FarewelGood angels visit thy afflictions,
And bring thee peace and comfort from above. 405 Alic. Oh! stab me to the heart, some pitying
One thing I had forgot
I charge thee by our present common miseries,
By our past loves, if yet they have a name,
By all thy hopes of peace here and hereafter,
Let not the rancour of thy hate pursue
The innocence of thy unhappy friend;
Thou know'st who 't is I mean; Oh! should'st
thou wrong her,
Just heav'n shall double all thy woes upon thee, And make 'em know no end Remember this 415 As the last warning of a dying man :
The guards carry Hastings off.
For ever! Oh! for ever!
Oh! who can bear to be a wretch for ever!
My rival too! His last thoughts hung on her,
And, as he parted, left a blessing for her :
Shall she be blest, and I be curst, for ever!
No: since her fatal beauty was the cause
Of all my suff'rings, let her share my pains;
405 above.
406 hand. 1714 A, comma after this.
F adds stage-direction, Re-enter Lord Hastings.
F, they have yet.
415 make 'em. F, make 'm.
Let her, like me of ev'ry joy forlorn,
Devote the hour when such a wretch was born:
Like me to desarts and to darkness run,
Abhor the day, and curse the golden sun;
Cast ev'ry good, and ev'ry hope behind;
Detest the works of nature, loath mankind;
Like me, with cries distracted fill the air;
Tear her poor bosom, rend her frantick hair,
And prove the torments of the last despair.
426-427 Like . . sun. F omits.
Enter Bellmour and Dumont, or Shore.
Shore. You saw her then?
In solemn penance from the publick cross.
Before her, certain rascal officers,
Slaves in authority, the knaves of justice,
Proclaim'd the tyrant Gloster's cruel orders.
On either side her march'd an ill look'd priest,
Who with severe, with horrid haggard eyes,
Did ever and anon by turns upbraid her,
And thunder in her trembling ear damnation.
Around her, numberless the rabble flow'd,
Shouldring each other, crowding for a view,
Gaping and gazing, taunting and reviling;
Some pitying, but those, alas! how few!
The most, such iron hearts we are, and such
The base barbarity of human kind,
With insolence and lewd reproach pursu'd her,
Hooting and railing, and with villainous hands
Gath'ring the filth from out the common ways,
To hurl upon her head.
With the gentlest patience. 20
Submissive, sad, and lowly was her look;
A burning taper in her hand she bore,
And on her shoulders carelessly confus'd
With loose neglect her lovely tresses hung;
Upon her cheek a faintish flush was spread;
Feeble she seem'd, and sorely smit with pain,
While bare-foot as she trod the flinty pave-
Her footsteps all along were mark'd with blood.
Yet silent still she pass'd; and unrepining
Her streaming eyes bent ever on the earth,
Except when in some bitter pang of sorrow
To heav'n she seem'd in fervent zeal to raise,
And beg that mercy man deny'd her here.
Sh. When was this piteous sight?
Bel.
These last two days.
You know my care was wholly bent on you,
To find the happy means of your deliverance,
Which but for Hasting's death I had not
During that time, altho' I have not seen her,
Yet divers trusty messengers I've sent,
To wait about, and watch a fit convenience
To give her some relief; but all in vain.
A churlish guard attends upon her steps,
Who menace those with death that bring her
And drive all succour from her.
Sh. Let proud oppression prove its feircest malice; 45 So heav'n befriend my soul, as here I vow
To give her help, and share one fortune with her.
Bel. Mean you to see her thus, in your own form?
Bel. And have you thought upon the conse
Sh. What is there I should fear?
Have you examin'd 50 Into your inmost heart, and try'd at leisure The several secret springs that move the pas
Has mercy fix'd her empire there so sure,
That wrath and vengence never may return?
Can you resume a husband's name, and bid
That wakeful dragon, fierce resentment, sleep?
Sh. Why dost thou search so deep, and urge
To conjure up my wrongs to life again?
I have long labour'd to forget my self,
|