_ 'Tis
rumoured
that a plot has been contrived
Against this state; that you've a share in't too.
Against this state; that you've a share in't too.
Thomas Otway
or you, sir?
What, not one speak? how you stand gaping all
On your grave oracle, your wooden god there!
Yet not a word. Then, sir--[_To_ RENAULT]--I'll tell you a secret;--
Suspicion's but at best a coward's virtue!
_Ren. _ A coward! [_Handles his sword. _
_Pier. _ Put, put up thy sword, old man,
Thy hand shakes at it. Come, let's heal this breach,
I am too hot; we yet may all live friends.
_Spin. _ Till we are safe, our friendship cannot be so.
_Pier. _ Again? who's that?
_Spin. _ 'Twas I.
_Theo. _ And I.
_Rev. _ And I.
_Eliot. _ And all.
_Ren. _ Who are on my side?
_Spin. _ Every honest sword.
Let's die like men, and not be sold like slaves.
_Pier. _ One such word more, by Heaven, I'll to the Senate,
And hang ye all like dogs in clusters.
Why peep your coward swords half out their shells?
Why do you not all brandish them like mine?
You fear to die, and yet dare talk of killing!
_Ren. _ Go to the Senate and betray us; hasten,
Secure thy wretched life; we fear to die
Less than thou darest be honest.
_Pier. _ That's rank falsehood.
Fear'st not thou death? fie! there's a knavish itch
In that salt blood, an utter foe to smarting.
Had Jaffier's wife proved kind, he had still been true.
Faugh! how that stinks!
Thou die! thou kill my friend! or thou, or thou;
Or thou, with that lean, withered, wretched face!
Away! disperse all to your several charges,
And meet to-morrow where your honour calls you;
I'll bring that man whose blood you so much thirst for,
And you shall see him venture for you fairly.
Hence, hence, I say. [_Exit_ RENAULT _angrily_.
_Spin. _ I fear we've been to blame,
And done too much.
_Theo. _ 'Twas too far urged against the man you loved.
_Rev. _ Here, take our swords, and crush them with your feet.
_Spin. _ Forgive us, gallant friend.
_Pier. _ Nay, now you've found
The way to melt and cast me as you will.
I'll fetch this friend, and give him to your mercy:
Nay, he shall die, if you will take him from me;
For your repose, I'll quit my heart's jewel;
But would not have him torn away by villains
And spiteful villany.
_Spin. _ No; may you both
For ever live, and fill the world with fame!
_Pier. _ Now you are too kind. Whence rose all this discord?
Oh, what a dangerous precipice have we 'scaped!
How near a fall was all we had long been building!
What an eternal blot had stained our glories,
If one, the bravest and the best of men,
Had fallen a sacrifice to rash suspicion!
Butchered by those whose cause he came to cherish!
Oh, could you know him all as I have known him,
How good he is, how just, how true, how brave,
You would not leave this place till you had seen him,
Humbled yourselves before him, kissed his feet,
And gained remission for the worst of follies.
Come but to-morrow, all your doubts shall end;
And to your loves me better recommend,
That I've preserved your fame, and saved my friend. [_Exeunt. _
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[68] The character of Antonio is a satire upon Sir Anthony
Ashley-Cooper (b. 1621), one of the greatest Liberal statesmen of his
time, but unscrupulous, machiavellic, and shifty. Mulgrave (_Essay
on Satire_) calls him our little Machiavel; for his was the "fiery
soul which, working out its way, Fretted the pigmy body to decay,
And o'er-informed the tenement of clay" (Dryden's _Absalom_). He was
first a Royalist, then a Parliamentarian, later contributed to the
Restoration; after this a Tory, and finally a Whig. He was a member
of the "Cabal" administration, and was created by Charles II. first
Baron Ashley, and then Earl of Shaftesbury. He was Lord Chancellor in
1672, and to him we owe the Habeas Corpus Act; he also contributed
materially to make our judges independent of the Crown. He persecuted
the Catholics under pretext of the Popish Plot; promoted the Exclusion
Bill against the Duke of York, afterwards James II. , as a Catholic;
and advocated Monmouth's (son of Charles II. by Lucy Walters) claim to
legitimacy. In 1681 he was impeached and sent to the Tower on a charge
of high treason, but acquitted. He was, however, forced to retire to
Holland, where he died in 1683.
[69] This was precisely the age of Lord Shaftesbury. He died in the
following year.
[70] Judgest.
[71] _i. e. _ Cuckold.
[72] This scene, particularly the charge of Renault, is closely
imitated from Saint-Réal.
[73] Alloys.
ACT THE FOURTH.
SCENE I. --_A Public Place. _
_Enter_ JAFFIER _and_ BELVIDERA.
Jaff. Where dost thou lead me?
Every step I move,
Methinks I tread upon some mangled limb
Of a racked friend. O my dear charming ruin!
Where are we wandering?
_Belv. _ To eternal honour;
To do a deed shall chronicle thy name
Among the glorious legends of those few
That have saved sinking nations: thy renown
Shall be the future song of all the virgins,
Who by thy piety have been preserved
From horrid violation; every street
Shall be adorned with statues to thy honour,
And at thy feet this great inscription written,
"Remember him that propped the fall of Venice. "
_Jaff. _ Rather remember him who, after all
The sacred bonds of oaths and holier friendship,
In fond compassion to a woman's tears,
Forgot his manhood, virtue, truth, and honour,
To sacrifice the bosom that relieved him.
Why wilt thou damn me?
_Belv. _ O inconstant man!
How will you promise! how will you deceive!
Do, return back, replace me in my bondage;
Tell all thy friends how dangerously thou lovest me;
And let thy dagger do its bloody office.
O, that kind dagger, Jaffier, how 'twill look
Stuck through my heart, drenched in my blood to the hilts!
Whilst these poor dying eyes shall with their tears
No more torment thee;--then thou wilt be free.
Or if thou think'st it nobler, let me live
Till I'm a victim to the hateful lust
Of that infernal devil, that old fiend
That's damned himself, and would undo mankind.
Last night, my love!
_Jaff. _ Name, name it not again;
It shows a beastly image to my fancy,
Will wake me into madness. O, the villain
That durst approach such purity as thine
On terms so vile! Destruction, swift destruction
Fall on my coward head, and make my name
The common scorn of fools, if I forgive him!
If I forgive him! if I not revenge
With utmost rage, and most unstaying fury,
Thy suffering, dear darling of my life.
_Belv. _ Delay no longer then, but to the Senate;
And tell the dismallest story ever uttered;
Tell them what bloodshed, rapines, desolations,
Have been prepared; how near's the fatal hour;
Save thy poor country, save the reverend blood
Of all its nobles, which to-morrow's dawn
Must else see shed; save the poor tender lives
Of all those little infants which the swords
Of murderers are whetting for this moment;
Think thou already hear'st their dying screams,
Think that thou seest their sad distracted mothers
Kneeling before thy feet, and begging pity,
With torn dishevelled hair and streaming eyes,
Their naked mangled breasts besmeared with blood,
And even the milk, with which their fondled babes
Softly they hushed, dropping in anguish from them:
Think thou seest this, and then consult thy heart.
_Jaff. _ Oh!
_Belv. _ Think, too, if thou lose this present minute,
What miseries the next day brings upon thee.
Imagine all the horrors of that night,
Murder and rapine, waste and desolation,
Confusedly ranging. Think what then may prove
My lot! The ravisher may then come safe,
And, 'midst the terror of the public ruin,
Do a damned deed; perhaps too lay a train
May catch thy life: then where will be revenge,
The dear revenge that's due to such a wrong?
_Jaff. _ By all Heaven's powers, prophetic truth dwells in thee,
For every word thou speak'st strikes through my heart
Like a new light, and shows it how it has wandered;
Just what thou'st made me, take me, Belvidera,
And lead me to the place where I'm to say
This bitter lesson; where I must betray
My truth, my virtue, constancy, and friends:--
Must I betray my friend? Ah! take me quickly,
Secure me well before that thought's renewed;
If I relapse once more, all's lost for ever.
_Belv. _ Hast thou a friend more dear than Belvidera?
_Jaff. _ No; thou'rt my soul itself; wealth, friendship, honour,
All present joys and earnest of all future,
Are summed in thee: methinks, when in thy arms
Thus leaning on thy breast, one minute's more
Than a long thousand years of vulgar hours.
Why was such happiness not given me pure?
Why dashed with cruel wrongs, and bitter wantings?
Come, lead me forward now, like a tame lamb
To sacrifice. Thus in his fatal garlands,
Decked fine and pleased, the wanton skips and plays,
Trots by the enticing flattering priestess' side,
And, much transported with his little pride,
Forgets his dear companions of the plain;
Till, by her bound, he's on the altar lain,
Yet then too hardly bleats, such pleasure's in the pain.
_Enter_ Officer _and six_ Guards.
_Offi. _ Stand; who goes there?
_Belv. _ Friends.
_Jaff. _ Friends, Belvidera! hide me from my friends.
By Heaven, I'd rather see the face of hell
Than meet the man I love.
_Offi. _ But what friends are you?
_Belv. _ Friends to the Senate and the state of Venice.
_Offi. _ 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 obeyed.
Hold, brutes! stand off, none of your paws upon me.
Now the lot's cast, and, fate, do what thou wilt. [_Exeunt. _
[Illustration]
SCENE II. -_The Senate House. _
The Duke of VENICE, PRIULI, ANTONIO, _and eight_
_other_ Senators _discovered in session_.
_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?
_Priu. _ 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 cause
We all should weep; tear off these purple robes,
And wrap ourselves in sackcloth, sitting down
On the sad earth, and cry aloud to Heaven.
Heaven knows if yet there be an hour to come
Ere Venice be no more!
_All the Senators. _ How!
_Priu. _ Nay, we stand
Upon the very brink of gaping ruin.
Within this city's formed 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 fixed;
The swords, for aught I know, drawn even this moment,
And the wild waste begun. From unknown hands
I had this warning: but, if we are men,
Let's not be tamely butchered, but do something
That may inform the world in after-ages
Our virtue was not ruined, though we were.
[_Voices without_] Room, room, make room for some prisoners!
_2nd Senat. _ Let's raise the city.
_Enter_ Officer _and_ Guard.
_Priu. _ Speak there, what disturbance?
_Offi. _ Two prisoners have the guard seized in the streets,
Who say they come to inform this reverend Senate
About the present danger.
_All. _ Give them entrance. --
_Enter_ JAFFIER _and_ BELVIDERA, _guarded_.
Well; who are you?
_Jaff. _ A villain.
_Ant. _ Short and pithy.
The man speaks well.
_Jaff. _ Would every man that hears me
Would deal so honestly, and own his title!
_Duke.
_ 'Tis rumoured that a plot has been contrived
Against this state; that you've a share in't too.
If you're a villain, to redeem your honour,
Unfold the truth, and be restored with mercy.
_Jaff. _ Think not that I, to save my life, come hither;
I know its value better; but in pity
To all those wretches whose unhappy dooms
Are fixed and sealed. You see me here before you,
The sworn and covenanted foe of Venice;
But use me as my dealings may deserve,
And I may prove a friend.
_Duke. _ The slave capitulates! [74]
Give him the tortures.
_Jaff. _ 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 scared with threatenings; boys are whipped
Into confessions: but a steady mind
Acts of itself, ne'er asks the body counsel.
Give him the tortures! Name but such a thing
Again, by Heaven, I'll shut these lips for ever;
Not all your racks, your engines, or your wheels
Shall force a groan away that you may guess at.
_Ant. _ A bloody-minded fellow, I'll warrant; a
damned bloody-minded fellow.
_Duke. _ Name your conditions.
_Jaff. _ For myself full pardon,
Besides the lives of two and twenty friends [_Delivers a list. _
Whose names are here enrolled: nay, let their crimes
Be ne'er so monstrous, I must have the oaths
And sacred promise of this reverend council,
That in a full assembly of the Senate
The thing I ask be ratified. Swear this,
And I'll unfold the secrets of your danger.
_All. _ We'll swear.
_Duke. _ Propose the oath.
_Jaff. _ By all the hopes
Ye have of peace and happiness hereafter,
Swear.
_All. _ We all swear.
_Jaff. _ To grant me what I've asked,
Ye swear?
_All. _ We swear.
_Jaff. _ And as ye keep the oath,
May you and your posterity be blessed,
Or cursed for ever!
_All. _ Else be cursed for ever!
_Jaff. _ Then here's the list, and with it the full disclose
Of all that threatens you. Now, fate, thou'st caught me.
[_Delivers another paper. _
_Ant. _ Why, what a dreadful catalogue of cut-throats is here!
I'll warrant you, not one of these fellows but has a face like
a lion. I dare not so much as read their names over.
_Duke. _ Give order that all diligent search be made
To seize these men; their characters are public:
The paper intimates their rendezvous
To be at the house of a famed Grecian courtesan,
Called Aquilina; see that place secured.
_Ant. _ What, my Nicky Nacky, hurry durry, Nicky
Nacky in the plot? --I'll make a speech. --
Most noble senators,
What headlong apprehension drives you on,
Right noble, wise, and truly solid senators,
To violate the laws and right of nations?
The lady is a lady of renown.
'Tis true, she holds a house of fair reception,
And though I say it myself, as many more
Can say as well as I--
_2nd Senat. _ My lord, long speeches
Are frivolous here, when dangers are so near us.
We all well know your interest in that lady;
The world talks loud on't.
_Ant. _ Verily, I have done,
I say no more.
_Duke. _ But, since he has declared
Himself concerned, pray, captain, take great caution
To treat the fair one as becomes her character,
And let her bed-chamber be searched with decency.
You, Jaffier, must with patience bear till morning
To be our prisoner.
_Jaff. _ Would the chains of death
Had bound me fast ere I had known this minute!
I've done a deed will make my story hereafter
Quoted in competition with all ill ones:
The history of my wickedness shall run
Down through the low traditions of the vulgar,
And boys be taught to tell the tale of Jaffier.
_Duke. _ Captain, withdraw your prisoner.
_Jaff. _ Sir, if possible,
Lead me where my own thoughts themselves may lose me;
Where I may doze out what I've left of life,
Forget myself, and this day's guilt and falsehood.
Cruel remembrance, how shall I appease thee!
[_Exeunt_ JAFFIER _and_
BELVIDERA, _guarded_.
[_Voices without_] More traitors; room, room, make room there.
_Duke. _ How's this! Guards!
Where are our guards? Shut up the gates; the treason's
Already at our doors.
_Enter_ Officer.
_Offi. _ My lords, more traitors;
Seized in the very act of consultation;
Furnished with arms and instruments of mischief. --
Bring in the prisoners.
_Enter_ PIERRE, RENAULT, THEODORE, ELIOT,
REVILLIDO, _and other_ Conspirators, _in fetters,_
_guarded_.
_Pier. _ You, my lords and fathers
(As you are pleased to call yourselves) of Venice,
If you sit here to guide the course of justice,
Why these disgraceful chains upon the limbs
That have so often laboured in your service?
Are these the wreaths of triumphs ye bestow
On those that bring you conquests home, and honours?
_Duke. _ Go on; you shall be heard, sir.
_Ant. _ And be hanged, too, I hope.
_Pier. _ Are these the trophies I've deserved for fighting
Your battles with confederated powers?
When winds and seas conspired to overthrow you,
And brought the fleets of Spain to your own harbours;
When you, great Duke, shrunk trembling in your palace,
And saw your wife, the Adriatic, ploughed,
Like a lewd whore, by bolder prows than yours,
Stepped not I forth, and taught your loose Venetians
The task of honour, and the way to greatness;
Raised 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 enough
And brave enough to tell me I'm a traitor.
_Duke. _ Know you one Jaffier? [_All the_ Conspirators _murmur_.
_Pier. _ Yes, and know his virtue.
His justice, truth, his general worth, and sufferings
From a hard father, taught me first to love him.
_Duke. _ See him brought forth.
_Re-enter_ JAFFIER, _guarded_.
_Pier. _ My friend too bound! nay, then,
Our fate has conquered us, and we must fall.
Why droops the man whose welfare's so much mine,
They're but one thing? These reverend tyrants, Jaffier,
Call us all traitors: art thou one, my brother?
_Jaff. _ To thee I am the falsest, veriest slave
That e'er betrayed a generous, trusting friend,
And gave up honour to be sure of ruin.
All our fair hopes, which morning was to have crowned,
Has this cursed tongue o'erthrown.
_Pier. _ So, then, all's over:
Venice has lost her freedom; I my life.
No more; farewell.
_Duke. _ Say, will you make confession
Of your vile deeds, and trust the Senate's mercy?
_Pier. _ Cursed be your Senate; cursed your constitution;
The curse of growing factions and division
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?
_Pier. _ Death, honourable death!
_Ren. _ Death's the best thing we ask, or you can give.
_All Conspir. _ No shameful bonds, but honourable death.
_Duke. _ Break up the council. Captain, guard your prisoners.
Jaffier, you're free, but these must wait for judgment.
[_Exeunt all the_ Senators. [75]
<i>Pier. </i> Come, where's my dungeon? lead me to my straw:
It will not be the first time I've lodged hard
To do your Senate service.
<i>Jaff. </i> Hold one moment.
<i>Pier. </i> Who's he disputes the judgment of the Senate?
Presumptuous rebel--on-- [<i>Strikes</i> <sc>Jaffier</sc>.
<i>Jaff. </i> By Heaven, you stir not!
I must be heard, I must have leave to speak.
Thou hast disgraced me, Pierre, by a vile blow:
Had not a dagger done thee nobler justice?
But use me as thou wilt, thou canst not wrong me,
For I am fallen beneath the basest injuries;
Yet look upon me with an eye of mercy,
With pity and with charity behold me;
Shut not thy heart against a friend's repentance,
But, as there dwells a godlike nature in thee,
Listen with mildness to my supplications.
<i>Pier. </i> 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.
Dissemble and be nasty: leave me, hypocrite.
<i>Jaff. </i> Not know me, Pierre?
<i>Pier. </i> No, know thee not: what art thou?
<i>Jaff. </i> Jaffier, thy friend, thy once loved, valued friend,
Though now deservedly scorned, and used most hardly.
<i>Pier. </i> Thou Jaffier! thou my once loved, valued friend?
By Heavens, thou liest! The man so called, 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, and loathsome in thy aspect;
All eyes must shun thee, and all hearts detest thee.
Pr'ythee avoid, nor longer cling thus round me,
Like something baneful, that my nature's chilled at.
<i>Jaff. </i> I have not wronged thee, by these tears I have not,
But still am honest, true, and hope, too, valiant;
My mind still full of thee: therefore still noble.
Let not thy eyes then shun me, nor thy heart
Detest me utterly: oh, look upon me,
Look back and see my sad, sincere submission!
How my heart swells, as even 'twould burst my bosom,
Fond of its goal, and labouring to be at thee!
What shall I do--what say to make thee hear me?
<i>Pier. </i> Hast thou not wronged me? dar'st thou call thyself
Jaffier, that once loved, valued friend of mine,
And swear thou hast not wronged me? Whence these chains?
Whence the vile death which I may meet this moment?
Whence this dishonour, but from thee, thou false one?
<i>Jaff. </i> All's true, yet grant one thing, and I've done asking.
<i>Pier. </i> What's that?
<i>Jaff. </i> To take thy life on such conditions
The Council have proposed: thou and thy friends
May yet live long, and to be better treated.
<i>Pier. </i> Life! ask my life? confess! record myself
A villain, for the privilege to breathe,
And carry up and down this cursèd city
A discontented and repining spirit,
Burthensome 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.
<i>Jaff. </i> By all that's just--
<i>Pier. </i> Swear by some other powers,
For thou hast broke that sacred oath too lately.
<i>Jaff. </i> Then, by that hell I merit, I'll not leave thee,
Till to thyself, at least, thou'rt reconciled,
However thy resentments deal with me.
<i>Pier. </i> Not leave me!
<i>Jaff. </i> 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 and kiss them, though they spurn me,
Till, wounded by my sufferings, thou relent,
And raise me to thy arms with dear forgiveness.
<i>Pier. </i> Art thou not--
<i>Jaff. </i> What?
<i>Pier. </i> A traitor?
<i>Jaff. </i> Yes.
What, not one speak? how you stand gaping all
On your grave oracle, your wooden god there!
Yet not a word. Then, sir--[_To_ RENAULT]--I'll tell you a secret;--
Suspicion's but at best a coward's virtue!
_Ren. _ A coward! [_Handles his sword. _
_Pier. _ Put, put up thy sword, old man,
Thy hand shakes at it. Come, let's heal this breach,
I am too hot; we yet may all live friends.
_Spin. _ Till we are safe, our friendship cannot be so.
_Pier. _ Again? who's that?
_Spin. _ 'Twas I.
_Theo. _ And I.
_Rev. _ And I.
_Eliot. _ And all.
_Ren. _ Who are on my side?
_Spin. _ Every honest sword.
Let's die like men, and not be sold like slaves.
_Pier. _ One such word more, by Heaven, I'll to the Senate,
And hang ye all like dogs in clusters.
Why peep your coward swords half out their shells?
Why do you not all brandish them like mine?
You fear to die, and yet dare talk of killing!
_Ren. _ Go to the Senate and betray us; hasten,
Secure thy wretched life; we fear to die
Less than thou darest be honest.
_Pier. _ That's rank falsehood.
Fear'st not thou death? fie! there's a knavish itch
In that salt blood, an utter foe to smarting.
Had Jaffier's wife proved kind, he had still been true.
Faugh! how that stinks!
Thou die! thou kill my friend! or thou, or thou;
Or thou, with that lean, withered, wretched face!
Away! disperse all to your several charges,
And meet to-morrow where your honour calls you;
I'll bring that man whose blood you so much thirst for,
And you shall see him venture for you fairly.
Hence, hence, I say. [_Exit_ RENAULT _angrily_.
_Spin. _ I fear we've been to blame,
And done too much.
_Theo. _ 'Twas too far urged against the man you loved.
_Rev. _ Here, take our swords, and crush them with your feet.
_Spin. _ Forgive us, gallant friend.
_Pier. _ Nay, now you've found
The way to melt and cast me as you will.
I'll fetch this friend, and give him to your mercy:
Nay, he shall die, if you will take him from me;
For your repose, I'll quit my heart's jewel;
But would not have him torn away by villains
And spiteful villany.
_Spin. _ No; may you both
For ever live, and fill the world with fame!
_Pier. _ Now you are too kind. Whence rose all this discord?
Oh, what a dangerous precipice have we 'scaped!
How near a fall was all we had long been building!
What an eternal blot had stained our glories,
If one, the bravest and the best of men,
Had fallen a sacrifice to rash suspicion!
Butchered by those whose cause he came to cherish!
Oh, could you know him all as I have known him,
How good he is, how just, how true, how brave,
You would not leave this place till you had seen him,
Humbled yourselves before him, kissed his feet,
And gained remission for the worst of follies.
Come but to-morrow, all your doubts shall end;
And to your loves me better recommend,
That I've preserved your fame, and saved my friend. [_Exeunt. _
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[68] The character of Antonio is a satire upon Sir Anthony
Ashley-Cooper (b. 1621), one of the greatest Liberal statesmen of his
time, but unscrupulous, machiavellic, and shifty. Mulgrave (_Essay
on Satire_) calls him our little Machiavel; for his was the "fiery
soul which, working out its way, Fretted the pigmy body to decay,
And o'er-informed the tenement of clay" (Dryden's _Absalom_). He was
first a Royalist, then a Parliamentarian, later contributed to the
Restoration; after this a Tory, and finally a Whig. He was a member
of the "Cabal" administration, and was created by Charles II. first
Baron Ashley, and then Earl of Shaftesbury. He was Lord Chancellor in
1672, and to him we owe the Habeas Corpus Act; he also contributed
materially to make our judges independent of the Crown. He persecuted
the Catholics under pretext of the Popish Plot; promoted the Exclusion
Bill against the Duke of York, afterwards James II. , as a Catholic;
and advocated Monmouth's (son of Charles II. by Lucy Walters) claim to
legitimacy. In 1681 he was impeached and sent to the Tower on a charge
of high treason, but acquitted. He was, however, forced to retire to
Holland, where he died in 1683.
[69] This was precisely the age of Lord Shaftesbury. He died in the
following year.
[70] Judgest.
[71] _i. e. _ Cuckold.
[72] This scene, particularly the charge of Renault, is closely
imitated from Saint-Réal.
[73] Alloys.
ACT THE FOURTH.
SCENE I. --_A Public Place. _
_Enter_ JAFFIER _and_ BELVIDERA.
Jaff. Where dost thou lead me?
Every step I move,
Methinks I tread upon some mangled limb
Of a racked friend. O my dear charming ruin!
Where are we wandering?
_Belv. _ To eternal honour;
To do a deed shall chronicle thy name
Among the glorious legends of those few
That have saved sinking nations: thy renown
Shall be the future song of all the virgins,
Who by thy piety have been preserved
From horrid violation; every street
Shall be adorned with statues to thy honour,
And at thy feet this great inscription written,
"Remember him that propped the fall of Venice. "
_Jaff. _ Rather remember him who, after all
The sacred bonds of oaths and holier friendship,
In fond compassion to a woman's tears,
Forgot his manhood, virtue, truth, and honour,
To sacrifice the bosom that relieved him.
Why wilt thou damn me?
_Belv. _ O inconstant man!
How will you promise! how will you deceive!
Do, return back, replace me in my bondage;
Tell all thy friends how dangerously thou lovest me;
And let thy dagger do its bloody office.
O, that kind dagger, Jaffier, how 'twill look
Stuck through my heart, drenched in my blood to the hilts!
Whilst these poor dying eyes shall with their tears
No more torment thee;--then thou wilt be free.
Or if thou think'st it nobler, let me live
Till I'm a victim to the hateful lust
Of that infernal devil, that old fiend
That's damned himself, and would undo mankind.
Last night, my love!
_Jaff. _ Name, name it not again;
It shows a beastly image to my fancy,
Will wake me into madness. O, the villain
That durst approach such purity as thine
On terms so vile! Destruction, swift destruction
Fall on my coward head, and make my name
The common scorn of fools, if I forgive him!
If I forgive him! if I not revenge
With utmost rage, and most unstaying fury,
Thy suffering, dear darling of my life.
_Belv. _ Delay no longer then, but to the Senate;
And tell the dismallest story ever uttered;
Tell them what bloodshed, rapines, desolations,
Have been prepared; how near's the fatal hour;
Save thy poor country, save the reverend blood
Of all its nobles, which to-morrow's dawn
Must else see shed; save the poor tender lives
Of all those little infants which the swords
Of murderers are whetting for this moment;
Think thou already hear'st their dying screams,
Think that thou seest their sad distracted mothers
Kneeling before thy feet, and begging pity,
With torn dishevelled hair and streaming eyes,
Their naked mangled breasts besmeared with blood,
And even the milk, with which their fondled babes
Softly they hushed, dropping in anguish from them:
Think thou seest this, and then consult thy heart.
_Jaff. _ Oh!
_Belv. _ Think, too, if thou lose this present minute,
What miseries the next day brings upon thee.
Imagine all the horrors of that night,
Murder and rapine, waste and desolation,
Confusedly ranging. Think what then may prove
My lot! The ravisher may then come safe,
And, 'midst the terror of the public ruin,
Do a damned deed; perhaps too lay a train
May catch thy life: then where will be revenge,
The dear revenge that's due to such a wrong?
_Jaff. _ By all Heaven's powers, prophetic truth dwells in thee,
For every word thou speak'st strikes through my heart
Like a new light, and shows it how it has wandered;
Just what thou'st made me, take me, Belvidera,
And lead me to the place where I'm to say
This bitter lesson; where I must betray
My truth, my virtue, constancy, and friends:--
Must I betray my friend? Ah! take me quickly,
Secure me well before that thought's renewed;
If I relapse once more, all's lost for ever.
_Belv. _ Hast thou a friend more dear than Belvidera?
_Jaff. _ No; thou'rt my soul itself; wealth, friendship, honour,
All present joys and earnest of all future,
Are summed in thee: methinks, when in thy arms
Thus leaning on thy breast, one minute's more
Than a long thousand years of vulgar hours.
Why was such happiness not given me pure?
Why dashed with cruel wrongs, and bitter wantings?
Come, lead me forward now, like a tame lamb
To sacrifice. Thus in his fatal garlands,
Decked fine and pleased, the wanton skips and plays,
Trots by the enticing flattering priestess' side,
And, much transported with his little pride,
Forgets his dear companions of the plain;
Till, by her bound, he's on the altar lain,
Yet then too hardly bleats, such pleasure's in the pain.
_Enter_ Officer _and six_ Guards.
_Offi. _ Stand; who goes there?
_Belv. _ Friends.
_Jaff. _ Friends, Belvidera! hide me from my friends.
By Heaven, I'd rather see the face of hell
Than meet the man I love.
_Offi. _ But what friends are you?
_Belv. _ Friends to the Senate and the state of Venice.
_Offi. _ 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 obeyed.
Hold, brutes! stand off, none of your paws upon me.
Now the lot's cast, and, fate, do what thou wilt. [_Exeunt. _
[Illustration]
SCENE II. -_The Senate House. _
The Duke of VENICE, PRIULI, ANTONIO, _and eight_
_other_ Senators _discovered in session_.
_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?
_Priu. _ 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 cause
We all should weep; tear off these purple robes,
And wrap ourselves in sackcloth, sitting down
On the sad earth, and cry aloud to Heaven.
Heaven knows if yet there be an hour to come
Ere Venice be no more!
_All the Senators. _ How!
_Priu. _ Nay, we stand
Upon the very brink of gaping ruin.
Within this city's formed 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 fixed;
The swords, for aught I know, drawn even this moment,
And the wild waste begun. From unknown hands
I had this warning: but, if we are men,
Let's not be tamely butchered, but do something
That may inform the world in after-ages
Our virtue was not ruined, though we were.
[_Voices without_] Room, room, make room for some prisoners!
_2nd Senat. _ Let's raise the city.
_Enter_ Officer _and_ Guard.
_Priu. _ Speak there, what disturbance?
_Offi. _ Two prisoners have the guard seized in the streets,
Who say they come to inform this reverend Senate
About the present danger.
_All. _ Give them entrance. --
_Enter_ JAFFIER _and_ BELVIDERA, _guarded_.
Well; who are you?
_Jaff. _ A villain.
_Ant. _ Short and pithy.
The man speaks well.
_Jaff. _ Would every man that hears me
Would deal so honestly, and own his title!
_Duke.
_ 'Tis rumoured that a plot has been contrived
Against this state; that you've a share in't too.
If you're a villain, to redeem your honour,
Unfold the truth, and be restored with mercy.
_Jaff. _ Think not that I, to save my life, come hither;
I know its value better; but in pity
To all those wretches whose unhappy dooms
Are fixed and sealed. You see me here before you,
The sworn and covenanted foe of Venice;
But use me as my dealings may deserve,
And I may prove a friend.
_Duke. _ The slave capitulates! [74]
Give him the tortures.
_Jaff. _ 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 scared with threatenings; boys are whipped
Into confessions: but a steady mind
Acts of itself, ne'er asks the body counsel.
Give him the tortures! Name but such a thing
Again, by Heaven, I'll shut these lips for ever;
Not all your racks, your engines, or your wheels
Shall force a groan away that you may guess at.
_Ant. _ A bloody-minded fellow, I'll warrant; a
damned bloody-minded fellow.
_Duke. _ Name your conditions.
_Jaff. _ For myself full pardon,
Besides the lives of two and twenty friends [_Delivers a list. _
Whose names are here enrolled: nay, let their crimes
Be ne'er so monstrous, I must have the oaths
And sacred promise of this reverend council,
That in a full assembly of the Senate
The thing I ask be ratified. Swear this,
And I'll unfold the secrets of your danger.
_All. _ We'll swear.
_Duke. _ Propose the oath.
_Jaff. _ By all the hopes
Ye have of peace and happiness hereafter,
Swear.
_All. _ We all swear.
_Jaff. _ To grant me what I've asked,
Ye swear?
_All. _ We swear.
_Jaff. _ And as ye keep the oath,
May you and your posterity be blessed,
Or cursed for ever!
_All. _ Else be cursed for ever!
_Jaff. _ Then here's the list, and with it the full disclose
Of all that threatens you. Now, fate, thou'st caught me.
[_Delivers another paper. _
_Ant. _ Why, what a dreadful catalogue of cut-throats is here!
I'll warrant you, not one of these fellows but has a face like
a lion. I dare not so much as read their names over.
_Duke. _ Give order that all diligent search be made
To seize these men; their characters are public:
The paper intimates their rendezvous
To be at the house of a famed Grecian courtesan,
Called Aquilina; see that place secured.
_Ant. _ What, my Nicky Nacky, hurry durry, Nicky
Nacky in the plot? --I'll make a speech. --
Most noble senators,
What headlong apprehension drives you on,
Right noble, wise, and truly solid senators,
To violate the laws and right of nations?
The lady is a lady of renown.
'Tis true, she holds a house of fair reception,
And though I say it myself, as many more
Can say as well as I--
_2nd Senat. _ My lord, long speeches
Are frivolous here, when dangers are so near us.
We all well know your interest in that lady;
The world talks loud on't.
_Ant. _ Verily, I have done,
I say no more.
_Duke. _ But, since he has declared
Himself concerned, pray, captain, take great caution
To treat the fair one as becomes her character,
And let her bed-chamber be searched with decency.
You, Jaffier, must with patience bear till morning
To be our prisoner.
_Jaff. _ Would the chains of death
Had bound me fast ere I had known this minute!
I've done a deed will make my story hereafter
Quoted in competition with all ill ones:
The history of my wickedness shall run
Down through the low traditions of the vulgar,
And boys be taught to tell the tale of Jaffier.
_Duke. _ Captain, withdraw your prisoner.
_Jaff. _ Sir, if possible,
Lead me where my own thoughts themselves may lose me;
Where I may doze out what I've left of life,
Forget myself, and this day's guilt and falsehood.
Cruel remembrance, how shall I appease thee!
[_Exeunt_ JAFFIER _and_
BELVIDERA, _guarded_.
[_Voices without_] More traitors; room, room, make room there.
_Duke. _ How's this! Guards!
Where are our guards? Shut up the gates; the treason's
Already at our doors.
_Enter_ Officer.
_Offi. _ My lords, more traitors;
Seized in the very act of consultation;
Furnished with arms and instruments of mischief. --
Bring in the prisoners.
_Enter_ PIERRE, RENAULT, THEODORE, ELIOT,
REVILLIDO, _and other_ Conspirators, _in fetters,_
_guarded_.
_Pier. _ You, my lords and fathers
(As you are pleased to call yourselves) of Venice,
If you sit here to guide the course of justice,
Why these disgraceful chains upon the limbs
That have so often laboured in your service?
Are these the wreaths of triumphs ye bestow
On those that bring you conquests home, and honours?
_Duke. _ Go on; you shall be heard, sir.
_Ant. _ And be hanged, too, I hope.
_Pier. _ Are these the trophies I've deserved for fighting
Your battles with confederated powers?
When winds and seas conspired to overthrow you,
And brought the fleets of Spain to your own harbours;
When you, great Duke, shrunk trembling in your palace,
And saw your wife, the Adriatic, ploughed,
Like a lewd whore, by bolder prows than yours,
Stepped not I forth, and taught your loose Venetians
The task of honour, and the way to greatness;
Raised 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 enough
And brave enough to tell me I'm a traitor.
_Duke. _ Know you one Jaffier? [_All the_ Conspirators _murmur_.
_Pier. _ Yes, and know his virtue.
His justice, truth, his general worth, and sufferings
From a hard father, taught me first to love him.
_Duke. _ See him brought forth.
_Re-enter_ JAFFIER, _guarded_.
_Pier. _ My friend too bound! nay, then,
Our fate has conquered us, and we must fall.
Why droops the man whose welfare's so much mine,
They're but one thing? These reverend tyrants, Jaffier,
Call us all traitors: art thou one, my brother?
_Jaff. _ To thee I am the falsest, veriest slave
That e'er betrayed a generous, trusting friend,
And gave up honour to be sure of ruin.
All our fair hopes, which morning was to have crowned,
Has this cursed tongue o'erthrown.
_Pier. _ So, then, all's over:
Venice has lost her freedom; I my life.
No more; farewell.
_Duke. _ Say, will you make confession
Of your vile deeds, and trust the Senate's mercy?
_Pier. _ Cursed be your Senate; cursed your constitution;
The curse of growing factions and division
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?
_Pier. _ Death, honourable death!
_Ren. _ Death's the best thing we ask, or you can give.
_All Conspir. _ No shameful bonds, but honourable death.
_Duke. _ Break up the council. Captain, guard your prisoners.
Jaffier, you're free, but these must wait for judgment.
[_Exeunt all the_ Senators. [75]
<i>Pier. </i> Come, where's my dungeon? lead me to my straw:
It will not be the first time I've lodged hard
To do your Senate service.
<i>Jaff. </i> Hold one moment.
<i>Pier. </i> Who's he disputes the judgment of the Senate?
Presumptuous rebel--on-- [<i>Strikes</i> <sc>Jaffier</sc>.
<i>Jaff. </i> By Heaven, you stir not!
I must be heard, I must have leave to speak.
Thou hast disgraced me, Pierre, by a vile blow:
Had not a dagger done thee nobler justice?
But use me as thou wilt, thou canst not wrong me,
For I am fallen beneath the basest injuries;
Yet look upon me with an eye of mercy,
With pity and with charity behold me;
Shut not thy heart against a friend's repentance,
But, as there dwells a godlike nature in thee,
Listen with mildness to my supplications.
<i>Pier. </i> 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.
Dissemble and be nasty: leave me, hypocrite.
<i>Jaff. </i> Not know me, Pierre?
<i>Pier. </i> No, know thee not: what art thou?
<i>Jaff. </i> Jaffier, thy friend, thy once loved, valued friend,
Though now deservedly scorned, and used most hardly.
<i>Pier. </i> Thou Jaffier! thou my once loved, valued friend?
By Heavens, thou liest! The man so called, 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, and loathsome in thy aspect;
All eyes must shun thee, and all hearts detest thee.
Pr'ythee avoid, nor longer cling thus round me,
Like something baneful, that my nature's chilled at.
<i>Jaff. </i> I have not wronged thee, by these tears I have not,
But still am honest, true, and hope, too, valiant;
My mind still full of thee: therefore still noble.
Let not thy eyes then shun me, nor thy heart
Detest me utterly: oh, look upon me,
Look back and see my sad, sincere submission!
How my heart swells, as even 'twould burst my bosom,
Fond of its goal, and labouring to be at thee!
What shall I do--what say to make thee hear me?
<i>Pier. </i> Hast thou not wronged me? dar'st thou call thyself
Jaffier, that once loved, valued friend of mine,
And swear thou hast not wronged me? Whence these chains?
Whence the vile death which I may meet this moment?
Whence this dishonour, but from thee, thou false one?
<i>Jaff. </i> All's true, yet grant one thing, and I've done asking.
<i>Pier. </i> What's that?
<i>Jaff. </i> To take thy life on such conditions
The Council have proposed: thou and thy friends
May yet live long, and to be better treated.
<i>Pier. </i> Life! ask my life? confess! record myself
A villain, for the privilege to breathe,
And carry up and down this cursèd city
A discontented and repining spirit,
Burthensome 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.
<i>Jaff. </i> By all that's just--
<i>Pier. </i> Swear by some other powers,
For thou hast broke that sacred oath too lately.
<i>Jaff. </i> Then, by that hell I merit, I'll not leave thee,
Till to thyself, at least, thou'rt reconciled,
However thy resentments deal with me.
<i>Pier. </i> Not leave me!
<i>Jaff. </i> 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 and kiss them, though they spurn me,
Till, wounded by my sufferings, thou relent,
And raise me to thy arms with dear forgiveness.
<i>Pier. </i> Art thou not--
<i>Jaff. </i> What?
<i>Pier. </i> A traitor?
<i>Jaff. </i> Yes.
