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Fran. You are wise,

And know what's best to do: yet, if you please,
To prove her temper to the height, say only
That I am dead, and then observe how far
She'll be transported. I'll remove a little,
But be within your call. Now to the upshot!
Howe'er, I'll shift for one. [Aside, and exit.

Re-enter TIBERIO, STEPHANO, and Guard,
with MARCELIA.

Marc. Where is this monster,
This walking tree of jealousy? Are you here?
Is it by your commandment or allowance,
I am thus basely us'd? Which of my virtues,
My labours, services, and cares to please you,
Invites this barbarous course? Dare you look

on me

Without a seal of shame?

Sfor. Impudence,

How ugly thou appear'st now! Thy intent
To be a wanton, leaves thee not blood enough
To make an honest blush: what had the act
done?

Marc. Return'd thee the dishonour thou
deserv'st.

Sfor. Your chosen favourite, your woo'd
Francisco,

Has dearly paid for't; for, wretch! know, he's
dead,

And by my hand.

Marc. Thou hast kill'd then,

A man I do profess I lov'd; a man

For whom a thousand queens might well be
rivals.

But he, I speak it to thy teeth, that dares be
A jealous fool, dares be a murderer,
And knows no end in mischief.

Sfor. I begin now

In this my justice.

[Stabs her.

Marc. Oh! I have fool'd myself
Into my grave, and only grieve for that
Which, when you know you've slain an in-
nocent,

You needs must suffer.

Sfor. An innocent! Let one
Call in Francisco; for he lives, vile creature,
[Exit Stephano.

To justify thy falsehood.
With wanton flatteries thou hast tempted him.

Re-enter STEPHANO.

Indeed, the unkindness to be sentenc'd by you,
Before that I was guilty in a thought,
Made me put on a seeming anger towards you,
And now-behold the issue! As I do,
May heaven forgive you!

Sfor. Then I believe thee;
Believe thee innocent too.

Tib. Her sweet soul has left
Her beauteous prison.

Steph. Look to the duke; he stands
As if he wanted motion.
Tib. Grief hath stopp'd
The organ of his speech.
Sfor. O my heart-strings!

ACT V.

[Dies.

[Exeunt.

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Thy promis'd hopes, and robb'd thee of a fortune
Almost in thy possession, hath found,
With horrid proof, his love she thought her
glory,

But hasten'd her sad ruin.
Eug. Do not flatter

A grief that is beneath it; for, however
The credulous duke to me prov'd false and cruel,
It is impossible he could be wrought on
So to serve her.

Fran. Such indeed, I grant,

The stream of his affection was, and ran,
A constant course, till I, with cunning malice
(And yet I wrong my act, for it was justice),
Made it turn backward; and hate, in extremes
(Love banish'd from his heart), to fill the room:
In a word, know the fair Marcelia's dead.
Eug. Dead!

Fran. And by Sforza's hand. Does it not
move you?

How coldly you receive it! I expected
The mere relation of so great a blessing,
Borne proudly on the wings of sweet revenge,
Would have call'd on a sacrifice of thanks.
You entertain it with a look, as if
You wish'd it were undone.
Eug. Indeed I do:

Steph. Seignior Francisco, sir, but even now For if my sorrows could receive addition,
Took horse without the ports.
Marc. We are both abus'd,

And both by him undone. Stay, death, a little,
Till I have clear'd me to my lord, and then
1 willingly obey thee. O my Sforza!
Francisco was not tempted, but the tempter;
And, as he thought to win me, show'd the

warrant

That you sign'd for my death. But, being
contemn'd,

Upon his knees with tears he did beseech me,
Not to reveal it: I, soft-hearted fool,
Judging his penitence true, was won unto it:

Her sad fate would increase, not lessen them
She never injur'd me.

Fran. Have you then no gall,
Anger, or spleen, familiar to your sex?
Or is it possible that you could see
Another to possess what was your due,
And not grow pale with envy?

Eug. Yes, óf him

That did deceive me. There's no passion, that
A maid so injur'd ever could partake of,
But I have dearly suffer'd. These three years,
In my desire and labour of revenge,
Trusted to you, I have endur'd the throes

Of teeming women; and will hazard all
Fate can inflict on me, but I will reach
Thy heart, false Sforza!

Fran. Still mine own, and dearer!
And yet in this you but pour oil on fire,
And offer your assistance where it needs not:
And that you may perceive I lay not fallow,
But had your wrongs stamp'd deeply on my
heart,

I did begin his tragedy in her death,
To which it serv'd as prologue, and will make
A memorable story of your fortunes
In my assur'd revenge: only, best sister,
Let us not lose ourselves in the performance,
By your rash undertaking: we will be
As sudden as you could wish.

Eug. Upon those terms

I yield myself and cause, to be dispos'd of

As

you think fit.

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And vigilance in me for my lord's safety.

Speak, my oraculous Graccho.

Grac. I have heard, sir,

Of men in debt that, laid for by their creditors,
In all such places where it could be thought
They would take shelter, chose for sanctuary
Their lodgings underneath their creditors' noses;
Confident that there they never should be
sought for.

Fran. But what infer you from it?
Grac. This, my lord;

That since all ways of your escape are stopp'd,
In Milan only, or, what's more, in the court,
Whither it is presum'd you dare not come,
Conceal'd in some disguise, you may live safe.
Fran. And not to be discover'd?"
Grac. But by myself.

Fran. By thee? Alas! I know thee honest,
Graccho,

And I will put thy counsel into act,
And suddenly. Yet, not to be ungrateful
For all thy loving travail to preserve me,
What bloody end soe'er my stars appoint,
Thou shalt be safe, good Graccho.—Who's
within there?

Grac. In the devil's name, what means he?
[Aside.

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Appear to me as written in thy forehead,
In plain and easy characters: and, but that

You are a condemn'd man, pursued and I scorn a slave's base blood should rust that

sought for,

And your head rated at ten thousand ducats
To him that brings it.
Fran. Very good.

Grac. All passengers

Are intercepted, and your picture sent

Το

every state confederate with Milan: It is impossible you should escape Their curious search.

Eug. Why, let us then turn Romans. And, falling by our own hands, mock their threats.

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Fran. Twould show nobly:

But that the honour of our full revenge
Were lost in the rash action. No, Eugenia,
Graccho is wise; my friend too, not my

servant;

And I dare trust him with my latest secret.
We would, and thou must help us to perform it,
First kill the duke-then, fall what can upon us
For injuries are writ in brass, kind Graccho,
And not to be forgotten.

Grac. He instructs me

What I should do.

Fran. What's that?

Grac. I labour with

[Aside.

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SCENE II.-MILAN. A Room in the Castle.
Enter PESCARA, TIBERIO, and STEPHANO.
Pes. The like was never read of.
Steph. But that melancholy should work
So far upon a man, as to compel him
To court a thing that has nor sense nor being,
Is unto me a miracle.

Pes. Troth, I'll tell you,

And briefly as I can, by what degrees
He fell into this madness. When, by the care

A strong desire to assist you with my service; Of his physicians, he was brought to life,

And now I am deliver'd of it,

Fran. I told you.

He call'd for fair Marcelia, and being told
That she was dead, he broke forth in extremes

(I would not say blasphem'd); then it came
Into his fancy that she was accus'd
By his mother and his sister; thrice he curs'd
them,

And thrice his desp'rate hand was on his sword
T'have kill'd them both; but they restrain'd him;
When wisely his physicians, looking on
The dutchess's wound, to stay his ready hand,
Cried out, it was not mortal.

Tib. 'Twas well thought on.

Pes. He, easily believing what he wish'd,
Fell prostrate at the doctors' feet, and swore,
Provided they recover'd her, he would live
A private man, and they should share his
dukedom.

Sfor. [Within] Support her gently.
Pes. Now be your own witnesses;
I am prevented.

Enter LUDOVICO SFORZA, ISABELLA, MARIANA, Doctors, and Servants, with the Body of MARCELIA.

Sfor. Carefully, I beseech you.

How pale and wan she looks! O pardon me, That I presume, dyed o'er with bloody guilt, To touch this snow-white hand, How cold

it is!

This once was Cupid's fire-brand, and still
Tis so to me. How slow her, pulses beat too!
Yet in this temper she is all perfection.
Mari. Is not this strange?

Ysa Oh! cross him not, dear daughter,

Enter a Servant, and whispers PESCARA.

Pes. With me? What is he? Sere. He has a strange aspect; A Jew by birth, and a physician By his profession, as he says; who, hearing Of the duke's frenzy, on the forfeit of His life, will undertake to render him Perfect in every part.

[Apart.

Pes. Bring me to him,

As I find cause, I'll do.

[Apart. Exeunt Pescara and Servants.

Sfor. How sound she sleeps!

Bite your tongues, vile creatures,
And let your inward horror fright your souls,
For having belied that pureness.
And for that dog, Francisco, that seduc'd me,
I'll follow him to hell, but I will find him,
And there live a fourth fury to torment him.
Then, for this cursed hand and arm, that
guided

The wicked steel, I'll have them, joint by joint,
With burning irons sear'd off, which I will eat,
I being a vulture fit to taste such carrion.
Lastly-

1 Doc. You are too loud, sir; you disturb Her sweet repose.

Sfor. I am hush'd.

1 Doc. He's past hope: we can no longer cover the imposture.

Re-enter PESCARA, with FRANCISCO, as a Jew
Doctor, and EUGENIA, disguised,
Fran. I am no god, sir,

To give a new life to her; yet I'll hazard
My head, I'll work the senseless trunk t'appear
To him as it had got a second being.
Pes. Do but this,

Till we use means to win upon his passions, T'endure to hear she's dead with some small patience,

And make thy own reward.
Fran. The art I use

Admits no looker on: I only ask
The fourth part of an hour, to perfect that
I boldly undertake. Therefore command,
That instantly my pupil and myself

Have leave to make a trial of our skill
Alone and undisturb'd.

[Exit Eugenia.

Pes. About it straight. Sfor. What stranger's this? Pes. Look up sir, cheerfully; Comfort in him flows strongly to you. Sfor. Comfort! from whence came that sound?

Pes. He is a man that can do wonders. [Beckons Francisco. Exit Francisco. Do not hinder

Heaven keep her from a lethargy! How long The dutchess's wish'd recovery, to inquire (But answer me with comfort, I beseech you) Or what he is, or to give thanks; but leave him Does your judgment tell you that her sleep To work this miracle.

will last?

1 Doc. We have given her, sir,

A sleepy potion, that will hold her long;
That she may be less sensible of the torment
The searching of her wound will put her to.
Sfor. I am patient,

You see I do not rage, but wait your pleasure.
What do you think she dreams of now? for

sure,

Although her body's organs are bound fast, Her fancy cannot slumber.

1 Doc. That, sir, looks on

Your sorrow for your late rash act, and prepares

To meet the free confession of your guilt
With a glad pardon,

Sfor. She was ever kind.

Let her behold me in a pleasing dream

[Kneels. Thus, on my knees before her (yet that duty In me is not sufficient); let her see me Compel my mother, from whom I took life, And this my sister, partner of my being, To bow thus low unto her:

Sfor. Sure 'tis my good angel.

I do obey in all things. Be it death
For any to disturb him, or come near,
Till he be pleas'd to call us. O be prosperous,
And make a duke thy bondman. [Exeunt

Re-enter FRANCISCO, leading in EUGENIA,
clothed as the Body of MARCELIA.
Fran. Tis my purpose.
I'll make the door fast-so-

Eug. Alas! I tremble:

Thus to tyrannise upon, and mock the dead, Is most inhuman.

Fran. Come we for revenge, And can we think on pity? If to enjoy The wish'd-for sacrifice to thy lost honour, Be in thy wavering thought a benefit, Now art thou blest.

Eug. Ah me! what follows now?

Fran. What, but a full conclusion of our

wishes!

Look on this flow'r, Eugenia-such a thing As yonder corpse, whose fatal robe you wear, Must the pale wretch be summon'd to appear

In the grim court of death, whose senses taste And after breath'd a jealousy upon thee,
The poisonous powder scatter'd o'er its leaves. As killing as those damps that belch out plagues
Now mark, that when with rapturous lust,
When the foundation of the earth is shaken:
Thinking the dead Marcelia reviv'd,
I made thee do a deed heaven will not pardon,
The duke shall fix his lips upon thy hand, Which was-to kill an innocent.
Hold fast the poison'd herb, till the fond fool
Hlas drunk his death-draught from thy hand
he spurn'd

Eug. I yield myself and cause up, to be
dispos'd

As thou think'st fit. [Sits down veiled.
Fran. Now to the upshot;
And, as it proves, applaud it.-My lord the

duke!

Enter with joy, and see the sudden change,
Your servant's hand hath wrought.

Sfor. Call forth the tortures
For all that flesh can feel.

Fran. I dare the worst.

Only, to yield some reason to the world
Why I pursu'd this course-look on this face,
Made old by thy base falsehood! 'tis Eugenia.
Sfor. Eugenia!

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Fran. Does it start you, sir? my sister, Seduc'd and fool'd by thee; but thou must pay

The forfeit of thy falsehood. Does it not work yet?

Re-enter, LUDOVICO SFORZA and the Rest. Whate'er becomes of me, which I esteem not, Thou art mark'd for the grave: I've given thee

Sfor. I live again

In my full confidence that Marcelia may
Pronounce my pardon. Can she speak yet?
Fran. No:

You must not look for all your joys at once;
That will ask longer time.
Sfor. By all the dues of love I have had
from her,
This hand seems as it was when first I kiss'd it.
[Kisses her Hand.

Pes. Tis wondrous strange!
Sfor. This act will bind e'en heaven your
debtor:

The saints will smile and look on't.
Oh, I could ever feed upon this native
Sweetness.

[Kisses her Hand again. Eugenia
throws away the Flower, and
sobs.

She wakes! she lives! and I am blest again.
[She lifts up her Feil.
Oh! horror! shield me from that face.
Eug. I can no more—thou'rt mark'd for death.
Pes. Treason, treason!
Tib. Call up the guard.
Fran. Then we are lost.
Sfor. Speak.

Eug. This is

Enter Guard.

Fran. Francisco.

Pes. Monster of men!

Fran. Give me all attributes

Of all you can imagine, yet I glory
To be the thing I was born. I am Francisco;
Francisco, that was rais'd by you, and made
The minion of the time; the same Francisco,
That would have us'd thy wife while she had life,

poison

In this cup; now observe me: which, thy lust
Carousing deeply of, made thee forget
Thy vow'd faith to Eugenia.
Pes. O damn'd villain!
How do you, sir?
Sfor. Like one

[To Ludovico Sforza.

That learns to know in death what punish

ment

Waits on the breach of faith! Oh! now I feel
An Aetna in my entrails. I have liv'd
A prince, and my last breath shall be command.
I burn! I burn! yet, ere life be consum'd,'
Let me pronounce upon this wretch all torture
That witty cruelty can invent.

Pes. Away with him!

Tib. In all things we will serve you.
Fran. Farewell, sister!

Now I have kept my word, torments I scorn;
I leave the world with glory. They are men,
And leave behind them name and memory,
That, wrong'd, do right themselves before they
die.

[Exeunt Guard, with Francisco. Steph. A desperate wretch!

Sfor. I come: death! I obey thee.

Yet I will not die raging; for, alas!

My whole life was a frenzy. Good Eugenia,
In death forgive me.-As you love me, bear

her

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MOORE.

EDWARD MOORE was bred a linen-draper; but having a stronger attachment to Pegasus than the yard, and a more ardent zeal in the pursuit of fame than in the hunt after fortune, he quitted business and applied to the Muses for a support. In verse he had certainly a very happy and pleasing manner; in his Trial of Selim the Persian, which a compliment to the ingenious Lord Lyttelton, he has shewn himself a perfect master of the most elegant kind of panegyric, viz. that which is couched under the appearance of accusation; and his Fables for the Female Sex seem, not only in the freedom and ease of the versification, but also in the foreibleness of the moral and poignancy of the wire, to approach nearer to the manner of Mr. Gay, than any of the numerous imitations of that author which have breu attempted since the publication of his Fables. As a dramatic writer, Mr. Moore has, by no means, met with the

success his works had merited; since, out of three plays that he wrote, one of them, The Foundling, has been condemned for its supposed resemblance to a very celebrated comedy (The Conscious Lovers), but to which great preference must be given; and another, The Gamester, met with a cold reception, for no other apparent reason, but because it too nearly touched a favourite and fashionable vice. Yet on the whole his plots are interesting his sentiments delicate, and his language poetical and pleasing; and, what crowns the whole of his recommendation, the greatest purity runs through all his writings, and the apparent tendency of every piece is towards the promotion of morality and virtue. The two plays mentioned, and one more, (Gil Blas) with a serenata (Solomon) make the whole of his dramatic works. Mr. Moore married a lady of the name of Hamilton, whose father was table-decker to the princesses; she had also a very poetical turn, and has been said to have assisted him in the writing of his tragedy. One specimen of her poetry, however, was handed about before their marriage; it was addressed to a daughter of the famous Stephen Duck; and begins with the following stanza:

Would you think it, my Duck, for the fault I must own
Your Jenny, at last, is quite covetous grown;

Though millions if fortune should lavishly pour,
I still should be wretched if I had not MORE.

And after half a dozen stauzas more, in which, with great ingenuity and delicacy, and yet in a manner that expresses a sincere affection, she has quibbled on our author's name, she concludes with the following lines; You will wonder, my girl, who this dear one can be, Whose merit can boast such a conquest as me;

But you shan't know his name; though I told you before,
It begins with an M.; but I dare not say MORE.

Mr. Moore died the 28. of Febr. 1757, soon after his celebrated papers, entitled The World, were collected into volumes.

THE GAMESTER.

ACTED at Drury Lane 1753. This tragedy is written in prose, and is the best drama that Mr. Moore produced, The language is nervous, and yet pathetic; the plot is artful, yet clearly conducted; the characters are highly marked, yet not unnatural; and the catastrophe is truly tragic, yet not unjust. Still with all these merits it met with but middling success, the general cry against it being, that the distress was too deep to be borne; yet we are rather apt to imagine its want of perfect approbation arose in one part, and that no inconsiderable one, of the audience, from a tenderness of another kind than that of compassion; and that they were less hurt by the distress of Beverley, than by finding their darling vice, their favourite folly, thus vehemently attacked by the strong lance of reason and dramatic execution. It has often been disputed, whether plays, in which the plots are taken from domestic life, should be written in prose or metre; and the ascess of the present performance and George Barnwell must incline one very strongly in favour of the former. A at author, however, appears to be of a different opinion. Mr. Howard says, that having communicated his play of The Female Gamester to Dr. Samuel Johnson, that gentleman observed "that he could hardly consider a prose tragedy as dramatic; that it was difficult to performers to speak it; that, let it be either in the middling or in low life, it may, though in metre and spirited, be properly familiar and colloquial; that many in the middling rank are not without erudition; that they have the feelings and sensations of nature, and every emotion in consequence thereof, as well as the great; that even the lowest, when impassioned, raise their language; and that the writing of prose is generally the plea and excuse of poverty of genius." We have heard that the interview between Lewson and Stukely, in the fourth act, was the production of Mr. Garrick's pen. When the play was shown in manuscript to Dr. Young, he remarked, that " Gaming wanted such a caustic as the concluding scene of the play presented."

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one vice driven him from every virtue!-Nay, from his affections too!-The time was, sisterMrs. B. And is. I have no fear of his affections. Would I knew that he were safe!

MRS. BEVERLEY and CHARLOTTE discovered. Mrs. B. Be comforted, my dear, all may be Char. From ruin and his companions. But well yet. And now, methinks, the lodging that's impossible. His poor little boy too!' begins to look with another face. Oh, sister! What must become of him? sister! if these were all my hardships; if all I Mrs. B. Why, want shall teach him indushad to complain of were no more than quit- try. From his father's mistakes he shall learn ting my house, servants, equipage, and show, prudence, and from his mother's resignation, your pity would be weakness. patience. Poverty has no such terrors in it Char. Is poverty nothing, then? as you imagine. There's no condition of life, Mrs. B. Nothing in the world, if it affected sickness and pain excepted, where happiness only me. While we had a fortune, I was is excluded. The husbandman, who rises early the happiest of the rich; and now 'tis gone, to his labour, enjoys more welcome rest at give me but a bare subsistence and my hus-night for't. His bread is sweeter to him; his band's smiles, and I shall be the happiest of home happier; his family dearer; his enjoythe poor. Why do you look at me?

Char. That I may hate my brother.
Mrs. B. Don't talk so, Charlotte.

ments surer. The sun that rouses him in the morning, sets in the evening to release him. All situations have their comforts if sweet Char. Has he not undone you?-Oh, this contentment dwell in the heart. But my poor pernicious vice of gaming! But methinks his Beverley has none. The thought of having usual hours of four or five in the morning ruined those he loves is misery for ever to might have contented him. Need he have him. Would I could ease his mind of that! staid out all night?—I shall learn to detest him. Char. If he alone were ruined 'twere just Mrs. B. Not for the first fault. He never he should be punished. He is my brother, slept from me before. 'tis true; but when I think of what he has Char. Slept from you! No, no, his nights done-of the fortune you brought him-of his love nothing to do with sleep. How has this own large estate too, squandered away upon

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