Eme. According to the sworn attests in council Of her physician--

R. Kiu. (aside.) Yes! the Jew, Barzoni!

Eme. Under the imminent risk of death she lies, Or irrecoverable loss of reason,

If known friend's face or voice renew the frenzy. Cas. (to Kiuprili.) Trust me, my lord! a woman's trick has duped you--

Us too---but most of all, the sainted Andreas. Even for his own fair fame, his grace prays hourly For her recovery, that (the States convened)

She

may take counsel of her friends. Eme. Right, Casimir! Receive my pledge, lord general. It shall stand In her own will to appear and voice her claims; Or (which in truth I hold the wiser course) With all the past passed by, as family quarrels, Let the Queen Dowager, with unblenched honors, Resume her state, our first Illyrian matron.

R. Kiu. Prince Emerick! you speak fairly, and your pledge too

Is such, as well would suit an honest meaning. Cas. My lord! you scarce know half his grace's goodness.

The wealthy heiress, high-born fair Sarolta,

Bred in the convent of our noble ladies,

Her relative, the venerable abbess,

Hath, at his grace's urgence, wooed and won for me. Eme. Long may the race, and long may that

name flourish,

Which your heroic deeds, brave chief, have rendered Dear and illustrious to all true Illyrians.

R. Kiu. The longest line, that ever tracing herald Or found or feigned, placed by a beggar's soul, Hath but a mushroom's date in the comparison: And with the soul, the conscience is coeval, Yea, the soul's essence.

Eme.

Conscience, good my lord,
Is it conscience,

Is but the pulse of reason.

That a free nation should be handed down,

Like the dull clods beneath our feet, by chance And the blind law of lineage? That whether inOr man matured, a wise man or an idiot,

[fant,

Hero or natural coward, shall have guidance

Of a free people's destiny, should fall out
In the mere lottery of a reckless nature,
Where few the prizes and the blanks are countless ?
Or haply that a nation's fate should hang
On the bald accident of a midwife's handling
The unclosed sutures of an infant's skull? [need,

Cas. What better claim can sovereign wish or
Than the free voice of men who love their country?
Those chiefly who have fought for't? Who by right,
Claim for their monarch one, who having obeyed,
So hath best learnt to govern; who having suffered,
Can feel for each brave sufferer and reward him?
Whence sprang the name of Emperor? Was it not
By nature's fiat? In the storm of triumph,
'Mid warriors' shouts, did her oracular voice
Make itself heard: Let the commanding spirit

Possess the station of command!

R. Kiu.

Prince Emerick,

Your cause will prosper best in your own pleading. Eme. (aside to Casimir.) Ragozzi was thy school-mate—a bold spirit!

Bind him to us!-Thy father thaws apace!

[then aloud. Leave us awhile, my lord !—Your friend, Ragozzi, Whom you have not yet seen since his return, Commands the guard to-day.

[Casimir retires to the Guard-house; and after a time appears before it with Chef Ragozzi.

We are alone.

What further pledge or proof desires Kiuprili?

Then, with your assent

R. Kiu.

Mistake not for assent

[Prince!

The unquiet silence of a stern resolve

Throttling the impatient voice. I have heard thee, And I have watched thee, too; but have small faith A plausible tale told with a flitting eye.

[in

[Emerick turns as about to call for the Guard. In the next moment I am in thy power, In this thou art in mine. Stir but a step, Or make one sign---I swear by this good sword, Thou diest that instant. [homily. Eme. Ha, ha!--- Well, Sir !---Conclude your R. Kiu. A tale which, whether true or false,

comes guarded

Against all means of proof, detects itself.

VOL. II.

S

The Queen mew'd up---this too from anxious care
And love brought forth of a sudden, a twin birth
With thy discovery of her plot to rob thee
Of a rightful throne !---Mark how the scorpion,
falsehood,

Coils round in its own perplexity, and fixes

Its sting in its own head!

Eme.

Ay! to the mark!

R. Kiu. Hadst thou believed thine own tale,

hadst thou fancied

Thyself the rightful successor of Andreas, Wouldst thou have pilfered from our school-boys'

themes

These shallow sophisms of a popular choice?
What people? How convened? or, if convened,
Must not the magic power that charms together
Millions of men in council, needs have power
To win or wield them? Better, O far better
Shout forth thy titles to yon circling mountains,
And with a thousand-fold reverberation

Make the rocks flatter thee, and the volleying air,
Unbribed, shout back to thee, King Emerick!
By wholesome laws to embank the sovereign power,
To deepen by restraint, and by prevention
Of lawless will to amass and guide the flood
In its majestic channel, is man's task

And the true patriot's glory! In all else

Men safelier trust to Heaven, than to themselves When least themselves in the mad whirl of crowds Where folly is contagious, and too oft

Even wise men leave their better sense at home To chide and wonder at them when returned.

Eme. Is't thus, thou scoff'st the people? most of The soldiers, the defenders of the people?

[all,

R. Kiu. O most of all, most miserable nation,
For whom the imperial power, enormous bubble!
Is blown and kept aloft, or burst and shattered
By the bribed breath of a lewd soldiery!
Chiefly of such, as from the frontiers far,
(Which is the noblest station of true warriors)
In rank licentious idleness beleaguer
City and Court, a venomed thorn i'the side
Of virtuous kings, the tyrant's slave and tyrant,
Still ravening for fresh largess! But with such
What title claim'st thou, save thy birth? What
merits

Which many a liegeman may not plead as well,
Brave though I grant thee? If a life outlaboured
Head, heart, and fortunate arm, in watch and war
For the land's fame and weal; if large acquests,
Made honest by the aggression of the foe,
And whose best praise is, that they bring us safety;
If victory, doubly-wreathed, whose under-garland
Of laurel-leaves looks greener and more sparkling
Thro' the gray olive-branch; if these, Prince Eme-
rick!

Give the true title to the throne, not thou---
No! (let Illyria, let the infidel enemy

Be judge and arbiter between us !) I,

I were the rightful sovereign!