Mar. jun. Then nothing can be ill. Something thou seem'st to know that's terrible, Out with it boldly, man; what cans't thou say Of my Lavinia?

Cat. But one sad word, she's dead:

*

Here in her kindred's vault I've seen her laid,
And have been searching you to tell the news.
Mar. jun. Dead! is it so? then I deny you, stars.
Go, hasten quickly, get me ink and paper.
Tis done: I'll hence to-night.

Hast thou no letters to me from the priest?
Cat. No, my good lord.

Mar. jun. No matter, get thee gone
Lavinia! yet I'll lie with thee to-night;

[Exit Catulus,

But for the means. Oh mischief! thou art swift
To catch the straggling thoughts of desp❜rate men.
I do remember an apothecary,

That dwelt about this rendezvous of death:
Meagre and very rueful were his looks;
Sharp misery had worn him to the bones;
And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,
An alligator stuff'd, and other skins
Of ill-shap'd fishes: and about his shelves
A beggarly account of empty boxes,

Green earthen-pots, bladders, and musty seeds,
Remnants of pack-thread, and old cakes of roses,
Were thinly scatter'd to make up a show.
Oh for a poison now! his need will sell it,
Tho' it be present death by Roman law.
As I remember, this should be the house.
His shop is shut: with beggars all are holidays.
Holla! Apothecary; hoa!

Enter Apothecary.

Apoth. Who's there?

Mar. jun. Come hither, man, I see thou'rt very poor;

* Some of the editors of Shakespeare read-/DEFY you, stars,

Thou may'st do any thing: here's fifty drachmas;
Get me a draught of that will soonest free

A wretch from all his cares: thou understand'st me.
Apoth. Such mortal drugs I have, but Roman law
Speaks death to any he that utters them.

Mar. jun. Art thou so base, and full of wretchedness, Yet fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression stareth in thy eyes, Contempt and beggary hang on thy back; The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law; The world affords no law to make thee rich: Then be not poor, but break it, and take this. Apoth. My poverty, but not my will consents[Goes in, and fetches a Phial of Poison. Take this and drink it off, the work is done. Mar.jun. There is thy gold, worse poison to men's souls,

Doing more murders in this loathsome world

Than these poor compounds thou'rt forbid to sell.
I sell thee poison, thou hast sold me none.
Farewell-buy food-and get thyself in flesh.
Now for the monument of the Metelli-

[Exit

Seene draws, and shews the Temple and Monument.

Re-enter MARIUS.

It should be here: the door is open too.

Th' insatiate mouth of fate gapes wide for more.

Enter Priest and Boy, with a Mattock and Iron Crow*.

[Exit Boy.

Priest. Give me the mattock and the wrenching iron! Now take this letter, with what haste thou canst Find out young Marius, and deliver it. Now must I to the monument alone. What wretch is he that's ent'ring into th' tomb? Some villain come to rob and spoil the dead.Whoe'er thou art, stop thy unhallow'd purpose.

* "Romeo and Juliet," act 5. sc. 2.

Mar. jun. Whoe'er thou art, I warn thee to be gone, And do not interrupt iny horrid purpose.

For else, by heav'n, I'll tear thee joint by joint,
And strew this hungry church-yard with thy limbs.
My mind, and it's intents are savage, wild,
More fierce and more inexorable far

Than empty tigers, or the roaring sea.

Priest. Then as a sacrilegious slave, I charge thee, Obey, and go with me, or thou must die.

Mar. jun. I know I must, and therefore I came hither. Good rev'rence, do not tempt a desp'rate man. By heav'n, I love thee better than myself; For I against myself come hither arm'd. Stay not, begone-live, and hereafter say, A madman's mercy gave thee honest counsel. Priest. I do defy thy mercy and thy counsel, And here will seize thee as a thief and robber.

Mar. jun. Wilt thou provoke me? then here, take thy wages. [Kills him. Priest. I'm kill'd. Oh Marius! now too late I know

thee.

Thou'st slain the only man could do thee good.
Lavinia-oh!-

Mar. jun. Let me peruse this face.

It is the honest priest that join'd our hands,
In a disguise conceal'd. Give me thy hand;
Since in ill fate's black roll with me thou'rt writ,
I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave.

[Dies,

Thou détestable maw, thou womb of death,
Gorg'd with the dearest morsel of the earth,
Thus will I force thy rotten jaws to open,
And spite of thee, yet cram thee with more food.
[Pulls down the side of the Tomb.
Oh gorgeous palace! oh my love! my wife!
Death has had yet no pow'r upon thy beauty;
That is not conquer'd. Beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks;
And the pale flag is not advanc'd yet there.
Why art thou still so fair? shall I believe
That the lean monster death is amorous,

And keeps thee here in darkness for his paramour?
For fear of that, I'll stay with thee for ever.

Come, bitter conduct, thou unsav'ry guide:

Here's to my

love

[Drinks the Poison, And now, eyes, look your last, Arms, take your last embrace, whilst on these lips I fix the seal of an eternal contract

She breathes and stirs!

"Tis

very

cold: and

yet

[Lavinia wakes.

Lav. in the Tomb. Where am I? bless me, heav'n!
here's something warm-
Mar. jun. She lives, and we shall both be made im-
mortal.

Speak, my Lavinia, speak some heav'nly news,
And tell me how the gods design to treat us.

Lav. O! I have slept a long ten thousand years.
What have they done with me! I'll not be us'd thus:
I'll not wed Sylla. Marius is my husband;

Is he not, sir? methinks you're very like him.
Be good as he is, and protect me.

Mar. jun. Hah!

Wilt thou not own me? am I then but like him?
Much, much indeed I'm chang'd from what I was;
And ne'er shall be myself, if thou art lost.

Lav. The gods have heard my vows; it is Marius.
my
Once more they have restor❜d him to my eyes.
Hadst thou not come, sure I had slept for ever.
But there's a sovereign charm in thy embraces,
That might do wonders, and revive the dead.

Mar. jun. Ill-fate no more, Lavinia, now shall part us, Nor cruel parents, nor oppressing laws.

Did not heav'n's pow'rs all wonder at our loves?
And when thou told'st the tale of thy disasters
Was there not sadness and a gloom amongst them?
I know there was; and they in pity sent thee,
Thus to redeem me from this vale of torments,
And bear me with thee to those hills of joys.
This world's gross air grows burthensome already.
I'm all a god; such heav'nly joys transport me,
That mortal sense grows sick, and faints with tasting.

[Dies.

Το

Lav. Oh! to recount my happiness to thee, open all the treasure of

my soul,

And shew thee how 'tis fill'd, would waste more time
Than so impatient love as mine can spare.-

He's gone! he's dead! breathless: alas! my Marius.
A phial too; here, here has been his bane.
O churl! drink all? not leave one friendly drop
For poor Lavinia? yet I'll drain thy lips,
Perhaps some welcome poison may hang there,
To help me to o'ertake thee on thy journey.
Clammy and damp as earth. Hah! stains of blood?
And a man murder'd? 'Tis th' unhappy Flamen.
Who fix their joys on any thing that's mortal,
Let them behold my portion, and despair.
What shall I do? how will the gods dispose me?
Oh! I could rend these walls with lamentation,
Tear up the dead from their corrupted graves,

And daub the face of earth with her own bowels.

Enter MARIUS Senior, and Guards, driving in ME

TELLUS.

Mar.sen. Pursue the slave: let not his gods protect him. Lav. More mischiefs? ha! My father.

Met. Oh! I am slain.

[Falls down and dies.

Lav. And murder'd too! When will my woes have end?

Come, cruel tyrant.

Mar. sen. Sure I have known that face.

Lav. And canst thou think of any one good turn

That I have done thee, and not kill me for't?

Mar. sen. Art thou not call'd Lavinia?

Lav. Once I was:

But by my woes may now be better known.
Mar. sen. I cannot see thy face-

Lav. You must, and hear me.

By this, you must; nay, I will hold you fast.

[Seizes his Sword.

Mar. sen. What wouldst thou say? where's all my

rage gone now?

VOL. II.