Flor.

Hold! dastard-unless thou art dead to every sense of manhood, hold!

Long. Boy! I triumph, and deride thy baffled spleen. (Sanguine passes Eugenia to the masque.)

Eug. Dear loved youth, thy mother blesses thee, and dies

content!

Flor. Eternal Providence! Longueville! (In an agony casts himself at his feet.) Oh, if thou art human, hold! Spare, O! spare my parent!

Sang. Decide, my lord; the crowd approach!

Long. 'Twere vain to pause-swift! plunge your poniards in Eugenia's bosom !

Flor. Monster!

Long. They come--obey me, slaves! (The masque lifts a dagger over her.)

Sang. We are prepared.
Long. Now.

San. Comrade, strike!

Masque. Ay, to the heart! (The masque plunges the dagger into Sanguine, who falls.) Eugenia is preserved.-(With one arm he supports the lady, and with the other snatches away the mask, and discovers the features of Bertrand.)

Long. Bertrand! eternal palsies strike thy arm!

(Enter Gaspard, Monica, domestics, &c. with torches.) Flor. Secure the villain !-Mother!-mysterious blessing! Eug. My boy, my only one.-Bertrand, life is thy gift, and now indeed I bless thee for the boon.

Bert. I swore to save you; I have kept my oath.

(Enter De Valmont, Geraldine, and domestics.) De Val. Dear worshiped form, she lives-she livesEug. Ah! shield me, Florian: yon phantom shape— De Val. Nay, Eugenia-'tis thy lord, thy living lord. Eug. Indeed, my wedded lord! I wept for a dear warrior once; and did the sword forbearso just a heart? (She sinks upon his breast.)

Long. Detested sight!

Flor.

Remove that monster to some sure confinement ! The count hereafter shall pronounce his punishment.

Long. Already I endure my heaviest curse.-Come, to a dungeon! darkness is welcome! (Exit.)

Ger. Florian! friend-ah! yet a dearer name-you rob me of a birth-right, still I must greet my new-found kinsmanFlor. Geraldine !-What means my love?

De Val. Florian, heaven mysteriously o'erwatched thy hour of peril, and led a father through the desert, unconsciously to succor and redeem his child.

Flor. Ha! De Valmont's glorious blood then circles in these veins! My parent, my preserver !

De Val. My forest prize, my foundling boy. (They embrace.) (Exeunt.)

XXXIII.-FROM RIENZI.-Mitford.

RIENZI, TRIBUNE OF ROME-COLONNA, URSINI, GREAT NOBLEMEN OF ROME-SAVELLI, CAFARELLO, FRANGIPANI, NOBLEMEN OF ROME-ANGELO, COLONNA'S SON-CAMILLO, RIENZI'S SERVANT -ATTENDANTS AND MASQUERS.

Scene 1.-A hall in the Capitol-a chair of state, elevated on two steps. Enter Savelli, Frangipani, and Cafarello, who advance to the front.-Camillo and attendants, in the back ground.

(Frustrated design to assassinate Rienzi at a banquet in honor of his daughter's marriage with Angelo Colonna.) Savelli. Rienzi bears him like a prince, save that he lacks The port serene of majesty. His mood

Is fitful; stately now, and sad; anon,

Full of a hurried mirth; courteous awhile,
And mild; then bursting, on a sudden, forth,
Into sharp biting taunts.

Frangipani.

And at the altar,

When he first found the proud and angry mother
Refused to grace the nuptials, even the nuncio
Quailed at his fiery threats.

Cafarello.

Gnawing his lip for wrath.

Sav.

I saw Colonna

Why, this new power

For such disease,

Mounts to the brain like wine.

Your skillful leech lets blood.

Fra.

Suspects he aught

Of our design? We hunt a subtil quarry.

Sav. But with a wilier huntsman. (Enter Ursini.)
Ursini,

Hath every point been guarded? Be the masquers
Valiant and strongly armed? Have ye taken order
To close the gates-to seize his train—to cut
The cordage of the bell, that none may summon
The people to his rescue?

Ursini.

All is cared for,

And vengeance certain. Before set of sun,

We shall be masters of ourselves, of Rome,

And Rome's proud ruler. This quiet masque of ours―
Caf. What is the watchword?

Urs. Death.

Fra. Peace, peace-he comes !

(Enter Rienzi and Colonna, at opposite points.)

Rienzi. A fair good welcome, noble friends.-Your chairs.

(Takes the chair of state.)

Bring mirth! I brook no pause of revelry.

Have ye no masque ?

Sav. (To Ursini.) He rushes in the toils;

Now weave the meshes round him.

Urs.

Sooth, my lord,

We had plotted to surprise the gentle bride

With a slight masque-a toy, an antic.

Rie.

Ay, and when?

Urs. Soon as the bell tolled four, the masquers Were bid to enter.

Rie. Four? And how attired?

Urs. Turbaned and robed, and with swart visages; A troop of lusty Moors.

Rie. Camillo, hark! Admit these revelers; Mark me- —(Gives orders in a low voice, to Camillo.) Urs. (Aside.) Now, vengeance, thou art mine! Rie. Wine-wine! (To an attendant.)

Fill me a goblet high with sparkling wine!

(The attendant fills a goblet, and presents it to Rienzi.) Fill high, my noble guests. Claudia Rienzi, And Angelo Colonna! Blessed be they And we in their fair union! Doubly cursed Whoever in wish or thought would loose that tie, The bond of peace to Rome! Drink, good my Fill high the mantling wine, and in the bowl Be all unkindness buried!

lords;

We pledge you, noble Tribune. (All rise, except Colonna.)
Rie.
Why, Colonna!

Brother!-(Colonna rises.) He startles at the word. He eyes
The cup as it were poisoned. Dost thou think

We have drugged the draught? I'll be thy taster :-drink! The wine is honest-we are no traitors!

Urs. Drink! I pray thee, drink!

Colonna. Health to the gentle bride! (Drinks.) Health to my children!

Rie. This is fatherly;

Noble Colonna, this is princely. Now,

If any scorn, Claudia may say Colonna,

Whose word is truth, hailed her his child. (Rises.)
We must carcuse yet deeper. Hark, Francisco!
Go bid the fountains, from their marble mouths,
Pour the rich juice of the Sicilian grape,
A flood of molten rubies, that our kind
And drouthy fellow-citizens may chorus
Hail to the gentle bride. I would fain bid
Old Tiber flow with wine. Another cup-
To thee and thine, Colonna! Fill the bowl,
Higher and higher! Let the phantom, fear-
And doubt, that haunts round princes-and suspicion,
That broods a harpy o'er the banquet-flee
Down to the uttermost depths. A health
To thee and thine, Colonna!

Urs. Of what doubt

Speaks our great Tribune?

Rie. A fit tale of mirth,

To crown the goblet! (Enter the masquers, at different sides.) Doubt! Spake I of doubt?

Fear! Said I fear? So fenced around by friends,

Allies and kinsmen, what have I to fear

From treason or from traitors! Say yon band

Were rebels, ye would guard me! Call them murderers,

Ye would avenge me.

Urs. Ay, by death.

Rie.

And thou?

Col. By death!

Rie. Seize the foul traitors. (To the masquers, who seize the nobles.) Ye have passed

Your own just sentence. Yield, my masters, yield!
Your men are overpowered; your masquers chained :
The courts are lined with guards, and at one stroke-
One touch upon the bell, the strength of Rome,

All that hath life within the walls, will rise

To crush ye.

Yield your swords. Do ye not shame To wear them! Yield your swords. (Enter Angelo.) Angelo. Rienzi-(Then to one of the guards, who seizes Colonna.) Villain!

An thou but touch the lord Colonna-ay,

An thou but dare to lay thy ruffian hand

Upon his garment

Rie. Seize his sword.

Ang. Father, in mercy speak! Give me a cause,

And though a legion hemmed thee in, thy son

Should rescue thee. Speak but one word, dear father,
Only one word! Sure as I live, thou art guiltless;
Sure as the sun tracks his bright path in heaven,

Thy course is pure. Yet speak!

Rie. He is silent.

Ang. Speak.

Rie. Doth not that silence answer thee? Look on them. Thou knowest them, Angelo-the bold Savelli,

The Frangipani, and the Ursini

Ay, and the high Colonna; well thou knowest