Be urged, to shield me from thy bold appeal.
If I have injured thee, that makes us equal;
The wrong, if done, debased me down to thee.
But thou hast charged me with ingratitude;
Hast thou not charged me? speak!

Dor. Thou know'st I have:

If thou disown'st that imputation, draw,
And prove my charge a lie.

Seb. No; to disprove that lie, I must not draw. Be conscious to thy worth, and tell thy soul, What thou hast done this day in my defence. To fight thee after this, what were it else Than owning that ingratitude thou urgest? That isthmus stands between two rushing seas; Which, mounting, view each other from afar, And strive in vain to meet.

Dor. I'll cut that isthmus.

Thou know'st I meant not to preserve thy life,
But to reprieve it, for my own revenge.

I saved thee out of honourable malice:

Now, draw;-I should be loth to think thou dar'st

not:

Beware of such another vile excuse.

Seb. O patience, heaven!

Dor. Beware of patience, too;

That's a suspicious word. It had been proper,
Before thy foot had spurned me; now 'tis base:
Yet, to disarm thee of thy last defence,
I have thy oath for my security.

The only boon I begged was this fair combat:
Fight, or be perjured now; that's all thy choice.
Seb. Now can I thank thee as thou would'st be
[Drawing.

thanked.

Never was vow of honour better paid,

If

my true sword but hold, than this shall be. The sprightly bridegroom, on his wedding night, More gladly enters not the lists of love:

Why, 'tis enjoyment to be summoned thus.
Go, bear my message to Henriquez' ghost;
And say, his master and his friend revenged him.
Dor. His ghost! then is my hated rival dead?
Seb. The question is beside our present purpose:
Thou seest me ready; we delay too long.

Dor. A minute is not much in either's life,
When there's but one betwixt us; throw it in,
And give it him of us who is to fall.

Seb. He's dead; make haste, and thou may'st yet o'ertake him.

Dor. When I was hasty, thou delayed'st me long

er.

I prythee let me hedge one moment more
Into thy promise: For thy life preserved,
Be kind; and tell me how that rival died,
Whose death, next thine, I wished.

Seb. If it would please thee, thou shouldst never know;

But thou, like jealousy, enquir'st a truth,
Which, found, will torture thee.-He died in fight;
Fought next my person; as in concert fought;
Kept pace for pace, and blow for every blow;
Save when he heaved his shield in my defence,
And on his naked side received my wound.
Then, when he could no more, he fell at once;
But rolled his failing body cross their way,
And made a bulwark of it for his prince.

Dor. I never can forgive him such a death!
Seb. I prophesied thy proud soul could not bear
it.-

Now, judge thyself, who best deserved my love ?
I knew you both; and (durst I say) as heaven
Foreknew, among the shining angel host,
Who would stand firm, who fall.

Dor. Had he been tempted so, so had he fallen; And so had I been favoured, had I stood.

2

Seb. What had been, is unknown; what is, ap

pears.

Confess, he justly was preferred to thee.

Dor. Had I been born with his indulgent stars, My fortune had been his, and his been mine.-O, worse than hell! what glory have I lost, And what has he acquired, by such a death! I should have fallen by Sebastian's side, My corps had been the bulwark of my king. His glorious end was a patched work of fate, Ill sorted with a soft effeminate life; It suited better with my life than his, So to have died: Mine had been of a piece, Spent in your service, dying at your feet.

Seb. The more effeminate and soft his life, The more his fame, to struggle to the field, And meet his glorious fate. Confess, proud spirit, (For I will have it from thy very mouth) That better he deserved my love than thou?

Dor. O, whither would you drive me? I must grant,

Yes, I must grant, but with a swelling soul,—
Henriquez had your love with more desert.

For

you he fought, and died: I fought against you; Through all the mazes of the bloody field, Hunted your sacred life; which that I missed Was the propitious error of my fate,

Not of my soul: My soul's a regicide.

Seb. [More calmly.] Thou might'st have given it a more gentle name.

Thou meant'st to kill a tyrant, not a king:
Speak, didst thou not, Alonzo?

Dor. Can I speak!

Alas, I cannot answer to Alonzo!-

No, Dorax cannot answer to Alonzo;

Alonzo was too kind a name for me.

Then, when I fought and conquered with your arms,

VOL. VII.

2D,

In that blest age, I was the man you named:
Till rage and pride debased me into Dorax,
And lost, like Lucifer, my name above.

Seb. Yet twice this day I owed my life to Dorax. Dor. I saved you but to kill you: There's my grief.

Seb. Nay, if thou can'st be grieved, thou can'st repent;

Thou could'st not be a villain, though thou would'st: Thou own'st too much, in owning thou hast erred; And I too little, who provoked thy crime.

Dor. O stop this headlong torrent of your good

ness!

It comes too fast upon a feeble soul,

Half drowned in tears before: Spare my confusion;
For pity spare; and say not first, you erred;
For yet I have not dared, through guilt and shame,
To throw myself beneath your royal feet.-
[Falls at his feet.
Now spurn this rebel, this proud renegade;
'Tis just you should, nor will I more complain.
Seb. Indeed thou should'st not ask forgiveness

first;

But thou prevent'st me still, in all that's noble.
[Taking him up.
Yes, I will raise thee up with better news.
Thy Violante's heart was ever thine;
Compelled to wed, because she was my ward,
Her soul was absent when she gave her hand;
Nor could my threats, or his pursuing courtship,
Effect the consummation of his love:

So, still indulging tears, she pines for thee,
A widow, and a maid.

Dor. Have I been cursing heaven, while heaven blest me?

I shall run mad with extacy of joy:
What! in one moment, to be reconciled

To heaven, and to my king, and to my love!-
But pity is my friend, and stops me short,
For my unhappy rival:--Poor Henriquez!
Seb. Art thou so generous, too, to pity him?
Nay, then, I was unjust to love him better.
Here let me ever hold thee in my arms;

[Embracing him. And all our quarrels be but such as these, Who shall love best, and closest shall embrace. Be what Henriquez was,-be my Alonzo.

Dor. What, my Alonzo, said you? my Alonzo! Let my tears thank you, for I cannot speak; And, if I could,

Words were not made to vent such thoughts as mine.
Seb. Some strange reverse of fate must sure attend
This vast profusion, this extravagance

Of heaven, to bless me thus. Tis gold so pure,
It cannot bear the stamp, without alloy.-
Be kind, ye powers! and take but half
With ease the gifts of fortune I resign;
But let my love and friend be ever mine. [Exeunt.

ACT V. SCENE I.

The Scene is, a Room of State.

Enter DORAX and ANTON 10.

away:

Dor. Joy is on every face, without a cloud; As, in the scene of opening paradise,

The whole creation danced at their new being, Pleased to be what they were, pleased with each other,

Such joy have I, both in myself and friends;
And double joy that I have made them happy.

Ant. Pleasure has been the business of my life; And every change of fortune easy to me,