Opinion of unfitting carriage to you,
On my part I shall faithfully acquit
At easy summons.

Mal. You prevent the nicety;

Use your own pleasure—

BENATZI rushes in with his sword drawn, followed by LEVIDOLCHE and MARTINO.

Aurel. What's the matter?

Aur. Matter?

Ben. Adurni and Malfato found together!

Now for a glorious vengeance.

Lev. Hold, oh, hold him!

Aurel. This is no place for murder; yield thy sword.

Aur. Yield it, or force it; [Ben. is disarmed] set you up your shambles

Of slaughter in my presence?

Adur. Let him come.

Mal. What can the ruffian mean?
Ben. I am prevented;

The temple or the chamber of the Duke,
Had else not proved a sanctuary. Lord,
Thou hast dishonourably wrong'd my wife.
Adur. Thy wife! I know not her, nor thee.
Aur. Fear nothing.

Lev. Yes, me you know. Heaven has a gentle

mercy

For penitent offenders: blessed ladies,

Repute me not a cast-away, though once

I fell into some lapses, which our sex
Are oft entangled by; yet what I have been
Concerns me now no more, who am resolv'd
On a new life. This gentleman, Benatzi,
Disguised as you see, I have re-married.—

I knew you at first sight, and tender constantly
Submission for all errors.

Mart. Nay, 'tis true, sir.

Ben. I joy in the discovery, am thankful' Unto the change.

Aur. Let wonder henceforth cease,

For I am partner with Benatzi's counsels,
And in them was director: I have seen
The man do service in the wars late past,
Worthy an ample mention; but of that
At large hereafter, repetitions now

Of good or bad, would straiten time, presented
For other use.

Mart. Welcome, and welcome ever.

Lev. Mine eyes, sir, never shall without a blush Receive a look from yours; please to forget All passages of rashness; such attempt Was mine, and only mine.

I joy in the discovery, am thankful

Unto the change.] Benatzi takes the matter with all due composure. That his precious moiety should recognize him through his rags, his formidable mustachoes, and his Pistol-like demeanour, is natural enough; the wonder is, that Benatzi should not recollect her. She wore no disguise; she retains the name by which he married her; she still lived, as before, with her foolish uncle, and she confides to him a part of her history, in which he was a sharer. The author seems to have discovered all this, when it was too late; and has just allowed us to surmise, from Auria's next speech, that the "re-married gentleman" might not be so complete a dupe as he

VOL. II.

appears.

A A

Mal. You have found a way

To happiness; I honour the conversion.
Adur. Then I am freed.

Mal. May style your friend your servant.
Mart. Now all that's mine is theirs.

Adur. But let me add

An offering to the altar of this peace.

(Gives her money.)

Aur. How likes Spinella this? our holiday Deserves the kalendar.

Spin. This gentlewoman

Reform'd, must in my thoughts live fair and

worthy.

Indeed you shall.

(Offering her money.)

Cast. And mine; the novelty

Requires a friendly love.

Lev. You are kind and bountiful.

Enter TRELCATIO, FUTELLI, AMORETTA, PIERO, driving in FULGOSO and GUZMAN.

Trel. By your leaves, lords and ladies! to your jollities,

I bring increase with mine too; here's a youngster Whom I call son-in-law, for so my daughter (Presenting Fut.)

Will have it.

Amor. Yeth, in sooth thee will.

Trel. Futelli

Hath wean'd her from this pair.

Piero. Stand forth, stout lovers.

Trel. Top and top-gallant pair-and for his

pains,

She will have him or none. He's not the richest I'th' parish; but a wit: I say, amen,

Because I cannot help it.

Amor. Tith no matter.

Aur. We'll remedy the penury of fortune; They shall with us to Corsica. Our cousin Must not despair of means, since 'tis believed Futelli can deserve a place of trust.

Fut. You are in all unfellow'd.

Amor. Withly thpoken.

Piero. Think on Piero, sir.

Aur. Piero, yes;

But what of these two pretty ones?

Ful. I'll follow

The ladies, play at cards, make sport, and whistle,
My purse shall bear me out: a lazy life

Is scurvy and debosh'd; fight you abroad,
And we'll be gaming, whilst you fight, at home,
Run high, run low, here is a brain can do't-
But for my martial brother Don, pray ye make
him

A-what-d'ye call't-a setting dog,—a sentinel;
I'll mend his weekly pay.

Guz. He shall deserve it. Vouchsafe employment, honourable—

Ful. Marry,

The Don's a generous Don.

Aur. Unfit to lose him.

Command doth limit us short time for revels;

We must be thrifty in them. None, I trust, Repines at these delights, they are free and harmless :

After distress at sea, the dangers o'er,
Safety and welcomes better taste ashore.

This Drama, like Perkin Warbeck, has been somewhat too lightly regarded. The plot, indeed, is simple, and the poet has not availed himself of the interest of which even that simplicity was susceptible; but the characters are well discriminated, and strongly marked. The high-spirited, pure-minded Spinella; the uxorious, sensitive, and noble Auria; and the rash, repentant, and dignified Adurni, do credit to the author's powers of conception nor is the next trio, the faithful sister, the silent devoted lover, and the suspicious, gloomy, and selfish friend, to be passed without praise. The more serious scenes are beautifully written; and the situation, if not the language of some of the speakers in them, is well calculated to excite that tender feeling which melts the heart in almost every drama of this pathetic writer.

Either by accident or design, the humbler characters of the Lady's Trial are inoffensive; they are occasionally even amusing, and lead us to wish that Ford had suspected his want of genuine humour, and recollected, before he closed his theatrical career, (for this was probably his last play,) that a dull medley of extravagance and impurity was poorly calculated to supply the defect.