Betray'd my whole tale to thee, if it told thee
That I am ignorant; but fear the worst.

And mystery is contagious. All things here
Are full of motion: and yet all is silent:

And bad mens' hopes infect the good with fears. R. KIUP. (His hand to his heart.) I have trembling proof within, how true thou speak'st.

CH. RAG. That the prince Emerick feasts the sol

diery,

Gives splendid arms, pays the commander's debts, And (it is whisper'd) by sworn promises

Makes himself debtor-hearing this, thou hast heard (then in a subdued and saddened voice.)

All

But what

my.

Lord will learn too soon himself.

R. KIUP. Ha?-Well then, let it come! Worse

scarce can come.

This letter written by the trembling hand
Of royal ANDREAS calls me from the camp
To his immediate presence. It appoints me,
The Queen, and Emerick, guardians of the realm,
And of the royal infant. Day by day,
Robb'd of ZAPOLYA'S soothing cares, the king
Yearns only to behold one precious boon,

And with his life breathe forth a father's blessing.

CH. RAG. Remember you, my Lord! that Hebrew

leech,

Whose face so much distemper'd you?

R. KIUP.

Barzoni?

I held him for a spy; but the proof failing

(More courteously, I own, than pleased myself) I sent him from the camp.

CH. RAG.

To him in chief

Prince Emerick trusts his royal brother's health.

R. KIUP. Hide nothing, I conjure you! What of

him?

CH. RAG. With pomp of words beyond a soldier's

cunning,

And shrugs and wrinkled brow, he smiles and whispers ;

Talks in dark words of women's fancies; hints

That 'twere a useless and a cruel zeal

To rob a dying man of any hope,

However vain, that soothes him: and, in fine,

Denies all chance of offspring from the Queen.

R. KIUP. The venemous snake! My heel was on'

its head,

And (fool!) I did not crush it!

CH. RAG.

Nay, he fears,

Zapolya will not long survive her husband.

R. KIUP. Manifest treason! Ev'n this brief delay Half makes me an accomplice(If he live,)

[Is moving toward the Palace.

If he but live and know me, all may

CH. RAG.

Halt!

[Stops him.

On pain of death, my Lord! am I commanded

To stop all ingress to the palace.

R. KIUP.

Thou!

CH. RAG. No Place, no Name, no Rank excepted

R. KIUP.

Thou!

CH. RAG. This life of mine, O take it, Lord Kiup,

rili!

I give it as a weapon to thy hands,

Mine own no longer. Guardian of Illyria,
Useless to thee 'tis worthless to myself.
Thou art the framer of my nobler being:
Nor does there live one virtue in my soul,

One honorable hope, but calls thee father.
Yet ere thou dost resolve, know that yon palace,

Is guarded from within, that each access

Is throng'd by arm'd conspirators, watch'd by ruffians Pamper'd with gifts, and hot upon the spoil

Which that false promiser still trails before them.

I ask but this one boon-reserve my life

Till I can lose it for the realm and thee!

R. KIUP. My heart is rent asunder. O my country, O fall'n Illyria, stand I here spell-bound?

Did my King love me? Did I earn his love?
Have we embrac'd as brothers would embrace?
Was I his Arm, his Thunder-bolt? And now
Must I, hag-ridden, pant as in a dream?

Or, like an eagle, whose strong wings press up
Against a coiling serpent's folds, can I
Strike but for mockery, and with restless beak
Gore my own breast?—Ragozzi, thou art faithful?

CH. RAG. Here before Heaven I dedicate my faith

To the royal line of Andreas.

R. KIUP.

Hark, Ragozzi!

Guilt is a timorous thing ere perpetration :

Despair alone makes wicked men be bold.

Come thou with me! They have heard my voice in flight, Have fac'd round, terror-struck, and fear'd no longer The whistling javelins of their fell pursuers.

Ha! what is this?

[Black Flag displayed from the Tower of the

Palace: a Death-bell tolls, &c.

Vengeance of Heaven! He is dead.

CH. RAG, At length then 'tis announced. Alas! I fear, That these black death flags are but treason's signals. R. KIUP. (Looking forwards anxiously.) A prophecy too soon fulfill'd! See yonder!

O rank and ravenous wolves! the death-bell echoes
Still in the doleful air and see! they come.

CH. RAG. Precise and faithful in their villainy
Ev'n to the moment, that the master traitor

Had pre-ordained them.

R. KIUP.

Was it over haste,

Or is it scorn, that in this race of treason

Their guilt thus drops its mask, and blazons forth
Their infamous plot ev'n to an ideot's sense.

CH. RAG. Doubtless they deem Heaven too usurp'd!
Heaven's justice

Bought like themselves!

[During this conversation music is heard, first solemn and funeral, and then changing to spirited and triumphal.

Being equal all in crime

Do you press on, ye spotted parricides!
For the one sole pre-eminence yet doubtful,
The prize of foremost impudence in guilt?