Ye weary me.

No more of this. Colonna,

Thy son loves my fair daughter. "Tis an union,
However my young Claudia might have graced
A monarch's side, that augurs hopefully—
Bliss to the wedded pair, and peace to Rome,
And it shall be accomplished.

And now

A fair good-morrow. (Exit all but Savelli, Colonna, and Uısını . ) Sav. Hath stern destiny

Clothed him in this man's shape, that in a breath

He deals out death and marriage? Ursini!

Col. I'll follow him!

Tyrant! usurper! base-born churl! to deem

That son of mine

Urs. Submit, as I have done,

For vengeance.

From our grief and shame shall spring

A second retribution.

The fatal moment

Of our disgrace is nigh. Ere evening close,
I'll seek thee at thy palace. Seem to yield,
And victory is sure.

Col. I'll take thy counsel.

SELECTION XVII.

VANOC-VALENS.-.
-Anonymous.

Vanoc. Now Tribune :

Valens.

Health to Vanoc.

Van. Speak your business.

Val. I come not as a herald, but a friend; And I rejoice that Didius chose out me

To greet a prince in my esteem the foremost.

Van.

Val.

So much for words-now to your purpose, Tribune.
Sent by our new lieutenant, who in Rome,

And since from me has heard of your renown,

I come to offer peace: to reconcile

Past enmities; to strike perpetual league

With Vanoc; whom our emperor invites

To terms of friendship; strictest bonds of union.

Vun.

Val.

Van

We must not hold a friendship with the Roman.
Why must you not?

Virtue forbids it.

Val. Once

You thought our friendship was your greatest glory.
Van. I thought you honest-I have been deceived-
Would you deceive me twice? No, Tribune; no.
You sought for war-maintain it as you may.

Val. Believe me, prince, your vehemence of spirit,
Prone ever to extremes, betrays your judgment.
Would you once coolly reason on our conduct-

Van. Oh, I have scanned it thoroughly-night and day I think it over, and I think it base :

Most infamous! let who will judge-but Romans.
Did not my wife, did not my menial servant,
Both conspire

Against my crown, against my fame, my life?
Did they not levy war and wage rebellion?
And when I did assert my right and power
As king and husband, when I would chastise
Two most abandoned wretches-who but Romans
Opposed my justice and maintained their crimes?
Val. At first the Romans did not interpose,
But grieved to see their best allies at variance.
Indeed, when you turned justice into rigor,
And even that rigor was pursued with fury,
We undertook to mediate for the queen,
And hoped to moderate-

Van. To moderate!

What would you moderate-my indignation?
The just resentment of a virtuous mind?
To mediate for the queen!-You undertook!—
Wherein concerned it you?-But as you love
To exercise your insolence!
Are you

To arbitrate my wrongs?-Must I ask leave?
Must I be taught, to govern my own household?
Am I then void of reason and of justice?
When in my family offences rise,
Shall strangers, saucy intermeddlers, say,
Thus far, and thus you are allowed to punish?
When I submit to such indignities;

When I am tamed to that degree of slavery-
Make me a citizen, a senator of Rome.

To watch, to live upon the smile of Claudius;
And sell my country with my wife for bread.
Val. Prince, you insult upon this day's success.
You may provoke too far-but I am cool-
I give your answer scope.

Van. Who shall confine it?

The Romans?-let them rule their slaves; I blush,
That dazzled in my youth by ostentation,

The trappings of the men seduced my virtue!

Val. Blush rather that you are a slave to passion;
Subservient to the wildness of your will;

Which, like a whirlwind, tears up all your virtues,
And gives you not the leisure to consider.

Did not the Romans civilize you?

Van. No. They brought new customs and new vices over, Taught us more arts than honest men require,

And gave us wants that nature never knew.

Val.

Van.

Val.

We found you naked.

And you found us free.

Would you be temperate once, and hear me out.

Van. Speak things that honest men may hear with temper,

Speak the plain truth and varnish not your crimes.

Say that you once were virtuous-long ago

A frugal hardy people, like the Britons,

Before you grew thus elegant in vice,

And gave your luxuries the name of virtues.
The civilizers!-the disturbers, say;

The robbers, the corruptors of mankind;

Proud vagabonds!—who make the world your home,

And lord it where you have no right:

What virtue have you taught?

Val. Humanity.

Van. Oh, patience!

Val. Can you disown a truth confessed by all?

A praise, a glory known in barbarous climes?

Far as our legions march they carry knowledge,
The arts, the laws, the discipline of life.

Our conquests are indulgencies, and we
Not masters, but protectors of mankind.

Van. Prevaricating, false-most courteous tyrants;-
Romans! rare patterns of humanity!

Come you then here, thus far through waves to conquer,
To waste, to plunder, out of mere compassion?

Is it humanity that prompts you on

To ravage the whole earth, to burn, destroy?
To raise the cry of widows and of orphans?
To lead in bonds the generous free-born princes,
Who spurn, who fight against your tyranny?
Happy for us, and happy for you spoilers,
Had your humanity ne'er reacher our world-

It is a virtue-(so it seems you called it,)
A Roman virtue that cost you dear:

And dearer shall it cost if Vanoc lives,
Or if we die we shall leave those behind us
Who know the worth of British liberty.

Val. I mean not to reproach your ancestors;
Untaught, uncultivated as they were;
Inhospitable, fiery, and ferocious;

Lions in spirit, cruel beyond men;

Your altars reeking oft with human blood.

Van. Hence, insulter; nor tempt me into rage;
This roof protects thy rashness; but begone.
I cannot answer for my indignation.

SELECTION XVIII.

GUSTAVUS VASA-SIVARD-ARNOLDUS-DALECARLIANS.

Brooke.

(Gustavus disguised as a peasant.)

Gustavus. Ye men of Sweden, wherefore are ye come?
See ye not yonder, how the locusts swarm,
To drink the fountains of your honor up,

And leave your hills a desert!-Wretched men!
Why came ye forth? Is this a time for sport?
Or are ye met with song and jovial feast,

To welcome your new guests, your Danish visitants?
To stretch your supple necks beneath their feet,
And fawning lick the dust ?-Go, go my countrymen,
Each to your several mansions, trim them out,
Cull all the tedious earnings of your toil,
To purchase bondage.-Oh, Swedes! Swedes!
Heavens are ye men, and will ye suffer this?
There was a time, my friends, a glorious time!
When had a single man of your forefathers
Upon the frontiers met a host in arms,

His courage scarce had turned; himself had stood,
Alone had stood, the bulwark of his country.
Come, come on then. Here I take my stand!
Here on the brink, the very verge of liberty;

Although contention rise upon the clouds,
Mix heaven with earth, and roll the ruin onward,
Here will I fix, and breast me to the shock,
Till I or Denmark fall.

Sivard. And who art thou,

That thus would swallow all the glory up

That should redeem the times?

Behold this breast,

The sword has tilled it; and the stripes of slaves
Shall ne'er trace honor here; shall never blot
The fair inscription.-Never shall the cords
Of Danish insolence bind down these arms,
That bore my royal master from the field.

Gust. Ha! Say you, brother? Were you there-Oh grief!

Where liberty and Stenon fell together?

Siv. Yes, I was there.-A bloody field it was,
Where conquest gasped, and wanted breath to tell
Its o'er-toiled triumph. There our bleeding king,
There Stenon on this bosom made his bed,
And, rolling back his dying eyes upon me,
Soldier, he cried, if e'er it be thy lot

To see my gallant cousin, great Gustavus,
Tell him-for once, that I have fought like him,
And would like him have-

Conquered.

Gust. Oh, Danes! Danes!
You shall weep blood for this.

Shall they not, brother!
Yes, we will deal our might with thrifty vengeance,
A life for every blow, and, when we fall,

There shall be weight in't; like the tottering towers,
That draw contiguous ruin.

Siv. Brave, brave man!

My soul admires thee. By my father's spirit,

I would not barter such a death as this

For immortality! Nor we alone

Here be the trusty gleanings of that field,

Where last we fought for freedom; here's rich poverty,

Though wrapped in rags-my fifty brave companions;
Who through the force of fifteen thousand foes
Bore off their king, and saved his great remains.

Gust. Why, captain,

We could but die alone, with these we'll conquer.
My fellow-laborers too-What say ye, friends?
Shall we not strike for it?

Siv. Death! Victory or death!

Arnoldus. Spoke like yourselves.-Ye men of Dalecarlia, Brave men and bold! whom every future age

Shall mark for wondrous deeds, achievements won