more.

In sounding.
Sar.
Now, farewell; one last embrace.
Myr. Embrace, but not the last; there is one
[ashes.
Sar. True, the commingling fire will mix our
Myr. And pure as is my love to thee, shall
they,
[sion,
Purged from the dross of earth, and earthly pas-
Mix pale with thine. A single thought yet irks
Sar. Say it.
[me.
Myr. It is that no kind hand will gather
The dust of both into one urn.
Sar.
The better:
Rather let them be borne abroad upon
The winds of heaven, and scatter'd into air,
Than be polluted more by human hands
Of slaves and traitors. In this blazing palace,
And its enormous walls of reeking ruin,
We leave a nobler monument than Egypt
Hath piled in her brick mountains, o'er dead
kings,

Or kine, for none know whether those proud piles
Be for their monarch or their ox-god Apis:
So much for monuments that have forgotten

Lor. Follow me.

You see the number is complete. [Exit LOREDANO. Bar. [solus]. Follow thee! I have follow'd long Thy path of desolation, as the wave

Sweeps after that before it, alike whelming
The wreck that creaks to the wild winds, and
wretch

Who shrieks within its riven ribs, as gush
The waters through them; but this son and sire
Might move the elements to pause, and yet
Must I on hardily like them--Oh! would
I could as blindly and remorselessly!-
Lo, where he comes !-Be stili, my heart! they
Thy foes, must be thy victims: wilt thou beat
For those who almost broke thee?

[are

Enter Guards with young FOSCARI as prisoner,

Guard. Signor, take time. Jac. Fos.

&c.

Let him rest.

I thank thee, friend, I'm feeble;

But thou may'st stand reproved.
Guard.

I'll stand the hazard.
Jac. Fos. That's kind :-I meet some pity,
This is the first.
[but no mercy;
Guard. And might be the last, did they
Who rule behold us.

Bar. [advancing to the Guard]. There is one who does :

Yet fear not; I will neither be thy judge
Nor thy accuser; though the hour is past,
Wait their last summons-I am of the Ten,'
And waiting for that summons, sanction you
Even by my presence: when the last call sounds,
We'll in together.-Look well to the prisoner !

Jac. Fos. What voice is that?'Tis Barbarigo's! Ah!

Our house's foe, and one of my few judges.
Bar. To balance such a foe, if such there be,
Thy father sits amongst thy judges.
Jac. Fos.
He judges.

Bar.

True,

Then deem not the laws too harsh Which yield so much indulgence to a sire, As to allow his voice in such high matter As the state's safety-Jac. Fos. And his son's. I'm faint; Let me approach, I pray you, for a breath Of air, yon window which o'erlooks the waters.

Enter an OFFICER, who whispers BARBARIGO.

Bar. [to the Guard]. Let him approach. I must not speak with him

Further than thus: I have transgress'd my duty In this brief parley, and must now redeem it Within the Council Chamber.

[Exit BARBARIGO.

Flinging the billows back from my drench'd hair,
And laughing from my lip the audacious brine,
Which kiss'd it like a wine-cup, rising o'er
The waves as they arose, and prouder still
The loftier they uplifted me! and oft,
In my wantonness of spirit, plunging down
Into their green and glassy gulfs, and making
My way to shells and sea-weed, all unseen
By those above, till they wax'd fearful; then
Returning with my grasp full of such tokens
As show'd that I had search'd the deep: exulting,
With a far-dashing stroke, and drawing deep
The long-suspended breath, again I spurn'd
The foam which broke around me, and pursued
My track like a sea-bird.-I was a boy then.
Guard. Be a man now: there never was more
Of manhood's strength.
[need
Jac. Fos. looking from the lattice.] My
beautiful, my own,

My only Venice-this is breath! Thy breeze,
Thine Adrian sea-breeze, how it fans my face!
Thy very winds feel native to my veins,
And cool them into calmness! How unlike
The hot gales of the horrid Cyclades,
Which howl'd about my Candiote dungeon,
Made my heart sick!
[and
Guard.
I see the colour comes
Back to your cheek: Heaven send you strength
to bear
[on't.
What more may be imposed !-I dread to think
Jac. Fos. They will not banish me again?--
No-no,

Let them wring on; I am strong yet.
Guard.

Confess,

And the rack will be spared you.
Jac. Fos.
I confess'd
Once-twice before: both times they exiled me.
Guard. And the third time will slay you.
Jac. Fos.
Let them do so,
So I be buried in my birth-place: better
Be ashes here than aught that lives elsewhere.
Guard. And can you so much love the soil
which hates you?
[the soil
Jac. Fos. The soil !-Oh no, it is the seed of

Which persecutes me; but my native earth
Will take me as a mother to her arms.
I ask no more than a Venetian grave,
A dungeon, what they will, so it be here.
Enter an OFFICER.
Offi. Bring in the prisoner !
Guard.
Signor, you hear the order.
Jac. Fos. Ay, I am used to such a summons

'tis

(lend me

The third time they have tortured me :-then
Thine arm.
[To the Guard.
Offi. Take mine, sir; 'tis my duty to

Be nearest to your person.
Jac. Fos.

You!-you are he
Who yesterday presided o'er my pangs-
Away!-I'll walk alone.
Offi.

As you please, signor; The sentence was not of my signing, but I dared not disobey the Council when They——

Fac. Fos. Bade thee stretch me on their horrid engine.

I pray thee touch me not-that is, just now;
The time will come they will renew that order,
But keep off from me till 'tis issued. As
I look upon thy hands my curdling limbs
Quiver with the anticipated wrenching,
Cif
And the cold drops strain through my brow, 25
But onward-I have borne it-I can bear it.—
How looks my father?
Offi.
With his wonted aspect.
Jac. Fos. So does the earth, and sky, the la
of Ocean,

The brightness of our city and her domes,
The mirth of her Piazza, even now
Its merry hum of nations pierces here,
Even here, into these chambers of the unknown
Who govern, and the unknown and the
number'd

Judged and destroy'd in silence, -all things wear
The self-same aspect, to my very sire!
Nothing can sympathize with Foscari,
Not even a Foscari.-Sir, I attend you.

[Exeunt JACOPO FOSCARI, OFFICER, & Enter MEMMO and another Senator. Mem. He's gone-we are too late-think you the Ten'

Will sit for any length of time to-day?

Sen. They say the prisoner is most obdurate, Persisting in his first avowal; but More I know not. Mem. And that is much; the secrets Of yon terrific chamber are as hidden From us, the premier nobles of the state, As from the people. Sen. Save the wonted rumours. Which-like the tales of spectres, that are rife Near ruin'd buildings-never have been proved. Nor wholly disbelieved: men know as little Of the state's real acts as of the grave's Unfathom'd mysteries. Mem.

But with length of tune