w your heart!

Vipers, that die not slowly, knaw

May earth be to you but one wilderness!
May you hate yourself-

For death pray hourly, yet be in tortures
Millions of years expiring!

Sex. Amazement! What can mean this sudden frenzy ?
Br. What? Violation! Do we dwell in dens,
In cavern'd rocks; or amongst men in Rome?

[Thunder and lightning become very violent. Hear the loud curse of Heaven! 'Tis not for nothing The thunderer keeps this coil above your head! [Points to the fragments of the statue. Look on that ruin! See your father's statue Unhorsed and headless! Tremble at the omen! Sex. This is not madness. Ha! my dagger lost! Wretch thou shalt not escape me. Ho! a guard The rack shall punish thee! A guard, I say!

[Exit SEXTUS. Br. [Alone.] The blow is struck! The anxious

messages

To Collatinus and his friends explain'd,

And now, Rome's liberty or loss is certain!
I'll hasten to Collatia-join my kinsmen-

To the moon folly! Vengeance, I embrace thee!

[Exit BRUTUS.

SCENE II.-An Apartment in the house of Collatinus. COLLATINUS enters wildly, a bloody dagger in his hand, followed by VALERIUS and LUCRETIUS, R.

Col. She's dead. Lucretia's dead! I pluck'd this steel

From my Lucretia's heart! This is her blood!
Howl, howl, ye men of Rome. Look! there she lies,
That was your wonder.

Ye mighty gods, where are your thunders now ?
Ye men and warriors, have you human hearts?
But who shall dare to mourn her loss like me!

Enter BRUTUS.

Br. 1 dare,-and so dare every honest Roman.
Luc. Whence comes this mad intrusion? Hence

begone!

The scene which was omitted after the first representation, and for which this introductory speech of Collatinus is substituted, will be found in a note at the end of the play.

Br. The noble spirit fled. How died Lucretia?
Val. By her own hand she died!

Br. Heroic matron!

Now, now the hour is come! By this one blow

Her name's immortal, and her country saved!

[ Crosses to c. Hail! dawn of glory! [Snatching the dagger.] Hail, thou sacred weapon!

Virtue's deliverer, hail!

Hear, Romans, hear! did not the Sibyl tell you
A fool should set Rome free? I am that fool;

Brutus bids Rome be free!

Val. What can this mean?

[Crosses to L.

Br. It means that Lucius Junius has thrown off
The mask of madness, and his soul rides forth
On the destroying whirlwind, to avenge

The wrongs of that bright excellence and Rome!
Luc. Can this be Lucius Junius?

Val. Ha! The voice

Of inspiration speaks!

Col. Oh, glorious Brutus,

Let me in tears adore the bounteous gods
Who have restored thee to redress my woes;

And, in my woes, my country!

Br. No more of this.

Stand not in wonder.

Every instant now

Is precious to your cause.

Hear me, great Jove!

And spotless Vesta!

Rise! Snatch your arms!
[BRUTUS kneels.

and thou, paternal Mars,
To the death I swear

My burning vengeance shall pursue these Tarquins ! Ne'er shall my limbs know rest till they are swept From off the earth, which groans beneath their infamy! This, from the bottom of my soul I swear!

Valerius, Collatine, Lucretius,—all—
Here, I adjure ye by this fatal dagger,

All stain'd and reeking with her sacred blood,
Be partners in my oath, revenge her fall!

All. We swear!

[He rises

Br. Well have ye said: ano, oh! methinks I see
The hovering spirit of the murder'd matron
Look down and bow her airy head to bless you!
Summon your slaves, and bear the body hence
High in the view, through all the streets of Rome,
Up to the Forum!-On! The least delay

May draw down ruin, and defeat our glory. On, Romans, on! The fool shall set you free! [Exeunt omnes.

SCENE III.-The Palace of TULLIA.

Enter FLAVIUS CORUNNA, L. in haste, meeting HoRATIUS, R.

Cor. My lord, my lord! Quick, tell me, where is
Tullia?

Hor. Whence this alarm? what would'st thou ?
Cor. Rebellion rages-

Hor. Rebellion?

Cor. Lucretia,

The wife of Collatinus, is no more.

The furious multitude have borne her body

With shouts of vengeance through the streets of Rome, And "Sextus Tarquin," is the general cry.

Hor. Where are thy troops? why dost thou dally here, When thou should'st pay their insolence with death? Cor. The soldiers join the throng-the gates are closed, And the mad crowd exclaim, "We banish Tarquin." Brutus is at their head, and leads them on.

Hor. What miracle is this? How sayst thou, Brutus? Cor. Ay, the fool Brutus. Now before the rostrum The body of Lucretia is exposed,

And Brutus there harangues assembled Rome.
He waves aloft

The bloody dagger; all the people hear him
With wildest admiration and applause;

He speaks as if he held the souls of men

In his own hand, and moulded them at pleasure.
They look on him as they would view a god,
Who, from a darkness which invested him,

Springs forth, and, knitting his stern brow in frowns,
Proclaims the vengeful will of angry Jove.

Hence !

Hor. Fly through the city; gather all the force
You can assemble, and straight hasten hither.
I'll to the queen-Lose not a moment.
I tremble for Rome's safety!-haste-begone!
[Exeunt; HORATIO R.,

CORUNNA L.

The populace fill the Stage. BRUTUS is discovered upon the Forum. The dead body of LUCRETIA is on a bier beneath. COLLATINUS LUCRETIUS and the Female Attendants of LUCRETIA stand around her corpse. VALERIUS and others are seen.

Br. Thus, thus, my friends, fast as our breaking nearts Permitted utterance, we have told our story

And now, to say one word of the imposture,-
The mask necessity has made me wear.
When the ferocious malice of your king,—
King do I call him?-When the monster, Tarquin,
Slew, as you most of you may well remember,
My father Marcus and my elder brother,
Envying at once their virtues and their wealth,
How could I hope a shelter from his power,
But in the false face I have worn so long?
1st. Rom. Most wonderful!

2nd. Rom. Silence! he speaks again.

Br. Would you know why I summon'd you together?
Ask ye what brings me here? Behold this dagger,
Clotted with gore! Behold that frozen corse!
See where the lost Lucretia sleeps in death!
She was the mark and model of the time,

The mould in which each female face was form'd
The very shrine and sacristy of virtue!

Fairer than ever was a form created

By youthful fancy when the blood strays wild,
And never resting thought is all on fire!
The worthiest of the worthy! Not the nymph
Who met old Numa in his hallow'd walks,
And whisper'd in his ear her strains divine,
Can I conceive beyond her ;-the young choir
Of vestal virgins bent to her. 'Tis wonderful
Amid the darnel, hemlock, and base weeds
Which now spring rife from the luxurious compost
Spread o'er the realm, how this sweet lily rose,-
How from the shade of those ill-neighbouring plants
Her father shelter'd her, that not a leaf
Was blighted, but, array'd in purest grace,
She bloom'd unsullied beauty. Such perfections
Might have call'd back the torpid breast of age
To long-forgotten rapture; such a mind

Might have abash'd the boldest libertine.
And turn'd desire to reverential love,
And holiest affection! Oh, my countrymen!
You all can witness when that she went forth
It was a holiday in Rome; old age

Forgot its crutch, labour its task,-all ran,

And mothers, turning to their daughters, cried,

"There, there's Lucretia!" Now, look ye, where she lies!

That beauteous flower, that innocent sweet rose,

Torn up by ruthless violence-gone! gone! gone
All. Sextus shall die!

Br. But then-the king-his father

1st. Rom. What shall be done with him? 2nd. Rom. Speak, Brutus !

3rd. Rom. Tell us! Tell us!

[Shout

Br. Say, would you seek instruction? would ye ask What ye should do? Ask ye yon conscious walls, Which saw his poison'd brother, saw the incest Committed there, and they will cry, Revenge! Ask yon deserted street, where Tullia drove O'er her dead father's corse, 'twill cry, Revenge! Ask yonder senate-house, whose stones are purple With human blood, and it will cry, Revenge! Go to the tomb where lies his murder'd wife, And the poor queen, who loved him as her son, Their unappeased ghosts will shriek, Revenge! The temples of the gods, the all-viewing heavens, The gods themselves, shall justify the cry, And swell the general sound, Revenge! Revenge! All. Revenge! Revenge!

Br. And we will be revenged, my countrymen ! Brutus shall lead you on; Brutus, a name

Which will, when you're revenged, be dearer to him

Than all the noblest titles earth can boast.

1st. Rom. Live, Brutus !

2nd. Rom. Valiant Brutus !

3rd. Rom. Down with Tarquin!

2nd. Rom. We'll have no Tarquins!

1st. Rom. We will have a Brutus !

[Shout.

3rd. Rom. Let's to the Capitol, and shout for Brutus

Br. I, your king!

Brutus your king!-No, fellow-citizens !

If mad ambition in this guilty frame

Had strung one kingly fibre,-yea, but one-
By all the gods, this dagger which I hold