich. I thought I'd thrown it down the well.

[Aside. Mayor. [To an Officer.] Enter that room, and search the lady there;

We may, perhaps, discover more.

[Officer goes out, and re-enters; in the mean time, another Officer searches MOSBY and GREEN.

1 Offi. On Arden's wife I found this letter.
2 Offi. And I this ring on Mosby.
Mayor. Righteous Heaven!

Well may'st thou hang thy head, detested villain!
This very day did Arden wear this ring;
I saw it on his hand.

Mos. I freely yield me to my fate.

Enter another Officer.

Offi. We've seized two men behind some stacks of wood.

Mayor. Well, bring them in.

BLACK WILL and SHAKEBAG brought in. They answer the description; But let them wait, till I have done with these. Heavens! what a scene of villany is here! [Having read the letter.

B. Will. Since we are sure to die, though I could wish it were in better company (for 1 hate that fawning rascal, Mosby,) I will tell the truth for once. He has been long engaged in an affair with Arden's wife there; but fearing a discovery,

and hoping to get into his estate, hired us to hide him. That's all.

Mayor. And you the horrid deed performed? Shake. We did, with his assistance, and Green's and Michael's.

Mayor. This letter proves Alicia, from the first,

Was made acquainted with your black design.

B. Will. I know nothing of that; but if she was, she repented of it afterwards. So, I think, you call a change of mind.

Mayor. That may avail her at the bar of hea

ven,

But is no plea at ours: [ALICIA brought in.] Bear them to prison;

Load them with irons, make them feel their guilt,
And groan away their miserable hours,

Till sentence of the law shall call them forth
To public execution.

Alic. I adore

The unerring hand of justice; and with silence
Had yielded to my fate, but for this maid,
Who, as my soul dreads justice on her crimes,
Knew not, or e'er consented to, this deed.
Mayor. But did she not consent to keep it se-
cret?

Mos. To save a brother, and most wretched friend

Mayor. She has undone herself. Behold how innocence

May suffer in bad fellowship.—And Bradshaw, My honest neighbour Bradshaw, too: I read it With grief and wonder.

Brad. Madam, I appeal

To you; as you are shortly to appear
Before a judge, that sees our secret thoughts,
Say, had I knowledge, or—

Alic. You brought the letter,

But well I hope, you knew not the contents. Mayor. Hence with them all, till time and farther light

Shall clear these mysteries.

A. Fowl. If I'm condemned,

My blood be on his head, that gives the sentence. I'm not accused, and only ask for justice.

Frank. You shall have justice all, and rigorous justice.

So shall the growth of such enormous crimes,
By their dread fate, be checked in future times.
Of avarice, Mosby a dread instance prove,
And poor Alicia of unlawful love!

[Exeunt omnes.

BY

THE French, howe'er mercurial they may seem,
Extinguish half the fire, by critic phlegm;
While English writers nature's freedom claim,
And warm their scenes with an ungovern'd flame :
'Tis strange that nature never should inspire
A Racine's judgment with a Shakespeare's fire!
Howe'er to-night-(to promise much we're loth)
But you've a chance, to have a taste of both.
From English plays, Zara's French author fir'd,
Confess'd his muse beyond herself inspir'd;
From rack'd Othello's rage he rais'd his style,
And snatch'd the brand that lights this tragic pile;
Zara's success his utmost hopes outflew,
And a twice twentieth weeping audience drew.

As for our English friend, he leaves to you,
Whate'er may seem to his performance due;
No views of gain his hopes or fears engage,
He gives a child of leisure to the stage;
Willing to try, if yet forsaken nature
Can charm, with any one remember'd feature.
Thus far the author speaks--but now the
player,

With trembling heart, prefers his humble prayer.

To-night, the greatest venture of my life,
Is lost or sav'd, as you receive a wife:
If time, you think, may ripen her to merit,
With gentle smiles, support her wav'ring spirit.
Zara in France, at once an actress rais'd,
Warm'd into skill, by being kindly prais'd:
Oh! could such wonders here from favour flow,
How would our Zara's heart with transport glow!
But she, alas! by juster fears oppress'd,
Begs but your bare endurance, at the best;
Her unskill'd tongue would simple nature speak,
Nor dares her bounds, for false applauses, break.
Amidst a thousand faults, her best pretence
To please is unpresuming innocence.
When a chaste heart's distress your grief de-

mands,

One silent tear outweighs a thousand hands.
If she conveys the pleasing passions right,
Guard and support her this decisive night;
If she mistakes, or finds her strength too small,
Let interposing pity- -break her fall.
In you it rests, to save her, or destroy;
If she draws tears from you, I weep for joy.

power

Draws reverence from a polished people's softness,
Their husbands' equals, and their lovers' queens;
Free without scandal; wise without restraint;
Their virtue due to nature, not to fear.
Why have you ceased to wish this happy change?
A barred seraglio!-sad, unsocial life!
Scorned, and a slave! All this has lost its terror;
And Syria rivals, now, the banks of Seine.

Zar. Joys, which we do not know, we do not wish.

My fate's bound in by Sion's sacred wall:
Closed, from my infancy, within this palace,
Custom has learnt, from time, the power to
please.

I claim no share in the remoter world,
The sultan's property, his will my law;
Unknowing all but him, his power, his fame,
To live his subject is my only hope,
All else an empty dream.

Sel. Have you forgot

Absent Nerestan then, whose generous friendship

So nobly vowed redemption from your chains?
How oft have you admired his dauntless soul!
Osman, his conqueror, by his courage charmed,
Trusted his faith, and on his word released him:
Though not returned in time-we yet expect him.
Nor had his noble journey other motive,
Than to procure our ransom.-And is this,
This dear, warm hope, become an idle dream?

Zar. Since after two long years he not returns,
'Tis plain his promise stretch'd beyond his power.
A stranger and a slave, unknown, like him,
Proposing much, means little;-talks and vows,
Delighted with a prospect of escape :——
He promis'd to ransom ten Christians more,
And free us all from slavery!-I own
I once admired the unprofitable zeal,
But now it charms no longer.

Sel. What if yet,

He, faithful, should return, and hold his vow; Would you not then——

Zar. No matter-Time is past, And every thing is changed→→→

Sel. But, whence comes this ?

Zar. Go-'twere too much to tell thee Zara's fate:

The sultan's secrets, all, are sacred here:
But my fond heart delights to mix with thine.
Some three months past, when thou, and other
slaves,

Were forc'd to quit fair Jordan's flowery bank,
Heaven, to cut short the anguish of my days,
Rais'd me to comfort by a powerful hand:
This mighty Osman-

Sel. What of him? Zar. This sultan,

This conqueror of the Christians, lovesSel. Whom?

Zar. Zara!

Thou blushest, and I guess thy thoughts accuse

me:

But, know me better- -'twas unjust suspicion. All emperor as he is, I cannot stoop

To honours, that bring shame and baseness with them :

Reason and pride, those props of modesty,
Sustain my guarded heart, and strengthen virtue :
Rather than sink to infamy, let chains
Embrace me with a joy, such love denies.
No-I shall now astonish thee;-His greatness
Submits to own a pure and honest flame.
Among the shining crowds, which live to please
him,

His whole regard is fixed on me alone:
He offers marriage; and its rites now wait,
To crown me empress of this eastern world.

Sel. Your virtue and your charms deserve it all:

My heart is not surpris'd but struck to hear it. If to be empress can complete your happiness, I rank myself with joy among your slaves.

Zar. Be still my equal-and enjoy my blessings;

For, thou partaking, they will bless me more.
Sel. Alas! but Heaven! will it permit this
marriage?

Will not this grandeur, falsely called a bliss,
Plant bitterness, and root it in your heart?
Have you forgot you are of Christian blood?

Zur. Ah me! What hast thou said? why

wouldst thou thus

Recal my wavering thoughts? How know I, what, Or whence I am? Heaven kept it hid in darkness, Concealed me from myself, and from my blood.

Sel. Nerestan, who was born a Christian, here Asserts, that you, like him, had Christian pa

rents;

Besides that cross, which, from your infant

years

Has been preserved, was found upon your bosom, As if designed by Heaven, a pledge of faith