While yet the beams of glory smil'd around her.
Then did I coldly push this blessing from me;-
Now in confinement, at the gates of death,
I claim her, at the hazard of mý life.
Mort. That looks magnanimous, my Lord-

Lei. The state

Of circumstances, since that time, is chang'd.
'Twas my
ambition blunted all my feelings

'Gainst youth and beauty.—Mary's hand I held Too insignificant for me;-I hoped

To be the husband of the Queen of England.

Mort. It is notorious, that she preferr'd you Before all others.

Lei. So it seem'd, Sir; yet

Now, after ten lost years of tedious courtship,
And hateful self-constraint-O, Sir, my heart
Must ease itself of this long agony.-

They call me happy!-did they only know
What the chains are, for which they envy me!
When I had sacrificed ten bitter

To the proud idol of her vanity;

Submitted with a slave's humility

years

To ev'ry change of her despotic fancies;

The plaything of her little, humoursome,
Capricious wilfulness; now by her love
Caress'd, and now, with prudish pride, rejected;
Alike tormented by her grace and rigour :
Watch'd like a pris'ner by the Argus-eyes
Of jealousy; examin'd like a school-boy,
And rail'd at like a servant.-O, no tongue
Can paint this hell !----

Mort. My Lord, I feel for you.

Lei. To lose, and at the very goal, the prize!-
Another comes to rob me of the fruits

Of my so anxious wooing.-I must lose
To her young blooming husband all those rights
Of which I was so long in full possession;
And I must from the stage descend, where I
So long have play'd the most distinguish'd part.
Not of her hand alone, this envious stranger
Threatens to rob me of her favour too;

She is a woman, and he's form'd to please.

Mort. He is the son of Cath'rine-he has learnt,

In a good school, the arts of flattery.

Lei. Thus fall my hopes ;-I strove to seize a plank

To bear me in this shipwreck of my fortunes,
And my eye turn'd itself tow'rds the fair hope
Of former days once more; then Mary's image
Within me was renew'd, and youth and beauty
Once more asserted all their former rights.
No more 'twas cold ambition; 'twas my heart
Which now compar'd, and with regret I felt
The value of the jewel I had lost.
With horror I beheld her in the depths
Of misery, cast down by my transgression;
Then wak'd the hope in me, that I might still
Deliver and possess her; I contriv'd

To send her, through a faithful hand, the news
Of my conversion to her interests;

And in this letter which you brought me, she
Assures me that she pardons me, and offers
Herself as guerdon, if I rescue her.—

Mort. But you attempted nothing for her rescue.

You suffer'd patiently her condemnation ;

You gave, yourself, your verdict for her death; A miracle must happen, and the light

Of truth must move me, me, her keeper's nephew,

And Heav'n must, in the Vatican at Rome,

Prepare for her an unexpected succour,
Else had she never found the way to you.'

Lei. O, Sir! it has tormented me enough!
About this time it was, that they remov'd her
From Talbot's castle, and deliver'd her
Up to your uncle's stricter custody.
Each way to her was shut.-I was oblig'd,
Before the world, to persecute her still;
But do not think that I would patiently
Have seen her led to death.-No, Sir; I hop'd,'
And I hope still, to ward off all extremes,

Till I can find some certain mean to save her.

Mort. That is already found: my Lord of Leicester, Your gen'rous confidence in me, deserves

A like return.-I will deliver her

That is my object here-my dispositions

Are made already, and your pow'rful aid,
Assures us of success in our attempt.

Lei. What say you?-you alarm me—how ?—
you would-

Mort. I'll open forcibly her prison-gates

I have confederates, and all is ready.

:

Lei. You have confederates, accomplices?

H

Alas! in what rash enterprizes would you

Engage me? and these friends, know they my secret? Mort. Fear not; our plan was laid without

your

help, Without your help it would have been accomplish'd, Had she not signified her resolution

To owe to you alone her liberty.

Lei. And can you then, with certainty, assure me,
That in your plot my name has not been mention'd.
Mort. You may depend upon it-how, my Lord,
So scrupulous when help is offer'd you?
You wish to rescue Mary, and

possess

her;

You find confed'rates; sudden, unexpected

The readiest means fall, as if it were from Heav'n,

Yet

you shew more perplexity than joy.

Lei. We must avoid all violence; it is

Too dangerous an enterprize.—