O life, I scarcely dare to wish for thee;

And yet that jutting rock has hid him from me—
No, let it not be Damon! he has a wife

And child!—Gods, keep him back!
Damon. [Without.] Where is he?

[Shouts.

DAMON rushes in, and stands for a moment, looking round.

Ha!

He is alive-untouched!

Ha ha ha!

[Falls, with an hysterical laugh, upon the stage.Three loud shouts without.

Pyth. The gods do know I could have died for him; And yet I dared to doubt!-I dared to breathe

The half-uttered blasphemy!

He faints!-How thick

[DAMON is raised up.

This wreath of burning moisture on his brow!
His face is black with toil, his swelling bulk

Heaves with swift pantings. Damon, my dear friend!
Dam. Where am I? Have I fallen from my horse,
That I am stunned, and on my head I feel

A weight of thickening blood! What has befallen me?

The horrible confusion of a dream

Is yet upon my sight. For mercy's sake,

Stay me not back! he is about to die !—

Pythias, my friend!—Unloose me, villains, or
You'll find the might of madness in mine arm!

[Sees PYTHIAS.] Speak to me, let me hear thy voice!
Pyth. My friend !

Dam. It pierced my brain, and rushed into my
There's lightning in it !—That's the scaffold-there
The block-the axe- -the executioner!
And here he lives!-I have him in my
[Embraces PYTHIAS.] Ha! ha! ha!

soul!

heart!

Pyth. Damon!

Dam. Ha! ha!

I can but laugh!—I cannot speak to thee!
I can but play the maniac, and laugh.

Thy hand!—oh, let me grasp thy manly hand!

It is an honest one, and so is mine!

They are fit to clasp each other. Ha ha ha!

Pyth. Would that my death could have preserved thee! Dam. Pythias,

Even in the very crisis to have come,

To have hit the very forehead of old Time!

By Heavens! had I arrived an hour before,

I should not feel this agony of joy—

This triumph over Dionysius !

Ha! ha!-But didst thou doubt me? Come, thou didst―

Own it, and I'll forgive thee.

Pyth. For a moment.

Dam. O that false slave !-Pythias, he slew my horse, In the base thought to save me! I would have killed him, And to a precipice was dragging him,

When, from the very brink of the abyss,

I did behold a traveller afar,

Bestriding a good steed. I rushed upon him,
Choking with desperation, and yet loud
In shrieking anguish, I commanded him
Down from his saddle: he denied me-but
Would I then be denied? As hungry tigers
Clutch their poor prey, I sprang upon his throat :
Thus, thus I had him, Pythias. "Come, your horse,
Your horse, your horse!" I cried. Ha ha ha!
Dion. [Advancing and speaking in a loud tone.]
Damon!

Dam. [Jumping on the scaffold.] I am here upon the

scaffold! look at me:

I am standing on my throne-as proud a one

As

yon illumined mountain, where the Sun Makes his last stand; let him look on me too;

He never did behold a spectacle

More full of natural glory. Death is―[Shouts.] Ha! All Syracuse starts up upon her hills,

[Shouts.

And lifts her hundred thousand hands. [Shouts.] She shouts— Hark, how she shouts! [Shouts.] O Dionysius!

When wert thou in thy life hailed with a peal

Of hearts and hands like that one? Shout again! [Shouts. Again! [Shouts.] until the mountains echo you,

And the great sea joins in that mighty voice,

And old Enceladus, the Son of Earth,

Stirs in his mighty caverns. [Shouts.] Tell me, slaves,
Where is your tyrant? Let me see him now;
Why stands he hence aloof? Where is your master?
What is become of Dionysius?

I would behold, and laugh at him!

Dion. Behold me! [DIONYSIUS advances between Da[MON and PYTHIAS, and throws off his disguise.

Dam. & Pyth. How?

Dion. Stay your admiration for a while,

Till I have spoken my commandment here.

Go, Damocles, and bid a herald cry

Wide through the city, from the eastern gate
Unto the most remote extremity,

That Dionysius, tyrant as he is,
Gives back his life to Damon.

Pyth. How, Dionysius?
Speak that again!

[Exit DAMOCLES.

Dion. I pardon him.

Pyth. O gods!

You give his life to Damon?

Dion. Life and freedom!

[Shouts and drums.-DAMON staggers from the scaffold into the arms of PYTHIAS.

George W. Lovell.

LOVE'S SACRIFICE; OR, THE RIVAL MERCHANTS.

MATTHEW ELMORE, a wealthy Merchant, is supposed to have murdered the COUNT DU BARRE, who had basely wronged him. ELMORE adopts the Children of the supposed murdered Man, and betroths his Daughter MARGARET to EUGENE DU BARRE. PAUL LAFONT, a rival Merchant and Enemy of ELMORE, discovers the presumed Guilt of the latter, and threatens to denounce the supposed Murderer, unless ELMORE will consent to his Marriage with MARGARET. To save her Father, she agrees to the " Sacrifice."

SCENE-A room in Elmore's House.

ELMORE discovered, seated.

Elm. Discovered-ruined-lost! Am I the same Who stood an hour ago this house's master!— The proud, the wealthy, courted, honoured Elmore? Oh, lie-oh, gilded lie-now stripped so bare! [Starts up. What madness tempted my return to France?

It was that burning fever of the heart,

That elsewhere found no rest :-it was the cries,
Haunting my ear, of those whom I had orphaned,
Calling me here to fill their father's place!

And now, in stretching forth my hand to them,
I have outstretched and lost myself. Oh, thus
That over-ruling Justice, which directs

The issues of our lives, stands by the culprit,
And, when his blinding guilt has sealed his eyes,
Guides him, unknowing, to the very spot

Fixed for his execution. [Starts.] Hark! a footstep-
My child's!
How shall I meet her?

Margaret!

Enter MARGARET, slowly.

Mar. [Faintly, and keeping at a distance.] Sir-
Elm. [Hesitates, and then advances a step.] Margaret—
Mar. [Shrinking back, mutters.] A murderer-a sen-

tenced murderer!

Those hands, which have so often fondled mine—
Those fingers, which have played among my hair,
And smoothed it on my brow so many a time-
Blood has been on them-human blood!

Elm. [Faltering.] My child—

It is not thus we have been used to meet

Mar. That's still his voice—the same, whose gentle tone So often lulled my pettish infancy——

Which, till an hour ago, could never sound,

But it seemed music-now how harsh it jars!

Elm. [Extending his hand.] Margaret !-do you shrink from me, my child?

[She slowly and fearfully advances towards him, and,

with an evident struggle, places her hand in his.

She shudders at my touch! That's past belief

I could bear all but that.

Mar. All.

Girl, they have told thee