The keen retort of power.

Why, I have reasoned;

And, but that I am held, amongst your great ones,

Half madman and half fool,
Had whitened on yon wall.

these bones of mine

Warn them! They met

At every step dark warnings.

Friend met friend, nor smiled,

Till the last footfall of the tyrant's steed

Had died upon the ear.

Sir, the boys,

The unfledged boys, march at their mother's hist,
Beside their grandsires; even the girls of Rome,-
The gentle and the delicate, array

Their lovers in this cause. I have one yonder,

Claudia Rienzi,—thou hast seen the maid-
A silly trembler, a slight fragile toy,

As ever nursed a dove, or reared a flower—
Yet she, even she, is pledged—

Ang. To whom? to whom?

Rie. To liberty.

A king's son

Might kneel in vain for Claudia. None shall wed her,

Save a true champion of the cause.

Ang. I'll join ye:

How shall I swear?
Rie. [To the People.]

[Gives his hand to Rienzi.

Friends, comrades, countrymen!

I bring unhoped-for aid.

Young Angelo

Craves

To join your

band.

All the Citizens shout-He's welcome! [Coming for

Ang. Hear me swear

ward.

By Rome-by freedom-by Rienzi! Comrades,

How have

ye titled your

deliverer? consul

Dictator, emperor ?

Rie. No:

Those names have been so often steeped in blood,

So shamed by folly, so profaned by sin,

The sound seems ominous,-I'll none of them.
Call me the Tribune of the people; there

My honouring duty lies.

[The Citizens shout, Hail to our Tribune! - The bell sounds thrice; shouts again; and a military band is heard playing a march without.

Hark-the bell, the bell!

That, to the city and the plain,

Proclaims the glorious tale

Of Rome reborn, and Freedom.

See, the clouds

Are swept away, and the moon's boat of light
Sails in the clear blue sky, and million stars
Look out on us, and smile.

[The gate of the Capitol opens, and ALBERTI and Soldiers join the People, and lay the keys at RIENZI's feet.

Hark! that great voice

Hath broke our bondage. Look, without a stroke

The Capitol is won-the gates unfold—

The keys are at our feet. Alberti, friend,

How shall I pay the service? Citizens !

First to possess the palace citadel—

The famous strength of Rome; then to sweep on,
Triumphant, through her streets.

[AS RIENZI and the People are entering the Capitol, he pauses.

Oh, glorious wreck

Of gods and Cæsars! thou shalt reign again,

Queen of the world; and I-come on, come on,

My people!

[Citizens. Live Rienzi-live our Tribune!

*

[Exeunt through the gates, into the Capitol.

*

*

*

*

*

RIENZI rules as Tribune, until the People again revolt. They sacrifice RIENZI, who dies "the last of the Tribunes."

RIENZI, Soldiers and Citizens.

Down with Rienzi!

Citizens. Down with the tyrant!

Citizens,

Rienzi. Who calls upon Rienzi?

What seek ye of your Tribune? .... why come ye?

2d Cit. For vengeance, perjured tyrant! for thy blood— for liberty!

Rie. For liberty! Go seek

The mountain-tops, where with the crashing pines

The north wind revels;

Go where the eagle or the sea-snake dwell;

Midst mighty elements, where nature is,

And man is not, and ye may see afar,
Impalpable as a rainbow on the clouds,
The glorious vision, Liberty! I dreamed
Of such a goddess once; dreamed that yon slaves
Were Romans, such as ruled the world, and I

Their Tribune; vain and idle dream! Take back

The symbol and the power.

1st Cit. Tyrant! thy life!

Rie. Come on.

I am unarmed.

What seek ye more?

Why pause ye, cowards?

My breast is bare. Why pause ye?

Enter CLAUDIA; she rushes forward to RIENZI.-The Peo

ple surround him.

Rie. Drag her from my neck,

If ye be men!
A worm.

Save her! She never harmed

My Claudia, bless thee! bless thee! Nownow!

[RIENZI falls, pierced by many spears, and the People divide, leaving CLAUDIA stretched on her Father's body.

Thomas Lovell Beddoes.

THE BRIDE'S TRAGEDY.

HESPERUS and FLORIBEL, the young wedded Lovers, are in a Garden, discoursing on the Beautics of Flowers.

HESPERUS, FLORIBEL.

Hesperus. See, here's a bower

Of eglantine with honeysuckles woven,
Where not a spark of prying light creeps in,
So closely do the sweets enfold each other.
'Tis twilight's home; come in, my gentle love,
And talk to me. So! I've a rival here;
What's this that sleeps so sweetly on your neck?

Floribel. Jealous so soon, my Hesperus? Look then, It is a bunch of flowers I pulled for you:

Here's the blue violet, like Pandora's eye,

When first it darkened with immortal life.

Hes. Sweet as thy lips. Fie on those taper fingers,
Have they been brushing the long grass aside,

To drag the daisy from its hiding-place,
Where it shuns light, the Danaë of flowers,
With gold up-hoarded on its virgin lap?

Flo. And here's a treasure that I found by chance,

A lily of the valley; low it lay

Over a mossy mound, withered and weeping,

Give me the rose, though there's a tale of blood
In elfin annals old

Soiling its name.

'Tis writ, how Zephyr, envious of his love
(The love he bare to Summer, who since then
Has, weeping, visited the world), once found
The baby Perfume cradled in a violet
(Twas said the beauteous bantling was the child
Of a gay bee, that in his wantonness

Toyed with a pea-bud in a lady's garland);

The felon winds, confederate with him,

Bound the sweet slumberer with golden chains,

Pulled from the wreathed laburnum, and together

Deep cast him in the bosom of a rose,

And fed the fettered wretch with dew and air.

James Sheridan Knowles.

VIRGINIUS.

The Death of VIRGINIA.

Rome.--The Forum.

Appius, Claudius, Lictors, and People.

Appius. Well, Claudius, are the forces

At hand?

Claudius. They are, and timely, too; the people Are in unwonted ferment.