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any of these, but only censuring those who did, and showing thereby the superiority of my genius over them all.

Horace. Pray, Mercury, how do you intend to dispose of this august person? You cannot think it proper to let him remain with us. He must be placed with the demigods; he must go to Olympus.

Mercury. Be not afraid. He shall not trouble you long. I brought him hither, to divert you with the sight of an animal you never had seen, and myself with your surprise. He is the chief of all the modern criticks, the most renowned captain of that numerous and dreadful band. Come hither, Scaliger. By this touch of my caduceus, I give thee power to see things as they are, and among others, thyself. Look, gentlemen, how his countenance is fallen in a moment ! Hear what he says; he is talking to himself.

Scaliger. Bless me! with what persons have I been dis. coursing! with Virgil and Horace ! How could I venture to open my lips in their presence? Good Mercury, I beseech you, let me retire from a company for which I am very unfit. Let me go and hide my head in the deepest shade of that grove which I see in the valley. After I have performed a penance there, I will crawl on my knees to the feet of those illustrious shades, aad beg them to see me burn my impertinent books of criticism, in the fiery billows of Phlegethon, with my own hands.

Mercury. They will both receive thee into favour. This mortification of truly knowing thyself is a sufficient atonement for thy former presumption.

SECTION II.

PROCIDA-RAIMOND.....Mrs. Hemans.

Procida. And dost thou still refuse to share the glory Of this, our daring enterprise ?

Raimond.

Procida!

I too have dreamt of glory, and the word

Hath to my soul been as a trumpet's voice,
Making my nature sleepless. But the deeds

Whereby 'twas won, the high exploits, whose tale
Bids the heart burn, were of another cast
Than such as thou requirest.

Pro.

Every deed

Hath sanctity, if bearing for its aim

The freedom of our country; and the sword
Alike is honour'd in the patriot's hand,

Searching, 'midst warrior-hosts, the heart which gave
Oppression birth; or flashing through the gloom
Of the still chamber, o'er its troubled couch,
At dead of night.

Rai. (turning away.) There is no path but one
For noble natures.

Pro.

Wouldst thou ask the man

Who to the earth hath dash'd a nation's chains,

Rent as with Heaven's own lightning, by what means
The glorious end was won ?-Go, swell th' acclaim!
Bid the deliverer, hail! and if his path

To that most bright and sovereign destiny
Hath led o'er trampled thousands, be it call'd
A stern necessity, and not a crime!

Rai. My soul yet kindles at the thought

Of nobler lessons, in my boyhood learn'd

Ev'n from thy voice. The high remembrances
Of other days are stirring in the heart

Where thou didst plant them; and they speak of men
Who needed no vain sophistry to gild

And such be mine!

Acts, that would bear heaven's light.
Procida is it yet too late to draw
The praise and blessing of all valiant hearts
On our most righteous cause?

Pro.
What wouldst thou do?
Rai. I would go forth, and rouse th' indignant land
To generous combat. Why should Freedom strike
Mantled with darkness?-Is there not more strength
E'en in the waving of her single arm

Than hosts can wield against her ?—I would rouse
That spirit, whose fire doth press resistless on
To its proud sphere, the stormy field of fight!

Pro. Ay! and give time and warning to the foe
To gather all his might !—It is too late.

There is a work to be this eve begun,

When rings the Vesper-bell; and, long before
To-morrow's sun hath reach'd i' th' noonday heaven
His throne of burning glory, every sound
Of the Provençal tongue within our walls,
As by one thunder-stroke, be silenced.

Rai.

What! such sounds

As falter on the lip of infancy

In its imperfect utterance?

Pro.

Since thou dost feel

Such horror of our purpose, in thy power

Are means that might avert it.

How would those rescued thousands bless thy name,
Shouldst thou betray us!

Procida! I can bear

Rai.
Ay, proudly woo-the keenest questioning
Of thy soul-gifted eye; which almost seems
To claim a part of Heaven's dread royalty,
-The power that searches thought!
Pro. (after a pause.)

Thou hast a brow Clear as the day—and yet I doubt thee, Raimond! Whether it be that I have learn'd distrust

From a long look through man's deep-folded heart;
Whether my paths have been so seldom cross'd
By honour and fair mercy, that they seem
But beautiful deceptions, meeting thus
My unaccustom'd gaze ;-howe'er it be―

I doubt thee!-See thou waver not-take heed!
Time lifts the veil from all things!

SECTION III.

DOGBERRY-VERGES-SEXTON-THE WATCH-CONRADE

BORACHIO.....Shakspeare.

Dogb. Is our whole dissembly appeared?
Verg. O, a stool and cushion for the sexton!

Sexton. Which be the malefactors?

Dogb. Marry, that am I and my partner.

Verg. Nay, that's certain; we have the exhibition to examine.

Sexton. But which are the offenders that are to be examined? let them come before master constable.

Dogb. "Yea, marry, let them come before me. What is your name, friend?

Bora. Borachio.

Dogb. Pray write down, Borachio.-Yours, sirrah ? Conr. I am a gentleman, sir, and my name is Conrade.

Dogb. Write down, master gentleman Conrade. Masters, it is proved already, that you are little better than false knaves; and it will go near to be thought so shortly. How answer you for yourselves?

Conr. Marry, sir, we say we are none.

Dogb. A marvellous witty fellow, I assure you; but I will go about with him. Come you hither, sirrah; a word in your ear, sir. I say to you, it is thought you are false

knaves.

Bora. Sir, I say to you, we are none.

Dogb. Well, stand aside. They are both in a tale; Have you writ down, that they are none?

Sexton. Master constable, you go not the way to examine; you must call forth the watch that are their accusers. Dogb. Yea, marry, that's the eftest way :-Let the watch come forth. Masters, I charge you in the prince's name, accuse these men.

1 Watch. This man said, sir, that Don John, the prince's brother, was a villain.

Dogb. Write down, prince John a villain :-Why this is flat perjury, to call a prince's brother, villain.

Bora. Master constable,

Dogb. Pray thee, fellow, peace; I do not like thy look, I promise thee.

Sexton. What heard you him say else?

2 Watch. Marry, that he had received a thousand ducats of Don John, for accusing the lady Hero wrongfully. Dogb. Flat burglary, as ever was committed.

Verg. Yea, by the mass, that it is.

Sexton. What else?

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Sexton. And this is more, masters, than you can deny. Master constable, let these men be bound, and brought to Leonato's; I will go before, and show him their examination. [Exit.

Dogb. Come, let them be opinioned.

Verg. Let them be in band.

Conr. Off, coxcomb!

Dogb. Zounds! where's the sexton? let him write down the prince's officer, coxcomb. Come, bind them :— Thou naughty varlet!

Conr. Away! you are an ass, you are an ass.

Dogb. Dost thou not suspect my place? Dost thou not suspect my years ?-O that he were here to write me down, an ass!-but, masters, remember that I am an ass;

though it be not written down, yet forget not that I am an ass:-No, thou villain, thou art full of villany, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. I am a wise fellow; and, which is more, an officer; and, which is more, a householder; and one that knows the law, go to; and a rich fellow enough, go to; and a fellow that hath had losses; and one that hath two gowns, and every thing handsome about him :—Bring him away. O, that I had been writ down, an ass!

SECTION IV.

EXTRACT FROM MR. WEBSTER'S SPEECH, IN REPLY TO

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THE gentleman, sir, has spoken at large of former parties, now no longer in being, by their received appellations; and has undertaken to instruct us not only in the knowledge of their principles, but of their respective pedigrees also. He has ascended to the origin and run out their genealogies. With most exemplary modesty, he speaks of the party to which he professes to have belonged himself, as the true pure, the only honest, patriotic party, derived by regular descent, from father to son, from the time of the virtuous Romans! Spreading before us the family tree of political parties, he takes especial care to show himself, snugly perched on a popular bough! He is wakeful to the expediency of adopting such rules of descent, for political parties, as shall bring him in, in exclusion of others, as an heir to the inheritance of all public virtue, and all true political principles. His doxy is always orthodoxy. Heterodoxy is confined to his opponents. He spoke, sir, of the Federalists, and I thought I saw some eyes begin to open and stare a little, when he ventured on that ground. I expected he would draw his sketches rather lightly, when he looked on the circle round him; and especially if he should cast his thoughts to the high places out of the Senate. Nevertheless, he went back to Rome, ad annum urbis condite, and found the fathers of the Federalists, in the primeval aristocrats of that renowned empire! He traced the flow of federal blood down through successive ages and centuries, till he got it into the veins of the American Tories, (of whom, by the way, there were twenty in the Carolinas for one in Massachusetts.) From the Tories, he fol

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