Page images
PDF
EPUB

For by your life we entertain our lives.

Tamb. But sons, this subject, not of force enough To hold the fiery spirit it contains, Must part, imparting his impressions By equal portions unto both your breasts; My flesh, divided in your precious shapes, Shall still retain my spirit, though I die, And live in all your seeds immortally. Then now remove me, that I may resign My place and proper title to my son. First, take my scourge and my imperial crown, And mount my royal chariot of estate, That I may see thee crown'd before I die. Help me, my lords, to make my last remove. Ther. Woeful change, my lords; it daunts our

thoughts, More than the ruin of our proper souls.

Tamb. Sit up, my son, [and] let me see how well Thou wilt become thy father's majesty.

[They crown Amyras. Amy. With what a flinty bosom should I joy The breath of life and burthen of my soul, If not 'resolv'd into resolved pains, My body's mortified laments Should exercise the motions of my heart, Pierc'd with the joy of any dignity!+ O father! if the unrelenting ears

* Lineament in the 8vo. + The meaning of this sentence is too obscure for ordinary comprehension, it is past finding out.'

Of death and hell be shut against my pray'rs,
And that the spiteful influence of Heaven,
Deny my soul fruition of her joy;

How should I step, or stir my hateful feet
Against the inward powers of my heart,
Leading a life that only strives to die,
And plead in vain unpleasing sovereignty.

TAMB. Let not thy love exceed thine honour, son Nor bar thy mind that magnanimity

That nobly must admit necessity.

Sit up, my boy, and with these silken reins
Bridle the steeled stomachs of these jades.
THER. My lord, you must obey his majesty,

Since fate commands and proud necessity.

AMY. Heav'ns witness me with what a broken heart

And damned spirit I ascend this seat,

And send my soul before my father die,

His anguish and his burning agony !

TAMB. Now fetch the hearse of fair Zenocrate; Let it be plac'd by this my fatal chair, And serve as parcel of my funeral.

USUM. Then feels your majesty no sovereign ease, Nor may our hearts, all drown'd in tears of blood, Joy any hope of your recovery?

TAMB. Casane, no; the monarch of the earth,
And eyeless monster that torments my soul,
Can not behold the tears ye shed for me,
And therefore still augments his cruelty.

Tech. Then let some God oppose his holy pow'r Against the wrath and tyranny of death, That his tear-thirsty and unquenched hate May be upon himself reverberate !

[They bring in the hearse.
TAMB. Now eyes enjoy your latest benefit,
And when my soul hath virtue of your sight,
Pierce through the coffin and the sheet of gold,
And glut your longings with a heav'n of joy.
So reign, my son, scourge and controul those slaves,
Guiding thy chariot with thy father's hand.
As precious is the charge thou undertak'st
As that which Clymene's brain-sick son did guide,
When wand'ring Phoebus' iv'ry cheeks were scorch'd,
And all the earth, like Ætna, breathing fire ;
Be warn’d by him, then; learn with awful eye
To sway a throne as dangerous as his;
For if thy body thrive not full of thoughts
As pure and fiery as Phoebus' beams,
The nature of these proud rebelling jades
Will take occasion by the slenderest hair,
And draw thee piecemeal like Hippolitus,
Through rocks more steep and sharp than Caspian

cliffs.
The nature of thy chariot will not bear
A guide of baser temper than myself,
More than Heav'n's coach the pride of Phaeton.
Farewel, my boys! my dearest friends farewel !
My body feels, my soul doth weep to see

Your sweet desires depriv'd my company,
For Tamburlaine, the scourge of God, must die.

[He dies. Amy. Meet heaven and earth, and here let all

things end,
For earth hath spent the pride of all her fruit,
And Heav'n consum'd his choicest living fire.
Let earth and Heav'n his timeless death deplore,
For both their worths will equal him no more.

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »