His post, and lets the enemy to the tent? Maximin. Sign that sentence then. I shall be found beside a new-made grave In Santa Chiara. Durazzo. Maximin. If you delay. Art thou mad? I shall be Durazzo (to Guards). See this man into Hungary. ACT V. SCENE VII. MONASTERY GARDEN. 10 NAPLES. Rupert (alone). There are some pleasures serious men sigh over, And there are others maniacs hug in chains: God knows how truly I wisht her life; not her imprisonment More truly. Maximin and Agatha In the queen's life would never have come forth. Derision, scoffs and scorns, must be rebuft, Power I hold: 10 20 Why shun men's looks? why my own thoughts. . afraid? No, I am not afraid : but phantasies Long dwelt on let us thro'. If I do quail, 'Tis not the mind, the spirit; 'tis the body. A Monk (entering). Father I come from Muro, where a woman (Sickly before) for days refused all food, And now is dead. Rupert. Rupert. 30 What is her name? One Agatha. Did she receive the holy Sacrament? Monk. You must have known she did, else why such joy? She would receive nought else. Rupert. Then she is safe. Monk. We trust in God she is: yet she herself Had pious doubt. Rupert. Of what was her discourse? Monk. Her mind, ere she departed, wandered from her. Rupert. What did she talk about? dost hear? Monk. She said, 40 Rupert. Monk. Her mind, observe, was wandering. 66 Rupert, if he could see me, might be " ... What? Rupert. Thine is too. "Saved." Tell me the very word she uttered. Monk. Blessings upon her! your uplifted hands And radiant brow announce her present bliss. And through her fingers and her palm could see From which the square-set jewels were removed, 60 And this broad golden piece, with its long chain Rupert. Take it, pr'ythee, and begone. [Monk goes. Nothing has hurt me: none have seen me. None? Ye saints of heaven! hath ever prayer been miss'd? Why do ye then abandon me? like one Whom in your wrath ye hurl aside; like one Scathed by those lightnings which God's sleepless eye Rejoice was not for them. Even of Agatha I did repent. I did repent the noble friends had fallen. 'Twas not quite well: 'twas harsh, 'twas merciless: Andrea had not done it. Have my words Sorcery in them? do they wake the dead? Curse me, kill me; 'Twere mercy, 'twere compassion, not revenge; I will arise, Push off this rack that rends me, rush before him (Enter Officers.) First Officer. Traitor! the king hath traced all thy devices. Rupert. Without them he had ne'er been what ye style him. First Officer. Come thy way. Rupert. My way? my way?.. I've travell'd it enough, With or without thee I will take another. Second Officer. Whither! Rupert (points to the window). Look yonder! There it lies. Andrea! [Stabs himself. I10 First Officer (after a pause). Merciful God! end thus his many crimes? Third Officer (after a pause). What moans and piteous wailings from the street! Second Officer. Can they arise for him so suddenly? First Officer. There are too many. None hath told the deed Beyond this spot, none seen it. Third Officer. Now you hear Distinctly; if distinctly may be heard The wail of thousands. Second Officer. Their queen's name they cry. Third Officer. With blessings. 120 Now, at last, ye know Giovanna; And now will Rupert too be known, tho' late. VOL. I. S THE SIEGE OF ANCONA. No event in the history of Italy, including the Roman, is at once so tragical and so glorious as the siege of Ancona; nor shall we find at any period of it, two contemporary characters so admirable for disinterested valour and prompt humanity, as William degli Adelardi of Marchesella, and the Countess of Bertinoro. The names of those who sustained the siege are, for the most part, forgotten: but Muratori has inserted in his imperishable work the narratives of contemporary and nearly contemporary authors; and Sismondi has rendered many of the facts more generally known.-Hist. des Répub. Ital., tome xi. ch. i. MALE CHARACTERS. THE CONSUL OF ANCONA. THE ARCHBISHOP OF MENTZ. THE BISHOP OF ANCONA. ANTONIO STAMURA. FATHER JOHN. MINUZZI. COSTANZIO. CORRADO, brother of Costanzio. PAOLUCCI, formerly MARCHESELLA. HERALD, SENATORS, OFFICERS, PRIESTS, Consul. FEMALE CHARACTERS. ERMINIA, the Consul's daughter. NINA, her companion. ANGELICA, mother of Antonio Stamura. MALASPINA. COUNTESS OF BERTINORO. MARCA, attendant on Erminia. ACT I. SCENE I. On the steps of the cathedral, commanding a view of the country. Many of all ages are leaving the church and looking at the approach of the Archbishop, just beyond the walls, descending the hill. Erminia. Nina! see what our matin prayers have brought us. Ọ what a sight! The youth and maidens fly, |