Sex. Amazement! What can mean this sudden frenzy! Bru. What? Violation! Do we dwell in dens, In caverned rocks, or amongst men in Rome?

[Thunder and lightning become very violent. Hear the loud curse of Heaven! 'Tis not for nothing The thunderer keeps this coil above your head!

[Points to the fragments of the statue. Look on that ruin! See your father's statue Unhorsed and headless! Tremble at the omen! Sex. This is not madness. Ha! my dagger lost!— Wretch thou shalt not escape me. Ho! a guard!— The rack shall punish thee 1 A guard, I say!

[Exit. Bru. [Alone.] The blow is struck! the anxious mes->

sages

To Collatinus and his friends, explained:

And now, Rome's liberty or loss is certain!
I'll hasten to Collatia-join my kinsmen-

To the moon, folly! Vengeance, I embrace thee! [Exit

(To

SCENE II.-An Apartment in the House of Collatinus. COLLATINUS enters wildly, a bloody dagger in his hand, followed by VALERIUS and Lucretius, r.

Col. She's dead! Lucretia's dead! I plucked this steel

This is her blood!

Look! there she lies,

From my
Lucretia's heart!
Howl, howl, ye men of Rome!

That was your wonder!
Ye mighty gods, where are your thunders now?
Y men and warriors, have you human hearts?
It who shall dare to mourn her loss like me?

Enter BRUTUS, L.

Bru. I dare,—and so dare every honest Roman.
Luc. Whence comes this mad intrusion? Hence, be-

gone!

Bru. The noble spirit fied! How died Lucretia?
Val. By her own hand she died!

Bru. Heroic matron!

Now, now the hour is come! By this one blow

The scene which was omitted after the first representation, and for which this introductory specch of Collatinus is substituted, will be found in a note at the end of the play.

er name's immortal, and her country saved! [Crosses, c. ail! dawn of glory! [Snatching the dagger.] Hail, thou sacred weapon

!

irtue's deliverer, hail!

ear, Romans, hear! did not the Sibyl tell you,

. fool should set Rome free? I am that fool:

rutus bids Rome be free!

Val. What can this mean?

[Crosses, L.

Bru. It means that Lucius Junius has thrown off
The mask of madness, and his soul rides forth
On the destroying whirlwind, to avenge

The wrongs of that bright excellence and Rome!
Luc. Can this be Lucius Junius?

Val. Ha! The voice

Of inspiration speaks!

Col. Oh, glorious Brutus,

Let me in tears adore the bounteous gods
Who have restored thee to redress my woes;
And, in my woes, my country!

Bru. No more of this.

Stand not in wonder. Every instant now

Is precious to your cause.

Rise! Snatch your arms!

Hear me, great Jove! and thou, paternal Mars,

And spotless Vesta!

To the death, I swear

[Kneels.

My burning vengeance shall pursue these Tarquins!
Ne'er shall my limbs know rest till they are swept
From off the earth, which groans beneath their infamy!

This, from the bottom of my soul, I swear!
Valerius, Collatine, Lucretius,-all-

Here, I adjure ye by this fatal dagger,
All stained and reeking with her sacred blood,
Be partners in my oath-revenge her fall!

All. We swear!

[Rises.

Bru. Well have ye said: and, oh, methinks I see
The hovering spirit of the murdered matron
Look down and bow her airy head to bless you!
Summon your slaves, and bear the body hence
High in the view, through all the streets of Rome,
Up to the Forum!-On! The least delay

May draw down ruin, and defeat our glory.
On, Romans, on !

The fool shall set you free!

[Exeunt omnes.

SCENE III.-The Palace of Tullia.

Enter FLAVIUS CORUNNA, L., in haste, meeting HORA

TIUS, R.

Cor. My lord, my lord! Quick, tell me, where is Tullia?

Hor. Whence this alarm? what would'st thou ?

Cor. Rebellion rages

Hor. Rebellion?

Cor. Lucretia,

The wife of Collatinus, is no more.

The furious multitude have borne her body

With shouts of vengeance through the streets of Rome, And Sextus Tarquin,' is the general cry.

Hor. Where are thy troops? why dost thou dally here, When thou should'st pay their insolence with death?

Cor. The soldiers join the throng-the gates are closed, And the mad crowd exclaim, We banish Tarquin.' Brutus is at their head, and leads them on.

Hor. What miracle is this? How say'st thou, Brutus ? Cor. Ay, the fool Brutus. Now before the rostrum The body of Lucretia is exposed,

And Brutus there harangues assembled Rome.
He waves aloft

The bloody dagger; all the people hear him
With wildest admiration and applause;

He speaks as if he held the souls of men
In his own hand, and moulded them at pleasure.
They look on him as they would view a god,
Who, from a darkness which invested him,

Springs forth, and, knitting his stern brow in frowns,
Proclaims the vengeful will of angry Jove.

Hence!

Hor. Fly through the city; gather all the force You can assemble, and straight hasten hither. I'll to the queen-Lose not a moment. I tremble for Rome's safety !-haste!-begone! [Exeunt, Horatius, R., Corunna, L

SCENE IV.-The Forum.

The Populace fill the Stage. BRUTUS is discovered upon the Forum. The dead body of LUCRETIA is on a bier

Seneath

COLLATINUS, LUCRETIUS, and the Female At

tendants of Lucretia stand around her Corpse. VALE RIUS and others are seen.

Bru. Thus, thus, my friends, fast as our breaking hearts mitted utterance, we have told our story;

d now, to say one word of the imposture-
e mask necessity has made me wear.
hen the ferocious malice of your king,-
ng do I call him?-When the monster, Tarquin,
ew, as you most of you may well remember,
y father Marcus and my elder brother,
nvying at once their virtues and their wealth,
ow could I hope a shelter from his power,
ut in the false face I have worn so long?
1st Rom. Most wonderful!

2d Rom. Silence! he speaks again.

Bru. Would you know why I summoned you together? sk ye what brings me here?

Clotted with gore!

Behold this dagger,

Behold that frozen corse!

See where the lost Lucretia sleeps in death!

She was the mark and model of the time,

The mould in which each female face was formed

The very shrine and sacristy of virtue!

Fairer than ever was a form created

By youthful fancy when the blood strays wild,
And never-resting thought is all on fire!
The worthiest of the worthy! Not the nymph

Who met old Numa in his hallowed walks,
And whispered in his ear her strains divine,
Can I conceive beyond her;—the young choir
Of vestal virgins bent to her. 'Tis wonderful,
Amid the darnel, hemlock, and base weeds
Which now spring rife from the luxurious compos
Spread o'er the realm, how this sweet lily rose,-
How from the shade of those ill neighbouring plant
Her father sheltered her, that not a leaf
Was blighted, but, arrayed in purest grace,
She bloomed unsullied beauty. Such perfections
Might have called back the torpid breast of age
To long-forgotten rapture; such a mind
Might have abashed the boldest libertine,
And turned desire to reverential love

And holiest affection! Oh, my countrymen!
You all can witness when that she went forth :
It was a holiday in Rome; old age
Forgot its crutch, labour its task,—all ran;

And mothers, turning to their daughters, cried,

There, there's Lucretia!' Now, look ye, where she lies! That beauteous flower, that innocent sweet rose,

Torn up by ruthless violence-gone! gone! gone!

All. Sextus shall die!

Bru. But then-the king-his father1st Rom. What shall be done with him? 2d Rom. Speak, Brutus!

3d Rom. Tell us! Tell us!

[Shout.

ye ask

Bru. Say, would you seek instruction? would
What ye should do? Ask ye yon conscious walls,
Which saw his poisoned brother, saw the incest
Committed there, and they will cry, Revenge!
Ask yon deserted street, where Tullia drove
O'er her dead father's corse, 'twill cry, Revenge!
Ask yonder senate-house, whose stones are purple
With human blood, and it will cry, Revenge!
Go to the tomb where lies his murdered wife,
And the poor queen, who loved him as her son,
Their unappeased ghosts will shriek, Revenge!
The temples of the gods, the all-viewing heavens,
The gods themselves, shall justify the cry,
And swell the general sound, Revenge! Revenge!
All. Revenge! Revenge!

Bru. And we will be revenged, my countrymen !
Brutus shall lead you on; Brutus, a name

Which will, when you're revenged, be dearer to him
Than all the noblest titles earth can boast.

1st Rom. Live, Brutus!

2d Rom. Valiant Brutus !

3d Rom. Down with Tarquin!

2d Rom. We'll have no Tarquins!

1st Rom. We will have a Brutus !

[Shout.

3d Rom. Let's to the Capitol, and shout for Brutus! Bru. I your king?

Brutus your king?-No, fellow-citizens!

If mad ambition in this guilty frame

Had strung one kingly fibre,--yea, but one