Cap. My orders are to seize on all I find At this late hour, and bring them to the council, Who now are sitting.

Jaff. Sir, you shall be obey'd.

Unfold the truth, and be restor❜d with mercy.
Jaff. Think not, that I to save my life came

hither:

Now the lot's cast, and, fate, do what thou wilt. [Exeunt JAFFIER and BelviderA, guarded.

SCENE II.-The Senate-House.

The Duke of Venice, PRIULI, and other Senators, discovered sitting.

Duke. Antony, Priuli, senators of Venice,
Speak-Why are we assembled here this night?
What have you to inform us of, concerns
The state of Venice' honour or its safety?

Pri. Could words express the story I've to tell

you,

Fathers, these tears were useless-these sad tears
That fall from my old eyes; but there is a cause
We all should weep,

And wrap ourselves in sackcloth, sitting down
On the sad earth, and cry aloud to Heaven:
Heav'n knows, if yet there be an hour to come,
Ere Venice be no more.

Duke. How!

Pri. Nay, we stand

Upon the very brink of gaping ruin.
Within this city's form'd a dark conspiracy
To massacre us all, our wives and children,
Kindred and friends: our palaces and temples
To lay in ashes: nay, the hour, too, fix'd;
The swords, for aught I know, drawn e'en this

moment,

And the wild waste begun. From unknown hands

Juff. That you dare not do

Your fears won't let you, nor the longing itch
To hear a story, which you dread the truth of:
Truth, which the fear of smart shall ne'er get from

me.

Cowards are scar'd with threat'nings; boys are whipp'd

Into confessions: but a steady mind
Acts of itself, ne'er asks the body counsel.
Again, by Heav'n, I'll shut these lips for ever!
Give him the tortures! -name but such a thing
Nor all your racks, your engines, or your wheels,
Shall force a groan away, that you may guess at!
Duke. Name your conditions.
Jaff. For myself full pardon,

Besides the lives of two-and-twenty friends,
Whose names I have enrolled-Nay, let their

crimes

Enter Officer and Captain.

Offi. My lords, more traitors! Seiz'd in the very act of consultation; Furnish'd with arms and instruments of mischief.Bring in the prisoners!

Enter SPINOSA, ELLIOT, THEODORE, DURAND, MEZZANA, RENAULT, and PIERRE, in chains.

Pie. You, my lords and fathers

(As you are pleas'd to call yourselves) of Venice, If you sit here to guide the course of justice, Why those disgraceful chains upon the limbs That have so often labour'd in your service? Are these the wreaths of triumph you bestow On those that bring you conquest home, and honours?

Duke. Go on! you shall be heard, sir.

Why droops the man, whose welfare's so much mine,

They're but one thing. These rev'rend tyrants Jaffier,

Call us traitors. Art thou one, my brother?

Jaff. To thee I am the falsest, veriest slave, That e'er betray'd a gen'rous, trusting friend, And gave up honour to be sure of ruin. All our fair hopes, which morning was t' have crown'd,

Has this curs'd tongue o'erthrown.

Pie. So, then, all's over:

Venice has lost her freedom, I my life.
No more!

Duke. Say, will you make confession
Of your vile deeds, and trust the senate's mercy!
Pie. Curs'd be your senate, curs'd your consti-
tution!

The curse of growing factions and divisions
Still vex your councils, shake your public safety,
And make the robes of government you wear
Hateful to you, as these base chains to me.

Duke. Pardon, or death!

Pie. Death! honourable death!

Ren. Death's the best thing we ask, or you can

Pie. Who's he disputes the judgment of the senate?

Presumptuous rebel !-on

[Strikes JAFFIER Jaff. By Heaven, you stir not!

[Exeunt Captain and Guards.

I must be heard! I must have leave to speak.

fighting

Your battles with confederated powers?
When winds and seas conspired to overthrow you,
And brought the fleets of Spain to your own har-
bours;

When you, great duke, shrunk trembling in your palace,

Stepp'd not I forth, and taught your loose Vene

tians

The task of honour, and the way to greatness?
Rais'd you from your capitulating fears
To stipulate the terms of sued-for peace?
And this my recompense! If I'm a traitor,
Produce my charge; or show the wretch that's

base

Had not a dagger done thee nobler justice?
But use me as thou wilt, thou canst not wrong me,
Yet, look upon me with an eye of mercy,
For I am fallen beneath the basest injuries;
And, as there dwells a godlike nature in thee,
Listen with mildness to my supplications.

Pie. What whining monk art thou? what holy cheat,

That wouldst encroach upon my credulous ears, And cant'st thus vilely? Hence! I know thee not! Jaff. Not know me, Pierre?

Pie. No, know thee not. What art thou? Jaff. Jaffer, thy friend,-thy once-lov'd, va. lued friend!

Though now deservedly scorn'd, and us'd most hardly.

Pie. Thou, Jeffier! thou, my once-lov'd, valu'd

friend!

By Heavens, thou lyest! the man so call'd my friend

Was generous, honest, faithful, just, and valiant,
Noble in mind, and in his person lovely;
Dear to my eyes, and tender to my heart;
But thou, a wretched, base, false, worthless coward,
Poor, even in soul, loathsome in thy aspect:
All eyes must shun thee, and all hearts detest
thee!

Prithee, avoid, nor longer cling thus round me, Like something baneful, that my nature's chill'd at. Jaff. I have not wrong'd thee; by these tears, I have not.

Pie. Hast thou not wrong'd me? dar'st thou call thyself

That once-lov'd, honest, valu'd friend of mine, And swear thou hast not wrong'd me? Whence these chains?

Whence the vile death which I may meet this moment?

Whence this dishonour, but from thee, thou false one?

Jaff. All's true; yet grant one thing, and I've done asking.

Pie. What's that?

Jaff. To take thy life on such conditions The council have propos'd: thou and thy friends May yet live long, and to be better treated.

Pie. Life! ask my life! confess! record myself
A villain, for the privilege to breathe,
And carry up and down this cursed city
A discontented and repining spirit,
Burdensome to itself, a few years longer!
To lose it, may be, at last, in a lewd quarrel
For some new friend, treacherous and false as thou
art!

No: this vile world and I have long been jangling,
And cannot part on better terms than now,
When only men like thee are fit to live in't.
Jaff. By all that's just-

Pie. Swear by some other power,

For thou hast broke that sacred oath too lately.
Jaff. Then by that hell I merit, I'll not leave thee
Till, to thyself, at last, thou'rt reconciled,
However thy resentments deal with me.
Pie. Not leave me!

Jaff. No; thou shalt not force me from thee.
Use me reproachfully, and like a slave;
Tread on me, buffet me, heap wrongs on wrongs
On my poor head; I'll bear it all with patience,
Shall weary out thy most unfriendly cruelty;
Lie at thy feet [Falls on his knees] and kiss them
though they spurn me;

Till, wounded by my sufferings, thou relent,
And raise me to thy arms with dear forgiveness.

Pie. Art thou not

Jaff. What?

Pie. A traitor!

Jaff. Yes.

Pie. A villain?

Jaff. Granted.

Pie. A coward, a most scandalous coward; Spiritless, void of honour; one who has sold Thy everlasting fame, for shameless life! Jaff. [Rising] All, all, and more, much more; my faults are numberless.

Pie. And wouldst thou have me live on terms like thine?

Base, as thou'rt false

Jaff. No, 'tis to me that's granted;
The safety of thy life was all I aim'd at,
In recompense for faith and trust so broken.

Pie. I scorn it more, because preserved by thee;
And, as when first my foolish heart took pity
On thy misfortunes, sought thee in thy miseries,
Reliev'd thy wants, and rais'd thee from the state
Of wretchedness, in which thy fate had plunged
thee,

To rank thee in my list of noble friends;
All I receiv'd, in surety for thy truth,
Were unregarded oaths, and this, this dagger,

Given with a worthless pledge, thou since hast stol'n :

So I restore it back to thee again,
Swearing by all those powers which thou hast
violated,

Never, from this cursed hour, to hold communion,
Friendship, or interest, with thee, though our years
Were to exceed those limited the world.
Take it. [Throws down the dagger.] Farewell, for
now I owe thee nothing.

Jaff. Say thou wilt live, then,
Pie. For my life, dispose it

Just as thou wilt, because 'tis what I'm tired with.
Jaff. O, Pierre !

Pie. No more.

Jaff. My eyes won't lose the sight of thee,
But languish after thine, and ache with gazing.
Pie. Leave me. Nay, then, thus, thus I throw
thee from me;

And curses, great as is thy falsehood, catch thee!
[Drives him from him and eri
Jaff. He's gone-my father, friend, preserver!
And here's the portion he has left me-

[Takes up the dagger. This dagger! Well remembered! with this dagger, I gave a solemn vow of dire importance; Parted with this and Belvidera together;Have a care, mem'ry,-drive that thought no farther,

No, I'll esteem it, as a friend's last legacyTreasure it up, within this wretched bosom, Where it may grow acquainted with my heart, That when they meet they start not from each

other.

Hoarded for thee, of blessings yet untasted :
Let wretches, loaded hard with guilt as I am,
Bow with the weight, and groan beneath the
burden,

Before the footstool of that heav'n they've injured.
O, Belvidera! I'm the wretched'st creature
E'er crawl'd on earth!

Bel. Alas! I know thy sorrows are most mighty.
Jaff. My friend, too, Belvidera-that dear friend,
Who, next to thee, was all my heart rejoic'd in,
Has us'd me like a slave, shamefully us'd me:
"Twould break thy pitying heart to hear the story.
Bel. What has be done?

Jaff. O, my dear angel! in that friend, I've lost All my soul's peace; for every thought of him Strikes my sense hard, and deads it in my brains! Wouldst thou believe it?

Before we parted,

Ere yet his guards had led him to his prison,
Full of severest sorrows for his sufferings,
As at his feet sael'd, and sued for mercy,