Sel. I am undone! ev'n nature has disclaim'd me! My father! have I lost you all? My father!

Baj. Talk'st thou of nature, who hast broke her bands!

Thou art my bane, thou witch! thou infant parricide! But I will study to be strangely cruel;

I will forget the folly of my fondness;

Drive all the father from my breast; now snatch thee,
Tear thee to pieces, drink thy treacherous blood,
And make thee answer all my great revenge!
Now, now, thou traitress!

[Offers to kill her. Sel. Plunge the poignard deep! [She kneels. The life my father gave shall hear his summons,

And issue at the wound--
Since from your spring I drew the purple stream,
And I must pay it back, if you demand it.

Baj. Hence from my thoughts, thou soft relenting weakness.

Hast thou not given me up a prey? betray'd me!
Sel. Oh, not for worlds! not ev'n for all the joys,
Love, or the prophet's paradise, can give!
Amidst the thousand pains of anxious tenderness,
I made the gentle, kind, Axalla swear,

Your life, your crown, and honour should be safe.
Baj. Away! my soul disdains the vile dependence!
No, let me rather die, die like a king!

Shall I fall down at the proud Tartar's foot,
And say, Have mercy on me? Hark! they come !
[Shout.

Disgrace will overtake my ling'ring hand;
Die then! Thy father's shame, and thine, die with

thee.

Sel. For Heav'n, for pity's sake!

[Offers to kill her.

[She catches hold of his Arm. Baj. Ha! dar'st thou bar my will? Tear off her hold! Sel. What, not for life! Should I not plead for

life?

1

Look on my eyes, which you so oft have kiss'd,
And swore they were your best-lov'd queen's, my
mother's;

Behold them now streaming for mercy, mercy!
Oh, spare me! Spare your Selima, my father!
Baj. A lazy sloth hangs on my resolution:
It is my Selima !-Ha! What, my child!
And can I murder her?-Dreadful imagination!
Again they come! I leave her to my foes! [Shouts.
And shall they triumph o'er the race of Bajazet !
Die, Selima! Is that a father's voice?
Out, out, thou foolish nature!

Seize her, ye slaves! and strangle her this moment!

[To the MUTES, Sel. Oh, let me die by you! Behold my breast! I will not shrink! Oh, save me but from these!

Baj. Dispatch!

[The MUTES seize her.

pray,

Sel. But for a moment, while I
That Heav'n may guard my royal father.

Baj. Dogs!

Sel, That you may only bless me, ere I die.

[Shouts. Baj. Ye tedious villains! then the work is mine. [BAJAZET runs at SELIMA with his Sword.

Enter AXALLA, &c. AXALLA gets between BAJAZET and SELIMA, and drives BAJAZET and the MUTES off the Stage.

Ax. And am I come to save thee? Oh, my joy! Be this the whitest hour of all my life;

This one success is more than all my wars,

The noblest, dearest, glory of my sword.

Sel. Alas, Axalla! Death has been around me; My coward soul still trembles at the fright, And seems but half secure, ev'n in thy arms.

Ax. Retire, my fair, and let me guard thee forth;

Blood and tumultuous slaughter are about us,
And Danger, in her ugliest forms, is here;
Nor will the pleasure of my heart be full,
Till all my fears are ended in thy safety.

[Exeunt AXALLA and SELIMA.

Enter TAMERLANE, the PRINCE OF TANAIS, Zama, MIRVAN, and SOLDIERS; with BAJAZET, OMAR, and the DERVISE, Prisoners.

Tam. Mercy, at length, gives up her peaceful sceptre,

And Justice sternly takes her turn to govern;
'Tis a rank world, and asks her keenest sword,
To cut up villany of monstrous growth.
Zama, take care, that with the earliest dawn,
Those traitors meet the fate their treason merits!
[Pointing to OMAR and the DERvise.
For thee, thou tyrant! [To BAJAZET.] whose op.
pressive violence

Has ruin'd those thou shouldst protect at home,
What punishment is equal to thy crimes?
The doom, thy rage design'd for me, be thine;
Clos'd in a cage, like some destructive beast,
I'll have thee borne about, in public view,
A great example of that righteous vengeance,
That waits on cruelty, and pride, like thine.

Baj. It is beneath me to decline my fate,
I stand prepar'd to meet thy utmost hate:
Yet think not, I will long thy triumph see:
None want the means, when the soul dares be free.
I'll curse thee with my last, my parting, breath,
And keep the courage of my life, in death;
Then boldly venture on that world unknown:
It cannot use me worse than this has done.

[Exit BAJAZET, guarded. Tam. Behold the vain effects of earth-born pride, That scorn'd Heav'n's laws, and all its pow'r defy'd,

That could the hand, which form'd it first, forget,
And fondly say, I made myself be great!
But justly those above assert their sway,

And teach ev'n kings what homage they should pay,
Who then rules best, when mindful to obey.

[Exeunt omnes,

THE END.