Accept it as 'tis given-proceed. Chief of the Ten.

Their

The Doge's Apartment.

The DOGE and Attendants.

Att. My lord, the deputation is in waiting; But add, that if another hour would better Accord with your will, they will make it theirs. Doge. To me all hours are like. Let them approach. [Exit Attendant. An Officer. Prince! I have done your bidding. Doge. What command? Offi. A melancholy one-to call the attendance Of

Doge. True-true-true: I crave your pardon. I Begin to fail in apprehension, and

Wax very old-old almost as my years.
Till now I fought them off, but they begin
To overtake me.

Enter the Deputation, consisting of six of the Signory and the Chief of the Ten.

Noble men, your pleasure!

Chief of the Ten. In the first place, the Council

"The Ten,"

With a selected Giunta from the senate
Of twenty-five of the best-born patricians,
Having deliberated on the state

Of the republic, and the o'erwhelming cares
Which, at this moment, doubly must oppress
Your years, so long devoted to your country,
Have judged it fitting, with all reverence,
Now to solicit from your wisdom (which
Upon reflection must accord in this),
The resignation of the ducal ring
Which you have worn so long and venerably:
And, to prove that they are not ungrateful nor
Cold to your years and services, they add
An appanage of twenty hundred golden
Ducats, to make retirement not less splendid
Than should become a sovereign's retreat.
Doge. Did I hear rightly?

Chief of the Ten.

Doge. No. Have you done?

Need I say again?

Chief of the Ten. I have spoken. Twenty-four

Hours are accorded you to give an answer.

Doge. I shall not need so many seconds.

Chief of the Ten.

Will now retire.

Doge.

We

Stay! Four-and-twenty hours

Will alter nothing which I have to say.
Chief of the Ten. Speak!

Doge.

When I twice before reiterated

My wish to abdicate, it was refused me:
And not alone refused, but ye exacted
An oath from me that I would never more
Renew this instance. I have sworn to die
In full exertion of the functions which
My country call'd me here to exercise,
According to my honour and my conscience-
I cannot break my oath.

Doge.

Providence

Prolongs my days, to prove and chasten me;
But ye have no right to reproach my length
Of days, since every hour has been the country's.
I am ready to lay down my life for her,
As I have laid down dearer things than life:
But for my dignity-I hold it of
The whole republic; when the general will
Is manifest, then you shall all be answer'd. (1)
Chief of the Ten. We grieve for such an answer;
Avail you aught.
[but it cannot
Doge.
I can submit to all things,
But nothing will advance; no, not a moment!
What you decree-decree.
Chief of the Ten.

With this, then, must we

You have heard me.

Return to those who sent us?

Doge. Chief of the Ten. With all due reverence we retire. [Exeunt the Deputation, etc.

And, leading on the pack he long had led,
The miserable pack that ever howl'd
Against fallen Greatness, moved that Foscari
Be Doge no longer; urging his great age;
Calling the loneliness of grief, neglect
Of duty, sullenness against the laws.

I am most willing to retire,' said he
But I have sworn, and cannot of myself.
Do with me as ye please."" Rogers.-L. E.

Doge.

Nor should do so

Against his country, had he a thousand lives
Instead of that-

Mar.
They tortured from him. This
May be pure patriotism. I am a woman:
To me my husband and my children were
Country and home. I loved him-how I loved him!
I have seen him pass through such an ordeal as
The old martyrs would have shrunk from: he is gone,
And I, who would have given my blood for him,
Have nought to give but tears! But could I compass
The retribution of his wrongs!-Well, well;
I have sons, who shall be men.
Doge.

Your grief distracts you. Mar. I thought I could have borne it, when I saw him Bow'd down by such oppression; yes, I thought That I would rather look upon his corse Than his prolong'd captivity:-I am punish'd For that thought now. Would I were in his grave! Doge. I must look on him once more. Mar.

Doge. Is he

Come with me!

Mar.
Our bridal bed is now his bier.
Doge. And he is in his shroud!

Bar. (to an Attendant.) Where is the Doge? Alt. This instant retired hence With the illustrious lady his son's widow.

Lor. Where?

To the chamber where the body lies.

Bar. Let us return, then. Lor.

You forget, you cannot.

We have the implicit order of the Giunta
To await their coming here, and join them in
Their office they'll be here soon after us.

Bar. And will they press their answer on the Doge?
Lor. 'Twas his own wish that all should be done

promptly.

He answer'd quickly, and must so be answer'd;
His dignity is look'd to, his estate
Cared for what would he more?

Bar.

Die in his robes.

He could not have lived long; but I have done
My best to save his honours, and opposed
This proposition to the last, though vainly.
Why would the general vote compel me hither?

Lor. "Twas fit that some one of such different

thoughts

From ours should be a witness, lest false tongues
Should whisper that a harsh majority
Dreaded to have its acts beheld by others.

Bar. And not less, I must needs think, for the sake
Of humbling me for my vain opposition.
You are ingenious, Loredano, in
Your modes of vengeance, nay, poetical,
A

very Ovid in the art of hating; 'Tis thus (although a secondary object, Yet hate has microscopic eyes), to you I owe, by way of foil to the more zealous, This undesired association in Your Giunta's duties.

Lor. Bar.

They speak your language, watch your nod, approm Your plans, and do your work. Are they not yours Lor. You talk unwarily. "T were best they hear n This from you.

To the point

To the point! I know of old the forms of office,
And gentle preludes to strong acts-Go on!

Chief of the Ten. You are no longer Doge; you
From your imperial oath as sovereign; [are released
Your ducal robes must be put off; but for
Your services, the state allots the appanage
Already mention'd in our former congress.
Three days are left you to remove from hence,
Tader the penalty to see confiscated
All your own private fortune.
Doge.

That last clause,
I am proud to say, would not enrich the treasury.
Chief of the Ten. Your answer, Duke!

Lor.

Your answer, Francis Foscari! Dege. If I could have foreseen that my old age Was prejudicial to the state, the chief Of the republic never would have shown Himself so far ungrateful, as to place His own high dignity before his country; But this life having been so many years Net useless to that country, I would fain Have consecrated my last moments to her. But the decree being rendered, I obey. (1)

Chief of the Ten. If you would have the three

Your father was my friend.-But sons and fathers!— What, ho! my servants there!

Chief of the Ten.

So rashly? 'twill give scandal. Doge.

Why

Answer that; [To the Ten. It is your province.-Sirs, bestir yourselves:

[To the Servants. There is one burthen which I beg you bear With care, although 'tis past all farther harmBut I will look to that myself. He means

Bar. The body of his son. Doge. My daughter!

And call Marina,

Enter MARINA.

Get thee ready; we must mourn

And every where.

Doge.
Elsewhere.
Mar.
Doge.
True; but in freedom,
Without these jealous spies upon the great.
Signors, you may depart: what would you more?
We are going; do you fear that we shall bear
The palace with us? Its old walls, ten times
As old as I am, and I'm very old,

Have served you, so have I, and I and they
Could tell a tale; but I invoke them not
To fall upon you! else they would, as erst
The pillars of stone Dagon's temple on
The Israelite and his Philistine foes.
Such power I do believe there might exist
In such a curse as mine, provoked by such
As you; but I curse not. Adieu, good signors!
May the next duke be better than the present.

Lor. The present duke is Paschal Malipiero. Doge. Not till I pass the threshold of these doors. Lor. Saint Mark's great bell is soon about to toll For his inauguration.

Doge.

Earth and heaven!

Ye will reverberate this peal; and I
Live to hear this!-the first doge who e'er heard
Such sound for his successor. Happier he,
My attainted predecessor, stern Faliero-
This insult at the least was spared him.
Lor.

Do you regret a traitor?

Doge.

Envy the dead.

What!

No-I merely

Chief of the Ten. My lord, if you indeed Are bent upon this rash abandonment

Of the state's palace, at the least retire

By the private staircase, which conducts you towards The landing-place of the canal.

Will now descend the stairs by which I mounted To sovereignty-the Giants' Stairs, on whose Broad eminence I was invested duke.

Atten. Doge.

Ten's Deputation.]—Prepare

(1) In the MS.

"The act is pass'd-I will obey it.-"L. E.
"He was deposed,

He, who had reign'd so long and gloriously;
His ducal bonnet taken from his brow,
His robes stript off, his seal and signet-ring

I never thought to be divorced except

Broken before him. But now nothing moved
The meekness of his soul. All things alike!
Among the six that came with the decree,
Foscari saw one he knew not, and inquired
His name. 'I am the son of Marco Memmo.'
"Ah!' he replied, thy father was my friend!'"
Rogers.-L. E.

The sound! I heard

And that is five-and-thirty years ago;

Even then I was not young.

Bar.

You tremble.

Doge.

Sit down, my lord! 'Tis the knell of my poor boy!

(1) "And now he goes. "It is the hour and past.
I have no business here.'-' But wilt thou not
Avoid the gazing crowd? That way is private.'
'No! as I enter'd, so will I retire.'

And, leaning on his staff, he left the house,
His residence for five-and-thirty years,
By the same stairs up which he came in state;
Those where the giants stand, guarding the ascent,
Monstrous, terrific. At the foot he stopp'd,
And, on his staff still leaning, turn'd and said,
By mine own merits did I come. I go,
Driven by the malice of mine enemies.'
Then to his boat withdrew, poor as he came,
Amid the sighs of them that dared not speak."
Rogers.-L. E.

(2) In the MS.

"I take yours, Loredano-'t is the draught Most fitting such an hour as this." L. E.

[The DOGE takes a goblet from the hand of LOREDANO.

Doge. I take yours, Loredano, from the hand Most fit for such an hour as this.(2)

Lor.

Why so?

Doge. 'Tis said that our Venetian crystal has Such pure antipathy to poisons as To burst, if aught of venom touches it. You bore this goblet, and it is not broken. Lor. Well, sir!

Doge.

Then it is false, or you are true. For my own part, I credit neither; 'tis An idle legend.

Mar.

You talk wildly, and Had better now be seated, nor as yet

Depart. Ah! now you look as look'd my husband! Bar. He sinks!-support him!-quick—a chair— support him!

[on fire!

No!

Doge. The bell tolls on!--let's hence-my brain's Bar. I do beseech you, lean upon us! Doge. A sovereign should die standing. My poor boy! Off with your arms!-That bell!

Mar.

[The DOGE drops down and dies $ My God! My G!

Bar. (to Lor.) Behold! your work's completed!

Chief of the Ten.

No aid? Call in assistance!

Is there thes

Chief of the Ten. Heaven's peace be with him! Mar. Signors, your pardon: this is mockery.

(3) The death of the elder Foscari took place not at the palace, but in his own house; not immediately on his descent from the Giants' Stairs, but five days afterwards. “En e tendant," says M. de Sismondi, "le son des cloches, qui sonnaient en actions de graces pour l'élection de son succes seur, il mourut subitement d'une hémorrhagie causée par 95 veine qui s'éclata dans sa poitrine."'—L. E.

(4) By a decree of the Council, the trappings of supreme power of which the Doge had divested himself while living, were restored to him when dead; and he was interred, with ducal magnificence, in the church of the Minorites, the new Doge attending as a mourner. See Daru.-L. E.

Before I was sixteen years of age," says Lord Byron, "I was witness to a melancholy instance of the same effect of mixed pass ons upon a young person; who, however, did not die in consequetice, at that time, but fell a victim, some years afterwards, to a seizure of the same kind, arising from causes intimately connected with agitstion of mind." See Don Juan, c. iv. st. lix. past.-L. E.

Juggle no more with that poor remnant, which,
A moment since, while yet it had a soul

A soul by whom you have increased your empire,
And made your power as proud as was his glory),
You banish'd from his palace, and tore down
From his high place, with such relentless coldness;
And now, when he can neither know these honours,
Nor would accept them if he could, you, signors,
Purpose, with idle and superfluous pomp,
To make a pageant over what you trampled.
A princely funeral will be your reproach,
And not his honour.

Chief of the Ten. Lady, we revoke not
Онг purposes so readily.

The Venetians appear to have had a particular turn for breaking the hearts of their Doges. The following is other instance of the kind, in the Doge Marco Barbarigo: was succeeded by his brother Agostino Barbarigo, whose hief merit is here mentioned :-"Le doge, blessé de trouver enstamment un contradicteur et un censeur si amer dans an frère, lai dit un jour en plein conseil: 'Messire Augustin,

faites tout votre possible pour håter ma mort; vous sattez de me succéder; mais, si les autres vous conissent aussi bien que je vous connais, ils n'auront garde vous élire.' Là-dessus il se leva, ému de colère, rentra aas son appartement, et mourut quelques jours après. Ce ere, contre lequel il s'était emporté, fut précisément le suc esseur qu'on lui donna. C'était un mérite dont on aimait tenir compte, surtout à un parent, de s'être mis en oppotion avec le chef de la république."-Daru, Hist. de Venise, al. ii. p. 533.

L'ha pagata." An historical fact. See Hist. de Ve, par P. Daru, t. ii. p. 411.-[Here the original MS. ends. be two lines which follow were added by Mr. Gifford. In be margin of the MS. Lord Byron has written-" If the last ne should appear obscure to those who do not recollect the storical fact mentioned in the first act of Loredano's incription in his book, of Doge Foscari, debtor for the deaths f my father and uncle,' you may add the following lines to he conclusion of the last act:

Chief of the Ten. For what has he repaid thee?
Lor.
For my father's

And father's brother's death-by his son's and own!
Gifford about this."--L. E.

3)But whence the deadly hate

That caused all this-the hate of Loredano?
It was a legacy his father left,

Who, but for Foscari, had reign'd in Venice,
And, like the venom in the serpent's bag,
Gather'd and grew!-

When his father died,
They whisper'd, "'T was by poison!' and the words
Struck him as utter'd from his father's grave.
He wrote it on the tomb ('tis there in marble),
And with a brow of care, most merchant-like,
Among the debtors in his ledger-book
Enter'd at full (nor month, nor day forgot)

Chief of the Ten. Best retain it for your children.
Mar. Ay, they are fatherless, I thank you.
Chief of the Ten.

We

Cannot comply with your request. His relics
Shall be exposed with wonted pomp, and follow'd
Unto their home by the new Doge, not clad
As Doge, but simply as a senator.

Mar. I have heard of murderers, who have interr'd
Their victims; but ne'er heard, until this hour,
Of so much splendour in hypocrisy

O'er those they slew. (1) I've heard of widows' tears-
Alas! I have shed some-always thanks to you!
I've heard of heirs in sables-you have left none
To the deceased, so you would act the part

Of such. Well, sirs, your will be done! as one day,
I trust, Heaven's will be done too!
Chief of the Ten.

Know you, lady,

To whom ye speak, and perils of such speech? Mar. I know the former better than yourselves; The latter-like yourselves; and can face both. Wish you more funerals?

Bar.

Heed not her rash words; Her circumstances must excuse her bearing. Chief of the Ten. We will not note them down. Bar. (turning to Lor. who is writing upon his tablets.) What art thou writing,

With such an earnest brow, upon thy tablets? Lor. (pointing to the Doge's body.) That he has paid me! (2)

Chief of the Ten. What debt did he owe you? Lor. A long and just one; Nature's debt and mine.(3) [Curtain falls. (4)

'FRANCISCO FOSCARI-for my father's death,'
Leaving a blank-to be fill'd up hereafter.
When Foscari's noble heart at length gave way,
He took the volume from the shelf again
Calmly, and with his pen fill'd up the blank,
Inscribing, 'He has paid me.'

Ye who sit

Brooding from day to day, from day to day
Chewing the bitter cud, and starting up
As though the hour was come to whet your fangs,
And, like the Pisan, gnaw the hairy scalp
Of him who had offended-if ye must,

Sit and brood on; but oh, forbear to teach The lesson to your children." Rogers.-L. E. (4) "Considered as poems, we confess that Sardanapalus and The Two Foscari appear to us to be rather heavy, verbose, and inelegant-deficient in the passion and energy which belong to Lord Byron's other writings-and still more in the richness of imagery, the originality of thought, and the sweetness of versification for which he used to be distinguished. They are for the most part solemn, prolix, and ostentatious-lengthened out by large preparations for catastrophes that never arrive, and tantalising us with slight specimens and glimpses of a higher interest scattered thinly up and down many weary pages of pompous declamation. Along with the concentrated pathos and homestruck senti. ments of his former poetry, the noble author seems also— we cannot imagine why-to have discarded the spirited and melodious versification in which they were embodied, and to have formed to himself a measure equally remote from the spring and vigour of his former compositions, and from the softness and flexibility of the ancient masters of the drama. There are some sweet lines, and many of great weight and energy; but the general march of the verse is cumbrous and unmusical. His lines do not vibrate like polished lances, at once strong and light, in the hands of his persons, but are wielded like clumsy batons in a bloodless affray. Instead of the graceful familiarity and idiomatical melodies of Shakspeare, it is apt, too, to fall into clumsy prose, in its approaches to the easy and colloquial style; and, in the loftier passages, is occasionally deformed by low and common images that harmonise but ill with the general solemnity of the diction." Jeffrey.-L. E.