But ftill the lovely maid improves her charms, SYPH. How does your tongue grow wanton in her praise ! CHA P. VIII. CATO's SOLILOQUY. T must be fo-Plato, thou reason'st well IT Elfe whence this pleafing hope, this fond defire, Or whence this fecret dread, and inward horror, 'Tis Heav'n itself that points out an hereafter. Eternity! thou pleafing, dreadful thought! Thro' what new scenes and changes must we pass! R 3 CATO. But But when, or where ?-This world was made for Cæfar. I'm weary of conjectures-this must end 'em, Thus am I doubly arm'd-My death and life, My bane and antidote, are both before me, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. MY Y Lord, We bring an order for your execution. And hope you are prepar'd; for you must die SOUTH. Indeed! the time is fudden ! Ess. Is death th' event of all my flatter'd hope? Falfe Sex! and Queen more perjur'd than them all! But die I will without the least complaint, My foul fhall vanish filent as the dew, Attracted by the fun from verdant fields, And leaves of weeping flowers.-Come, my dear friend, Thefe faithful arms, and O now let me tell thee, I have no weight, no heavinefs on my foul, SOUTH. And I proteft, by the fame powers divine, The greatest blifs my mind yet e'er enjoy'd, Since we must die, my Lord, to die together. OFFICER. The Queen, my Lord Southampton, has been pleas'd To grant particular mercy to your person ; SOUTH. O my unguarded foul! Sure never was Ess. Then I am loofe to steer my wand'ring voyage ; To reach its wifh'd-for port-Angels protect Again, Southampton, let me hold thee fast, For 'tis my last embrace. SOUTH. O be less kind, my friend, or move lefs pity, Or I fhall fink beneath the weight of fadness? I weep that I am doom'd to live without you, And fhould have fmil'd to share the death of Effex. Ess. O fpare this tenderness for one that needs it, Methinks Methinks that very name should stop thy pity, And make thee covetous of all as loft That is not meant to her.-be a kind friend SOUTH. O ftay, my Lord, let me have one word more : One laft farewel, before the greedy axe Shall part my friend, my only friend from me. Farewel. -Farewel to thee Ess. Why, that's well faid. Then let us part, juft like two travellers, Take diftant paths, only this difference is, 'Thine is the longeft, mine the shortest wayif there's a throne in heaven Now let me go For the most brave of men and beft of friends, I will befpeak it for Southampton, SOUTH. And I, while I have life, will hoard thy memory: When I am dead, we then shall meet again. Ess. Till then, Farewel. SOUTH. Till then, Farewel. JAFF. BY I must be heard, I must have leave to speak : Thou haft difgrac'd me, Pierre, by a vile blow: Had Had not a dagger done thee nobler justice? But ufe me as thou wilt, thou can't not wrong me, PIER. What wining monk art thou? what holy cheat, That would'st incroach upon my credulous ears, And cant'ft thus vilely? hence! I know thee not. JAFF. Not know me, Pierre ! PIER. No, know thee not; what art thou! JAFF. Jaffier, thy friend, thy once liv'd, valu'd friend ! Tho' now deferv'dly fcorn'd, and us'd moft hardly. PIER. Thou Jaffier! thou my once lov'd, `valu'd friend! Dear to my eyes, and tender to my heart : JAFF. I have not wrong'd thee, by these tears I have.not, Look back and fee my fad, fincere fubmiffion! How my heart fwells, as e'en 'twould burit my bɔfom; |