But when? or where -This world was made for Cæfar,
I'm weary of conjectures-this must end 'em.

Thus am I doubly arm'd-My death and life,
My bane and antidote, are both before me.
This, in a moment, brings me to an end;
But this informs me I fhall never die.
The foul, fecur'd in her exiftence, fmiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point:
The stars fhall fade away, the fun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature fink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,

The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.

CHAP. IX.

SOUTHAMPTON AND ESSEX.

OFFICER.

My lord,

We bring an order for your execution,

And hope you are prepar'd; for you must die

This very hour.

SOUTH. Indeed! the time is fudden !

Ess. Is death th' event of all my flatter'd hope?

Falfe Sex! and Queen more perjur'd than them all!
But die I will without the leaft complaint,

My foul shall vanish filent as the dew,

Attracted by the fun from verdant fields,

CATO.

And leaves of weeping flowers-Come, my dear friend,
Partner in fate, give me thy body in

These faithful arms-and O now let me tell thee,
And you, my lords, and Heaven my witness too,

4

I have

I have no weight, no heaviness on my foul,

But that I've loft my dearest friend his life.

SOUTH. And I protest by the fame powers divine, And to the world, 'tis all my happiness,

The greatest blifs my mind yet e'er enjoy'd,

Since we muft die, my lord, to die together.

OFFICER. The queen, my lord Southampton, has been pleas'd

Το grant particular mercy to your perfon;
And has by us fent you a reprieve from death,
With parden of your treafons, and commands.
You to depart immediately from hence.

SOUTH. O my unguarded foul! Sure never was
A man with mercy wounded fo before.

Ess. Then I am loofe to fteer my wand'ring voyage;
Like a bad veffel that has long been croft,
And bound by adverse winds, at last gets liberty,
And joyfully makes all the fail fhe can,
To reach its wish'd- for port-Angels protect
The queen, for her my chiefeft prayers fhall be,
That as in time fhe has fpar'd my noble friend,
And owns his crimes worth mercy, may she ne'er
Think fo of me too late when I am dead-

Again, Southampton, let me hold thee faft,
For 'tis my laft embrace.

SOUTH. O belefs kind, my friend, or move lefs pity,

Or 1 fhall fink beneath the weight of fadness!

I

weep that I am doom'd to live without you,

And fhould have fmil'd to fhare the death of Effex.

Ess. O fpare this tenderness for one that needs it,
For her that I commit to thee,-'tis all that I
Can claim of my Southampton-O my wife!

Methinks that very name should stop thy pity,
And make thee covetous of all as loft

That is not meant to her

be a kind friend

To her, as we have been to one another;

Name not the dying Effex to thy Queen,

Left it should cost a tear, nor e'er offend her.

SOUTH. O ftay, my lord! let me have one word more : One last farewel, before the greedy ax

Shall part my friend, my only friend from me,
And Effex from himself- -I know not what

Are call'd the pangs of death, but fure I am
I feel an agony that's worse than death-
Farewel.

Ess. Why that's well faid-Farewel to thee-
Then let us part, just like two travellers,
Take diftant paths, only this difference is,
Thine is the longest, mine the shortest way-
Now let me go-if there's a throne in heaven
For the most brave of men and best of friends,
I will bespeak it for Southampton.

SOUTH. And I, while I have life, will hoard thy me

mory:

When I am dead, we then shall meet again.

Ess. Till then, Farewel.

SOUTH. Till then, Farewel.

CHAP. X.

EARL OF ESSEX.

JAFFIER AND PIERRE.

JAFF. By Heav'n you ftir not,

I must be heard, I must have leave to speak:
Thou haft difgrac'd me, Pierre, by a vile blow:

Had not a dagger done thee nobler juftice?

But ufe me as thou wilt, thou canst not wrong me,
For I am fallen beneath the baseft injuries:
Yet look upon me with an eye of mercy,

With pity and with charity behold me;
Shut not thy heart against a friend's repentance;
But, as there dwells a godlike nature in thee,
Liften with mildnefs to my fupplications.

PIER. What whining monk art thou? what holy cheat, That would'ft incroach upon my credulous ears, And cant'ft thus vilely? hence! I know thee not. JAFF. Not know me, Pierre !

PIER. No, know thee not: What art thou ?

JAFF. Jaffier, thy friend, thy once lov'd, valu'd friend! Tho' now deferv'dly scorn'd, and us'd most hardly.

PIER. Thou Jaffier! thou my once lov'd, valu'd friend! By heav'ns thou ly'ft; the man fo call'd my friend, Was generous, honeft, faithful, juft, and valiant, Noble in mind, and in his perfon lovely,

Dear to my eyes, and tender to my heart:

But thou a wretched, bafe, falfe, worthlefs coward,
Poor even in foul, and lothfome in thy afpect:
All eyes muft fhun thee, all hearts deteft thee.
Pr'ythee avoid, nor longer cling thus round me,
Like fomething baneful, that my nature's chill'd at.
JAFF. I have not wrong'd thee; by these tears I have not,
But ftill am honest, true, and hope, too, valiant;
My mind ftill full of thee, therefore still noble.
Let not thy eyes then fhun me, nor thy heart
Deteft me utterly: Oh! look upon me,
Look back and fee my fad, fincere submission!
How my heart fwells, as e'en 'twould burft my bofom :

Fond of its goal, and labouring to be at thee;

What fhall I do what fay to make the hear me?

PIER. Haft thou not wrong'd me? dar'ft thou call thyfelf That once lov'd valu'd friend of mine,

And swear thou haft not wrong'd me? Whence these chains?
Whence the vile death which I may meet this moment!
Whence this dishonour, but from thee, thou false one?
JAFF. All's true; yet grant one thing, and I've done
afking.

PIER. What's that?

JAFF. To take thy life on fuch conditions

The council have propos'd: thou and thy friend
May yet live long, and to be better treated.

PIER. Life! afk my life! confefs! record myself
A villain for the privilege to breathe,

And carry up

and down this curfed city

A difcontented and repining spirit,
Burdenfome to itself, a few years longer,

To lose it, may be at last, in a lewd quarrel

For fome new friend, treacherous and falfe as thou art !
No, this vile world and I have long been jangling,

And cannot part on better terms than now,

When only men like thee are fit to live in't.
JAFF. By all that's juft-

PIER. Swear by fome other powers,

For thou hast broken that facred oath too lately.

JAFF. Then by that hell I merit, I'll not leave thee,

Till to thyfelf at least thour't reconcil'd,

However thy refentment deal with me.

PIER. Not leave me !'

JAFF. No: thou shalt not force me from thee;

Use me reproachfully and like a flave ;

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