In such a contract; but I find no change
Of pleasure in this formal law of sports.
She is still one to me, and every kiss
As sweet and as delicious as the first
I reap'd, when yet the privilege of youth
Entitled her a virgin. O the glory

Of two united hearts like hers and mine!
Let poring book-men dream of other worlds;
My world, and all of happiness, is here,
And I'd not change it for the best to come:
A life of pleasure is Elysium.

Enter FRIAR.

Father, you enter on the jubilee

Of my

you,

retired delights; now I can tell
The hell you oft have prompted, is nought else
But slavish and fond superstitious fear;
And I could prove it too--

Friar. Thy blindness slays thee:

Look there, 'tis writ to thee. [Gives him the letter.
Gio. From whom?

Friar. Unrip the seals and see;

The blood's yet seething hot, that will anon
Be frozen harder than congealed coral.-
Why d'ye change colour, son?

Gio. 'Fore heaven, you make
Some petty devil factor 'twixt my love
And your religion-masked sorceries.
Where had you this?

Friar. Thy conscience, youth, is sear'd,
Else thou would'st stoop to warning.

Gio. 'Tis her hand,

I know't; and 'tis all written in her blood.

She writes I know not what. Death! I'll not

fear

An armed thunderbolt aim'd at my heart.
She writes, we are discover'd-pox on dreams
Of low faint-hearted cowardice!-discover'd?

The devil we are! which way is't possible?
Are we grown traitors to our own delights?
Confusion take such dotage! 'tis but forged;
This is your peevish chattering, weak old man!-
Now, sir, what news bring you?

Enter VASQUES.

Vas. My lord, according to his yearly custom, keeping this day a feast in honour of his birthday, by me invites you thither. Your worthy father, with the pope's reverend nuncio, and other magnificoes of Parma, have promised their presence; will't please you to be of the number? Gio. Yes, tell [him] I dare come.

Vas. Dare come?

Gio. So I said; and tell him more, I will come.
Vas. These words are strange to me.
Gio. Say, I will come.

Vas. You will not miss ?

Gio. Yet more! I'll come, sir. Are you answered?

Vas. So I'll say--my service to you. [Exit. Friar. You will not go, I trust.

Gio. Not go! for what?

Friar. O, do not go; this feast, I'll gage my life,

Is but a plot to train you to your ruin;
Be ruled, you shall not go.

Gio. Not go! stood death

Threatening his armies of confounding plagues,
With hosts of dangers hot as blazing stars,
I would be there; not go! yes, and resolve
To strike as deep in slaughter as they all;
For I will go.

Friar. Go where thou wilt ;--I see
The wildness of thy fate draws to an end,
To a bad fearful end :-I must not stay
To know thy fall; back to Bononia I

With speed will haste, and shun this coming blow.
Parma, farewell; would I had never known thee,
Or aught of thine! Well, young man, since no

prayer

Can make thee safe, I leave thee to despair. [Exit.
Gio. Despair, or tortures of a thousand hells,
All's one to me; I have set up my rest.*
Now, now, work serious thoughts on baneful
plots;

Be all a man, my soul; let not the curse
Of old prescription rend from me the gall
Of courage, which enrolls a glorious death:

I have set up my rest.] i. e. I have made my determination; taken my fixed and final resolution.-See Jonson, vol. ii. p. 142.

If I must totter like a well-grown oak,
Some under-shrubs shall in my weighty fall
Be crush'd to splits; with me they all shall perish!

[Exit.

SCENE IV.

A Hall in SORANZO's House.

Enter SORANZO, VASQUES with Masks, and BAN

DITTI.

Sor. You will not fail, or shrink in the attempt? Vas. I will undertake for their parts; be sure, my masters, to be bloody enough, and as unmerciful as if you were preying upon a rich booty on the very mountains of Liguria: for your pardons, trust to my lord; but for reward, you shall trust none but your own pockets.

Banditti. We'll make a murder.

Sor. Here's gold,-[Gives them money]-here's more; want nothing; what you do

Is noble, and an act of brave revenge:

I'll make you rich, banditti, and all free.

Omnes. Liberty! liberty!

Vas. Hold, take every man a vizard; when you are withdrawn, keep as much silence as you ean possibly. You know the watch-word,' till which be spoken, move not; but when you hear that,

You know the watch-word.] It appears, from a subsequent passage, that this was "VENGEANCE."

rush in like a stormy flood: I need not instruct you in your own profession.

Omnes. No, no, no.

Vas. In, then; your ends are profit and preferment.-Away!

[Exeunt BAN. Sor. The guests will all come, Vasques?

Vas. Yes, sir. And now let me a little edge your resolution: you see nothing is unready to this great work, but a great mind in you; call to your remembrance your disgraces, your loss of honour, Hippolita's blood, and arm your courage in your own wrongs; so shall you best right those wrongs in vengeance, which you may truly call your own.

Sor. 'Tis well; the less I speak, the more I burn,

And blood shall quench that flame.

Vas. Now you begin to turn Italian. This beside; when my young incest-monger comes, he will be sharp set on his old bit: give him time enough, let him have your chamber and bed at liberty; let my hot hare have law ere he be hunted to his death, that, if it be possible, he post to hell in the very act of his damnation.°

Sor. It shall be so; and see, as we would wish, He comes himself first

That, if it be possible, he post to hell in the very act of his damnation.] This infernal sentiment has been copied from Shakspeare by several writers who were nearly his contemporaries.Reed. It is not, however, ill placed in the mouth of such an incarnate fiend as Vasques.