Edw. False, utterly false ! the lie of guilty fear! You all are bigots, robbers, ruffians all!

It is the very genius of your nation.

Vindictive rage, the thirst of blood consumes you :
You live by rapine, thence your empire rose ;
And your religion is a mere pretence

To rob and murder in the name of heaven.

Sel. Be patient, prince, be more humane and just.
You have your virtues, have your vices too;
And we have ours. The liberal hand of nature
Has not created us, nor any nation
Beneath the blessed canopy of heaven,

Of such malignant clay, but each may boast
Their native virtues, and their Maker's bounty.
You call us bigots. O! canst thou with that

Reproach us, christian prince? What brought thee hither?
What else but bigotry? What dost thou here?
What else but persecute? The truth is great,
Greater than thou, and I will give it way;
Even thou thyself, in all thy rage, wilt hear it.
From their remotest source, these holy wars,
What have they breathed but bigotry and rapine?
Did not the first crusaders, when their zeal
Should have shone out the purest, did they not,
Led by the frantic hermit who began

The murderous trade, through their own countries spread
The woes their vice could not reserve for ours?

Though this exceeds the purport of my message,
Yet must I thus, insulted in my country,

Insulted in religion, bid thee think,

O king of England, on the different conduct
Of saracens and christians; when beneath
Your pious Godfrey, in the first crusade,
Jerusalem was sack'd; and when beneath
Our generous Saladin, it was retaken.

O hideous scene! my soul within me shrinks,
Abhorrent, from the view! Twelve thousand wretches,
Receiv'd to mercy, void of all defence,

Trusting to plighted faith, to purchas'd safety

Behold these naked wretches, in cold blood,

Men, women, children-murder'd! basely murder'd !—
The holy temple, which you came to rescue,
Regorges with the barbarous profanation;-

The streets run dismal torrents: Drown'd in blood,
The very soldier sickens at his carnage.

?

Couldst thou, O sun! behold the blasting sight,
And lift again thy sacred eye on mortals?-
A ruthless race! who can do this, can do it,
To please the general Father of mankind !-
While nobler Saladin-

Edw.
Away! be gone!
With thee, vile dervise, what have I to do?
I lose my hour of vengeance, I debase me,
To hold this talk with thee.

Sel.
Speak from my tongue, vile dervise as I am,

While truth and reason

Yet am I greater than the highest monarch,

Who, from blind fury, grows the slave of passion.
Besides, I come to justify a prince,

Howe'er in other qualities below thee,

In love of goodness, truth, humanity,

And honour, sir, thy equal-yes, thy equal.

Edw. What! how! compare me with a base assassin !
A matchless villain !-Ha! presumptuous dervise!
Thou gnaw'st thy quivering lip-a smother'd passion
Shakes through thy frame. What villany is that
Thou dar'st not utter ?-Wert thou not a wretch,
Protected by thy habit, this right hand

Should crush thee into atoms. Hence! away!
Go tell thy master that I hold him base,

Beyond the power of words to speak his baseness!
A coward! an assassinating coward!

And when I once have dragg'd him from his city-
Which I will straightway do-I then will make him,
In all the gall and bitterness of guilt,

Grinding the vengeful steel betwixt his teeth,
Will make the traitor own it.

Sel.

Edw.

Never!

Ha!

Sel. Thou canst not, haughty monarch :-I am he! I am this Selim! this insulted Selim!

Yet clear as day, and will confound thy passion.

Edw. Thou Selim ?

Sel.

Edw.

I.

Was ever guilt so bold?

Sel. Did ever innocence descend to fear?

Edw. This bears some show of honour. Wilt thou then

Decide it by the sword?

Sel.

Edw. How more?

I will do more

Sel.

Decide it by superior reason.

Edw. No weak evasions.

Sel.

If I not convince thee,

If by thyself I am not of this crime

Acquitted, then I grant thee thy demand.
Nay, more; yon yielded city shall be thine :
For know, hot prince, I should disdain a throne
I could not fill with honour.

SECTION LXI.

KING OF THE SANDWICH ISLES-MR. PEEL-MR. CROKERINTERPRETER..... W. S. Landor.

King. I RECEIVE with satisfaction the royal sons of my brother, the king of England, whose noble nature and high exploits have filled the whole space between him and me, and are become as familiar to my people as fish and breadfruit.

Peel. Sire, we dispose indeed of his family and of his subjects universally; but we are not the sons of our most gracious king, illustrious as are our families and the titles with which we are invested.

Crok. Why tell the fool that we are not his sons ?
King. You are then the high priest?

Peel. Not exactly that neither, sire; but I make him do and say what I order.

Kg. to Crok. And pray, mighty lord, by what appellation am I to address your celestiality?

Crok. 1 am principal of the admirality.

Kg. to Int. What is admirality?

Int. All the ships and captains and admirals.

Peel.

Crok.

His majesty seems faint.

He stares at me like a stuck pig.

Kg. to Int. I cannot, with my ideas of propriety, fall down before him, but any thing short of that.

permit me to take his hand?

Would he

Int. I cannot answer for him. Time was, he would have been ready to take mine-with a dollar in it.

King. The other high lord governs the king's family and people; but this governs the king and the air and the waters and the world. Dog, dost grin?

Int. I will tell your majesty another time how mistaken you are.

King. High and mighty, land-and-sea-and-sky lords, in order to render you the honours due to your rank and dignity, I, a stranger to you

Peel. Sire, we are come only to announce to your majesty the pleasure his majesty the king of England will experience on receiving your majesty at his court.

Kg. to Int. Is it the custom of the land to interrupt a person who is speaking?

Int. It is the custom all over Europe, excepting Turkey, where manners are far more decorous.

Kg. to Int. How do they do in their parliament ?

Int. The same thing perpetually, unless the orator has something to give them. In that case there is no other interruption than applause; and the wit of a college-scout, a mail-coach-driver, or a quack's assistant upon a cart, is the finest in the world.

King. Man, that is not the Sandwich tongue: I do not understand half the words. [To Peel.] Tell your king, O, king's-family-and-people-feeder, that I forerun his wishes, and will be present at his court to-morrow.

Peel. Dear Croker, do inform him, for upon my soul I have not the face, that he must pull off that barbarous dress of his, and order a court one.

Crok. What have I to do with plucking and trussing the creature? Tell him yourself; it lies within your of fice.

Peel. Sire, I am sorry to announce to your majesty that your majesty cannot be received in any but a courtdress.

King. Oh! I know it, I know it well: I have brought with me fifty court-dresses.

Peel. Permit me to explain, sire: I mean to say, the court-dress of the court of England.

King. I have not one.

Peel. I will send a tailor to your majesty.

Kg. to Int. What is that?

Int. One who makes court-dresses.

Kg. to Int. In truth, no king was ever received with more hospitality, kindness, and distinction, than I am. All the first dignitaries of the state attend me. The court-tailor holds, I suppose, the third rank in the kingdom.

Int. There are some between, not many. He however is next to the king himself, or rather his copartner, in con

ferring distinctions. Without him the greatest and highest would be where I am; and many a fellow escapes a kick by means of his silk breeches.

Kg. to Int. No wonder. The English laws, as captains have told me, make you pay for the damage you do. But perhaps I have misunderstood you: perhaps the silk is a charm too against anger and thunder.

Crok. What a bore! I am out of all patience.
King. Pray, how many dresses has your king?

Peel. Sire, I cannot exactly tell your majesty how many his majesty has, not having the honour to preside over his wardrobe; but of course on gala-days he always wears a

new one.

King. Gala-days I suppose are the days when he wrestles and tears his clothes. For in this cold climate I can well imagine the richer may wrestle drest. But your king must have many suits. I am sensible of his affability and liberality, and shall be quite contented with such distinction as it may please his majesty to confer on me; but among men of equal rank, unequal as the power may be, treaties may be formed, compacts settled

Crok. A slice of Sandwich, I trust, may come to us thereby; ay, Bob!

King. What dost mean, word-eater-and-voider ?

Int. Your majesty's fine language does not supply me with the words, and if I made an adequate sign of them, I might be hanged.

King. My language is the richest in the world, and the very best. I have two or three words for one thing.

Int. Sire, we have twenty. Roguery, for instance. We box the compass and come quite round to honesty and honour; but some writers (not many indeed) make a distinction, and put an s to the latter.

King. We kings are very nice upon higher points, but not upon these.

Crok. Your majesty was saying something of treaties and compacts. If I can serve you majesty in the interpretation of your royal wishes, you may command me.

He has

King. I have an interpreter here I can trust better. Crok. to Int. He never said that, you villain! good manners.

King. I request of that minister's celestiality, that he will not light his match where there is no gun. What faces these Europeans have! they can fire them when they please. The great spirit has, in his wisdom, appointed all things