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Like undertakers, measuring men for shrouds'Tis not a soldier's office!

Rien. These are scruples,

Fantastic honor starts in gallant minds;

'Twere weakness to indulge them.-Count Alasco!
(Enter Alasco. They all rise.)

Welcome, brave chief! our sanction and our strength!
Your presence breathes new vigor in our hearts,
And winds up our intents at once to action.

Alasco. Brave friends and countrymen! why late I come Amongst you, and so long have stood aloof,

As one who seemed indifferent, or adverse

To the great cause that moves you, you have heard
Already from my friend. You will not doubt
My zeal, though tardy.

'Tis indeed most true,

I have not stirred you to this enterprise.

I would not idly mouth your wrongs, nor seek
To fire the train of fury in your hearts,
'Till injuries past sufferance, as past hope,
Should blaze the exploding vengeance on your foes,
And make it policy, as well as justice.

Revolt's a desperate game, that none should play,
Who feel they've aught to lose, which they prize more
Than liberty.

Rien. Noble Alasco! we

Are resolved to die, or free our country.

Alas. O! brave alternative, and worthy heroes! (They all draw their swords, and exclaim,)

Alasco and our country!-liberty or death!

Alas. Then, since your hearts are wound up to this pitch,

And, edged with wrongs, your unsuborned swords

Have leaped their scabbards thus, behold! at once

I pledge me to your purpose.

Yes, from this moment, do I here suspend

All private functions-supersede all claims

All duties of my station and degree,

Which might disturb me in this glorious course,
And give myself up wholly to my country.

Mal. We will assert our freedom, and inflict
A signal vengeance.

(Several voices heard.) Yes, revenge and liberty. Alas. Then let our liberty be our revenge.But now, my friends! to business, for the time

Is critical. His late defeat, I fear,
Has startled Hohendahl to vigilance,
And waked him to a danger he despised.
Let each man muster all his force, and march
In midnight silence to the appointed ground,
Behind the abbey church. To-morrow's dawn

Must see us in the field. If we surprise
The castle, ere such succors shall arrive,
As may defy our strength, we strike a blow,
That sets wise speculation on our side,
And wins at once the wavering multitude.

Mal. By heaven! we'll burn the castle to the ground,
And in its ruins bury all its inmates.

Alas. Sir! let us fight like men, in the fair field.
Strike, where our liberties demand the blow,—
But spare, where only cowards would inflict it.

Mal. We may be too magnanimous, my lord,

And in our lenity, betray our country.

Alas. Nay, do not hold that maxim! of all traitors,
The worst is he, who stains his country's cause
With cruelty; making it hideous in

The general eye, and fearful to its friends.

Con. By Mars! that touches home. (Aside.) Then as our chief,

'Tis fit that you peruse this document.

(Takes up a paper and presents it to Alasco.) Alas. What is its purport, Conrad ?

Con. O! promotions!

The staff of a new corps of skeletons—

A kind of scarecrow company !-to serve

In shrouds and winding sheets.

Alas. (Reading.) What! a proscription ?-Colonel Walsingham!

Con. Yes, yes! you'll find some friends upon the list.
Rien. Conrad! your humor lacks discretion here.
Mal. There is not a man among us but may plead

A spirit smarting from some grievous wrong,

To justify his vengeance.

Alas. Sir, what wrong

Procured the honored name of Walsingham,

A place on such a list?

Mal. He is an Englishman!

Alas. Yes, and his virtues well sustain a name

Long dear to feedom.

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Foe to our faith, our freedom, and our country.
But he has a handsome daughter.

Alas. Sir, beware!

That lady's name is not to be profaned

By vulgar mouths, nor mingled with the sounds,

That from a ruffian's tongue would stimulate

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Alas. (Looking round with indignation.) And have you all combined in this foul compact?

All signed and sealed this instrument of blood?
Are we met here, in dark conspiracy
To club our mite of malice and revenge-
For each with cunning cowardice to graft
His private wrongs upon the public stock,
And make the state his champion?

Rien. Noble Alasco!

If we through over zeal, have erred in this,
You are our chief, and may annul our purpose.

Alas. (Tearing the paper.) Then, thus I use my privilege! sacred powers!

I thought I had joined me to a noble band.

Rien. And such, we dare assert, our deeds shall prove us Alas. Away! you will crouch like slaves, or kill like cow. ards.

What! you have swords! by heaven you dare not use them! A sword is the brave man's weapon-you mistake

Your

instruments-knives-daggers best become you! Heavens! am I leagued with cut throats and assassins? With wretches, who at midnight lurk in caves,

To mark their prey, and meditate their murders?

Well then! to your office-if you must stab,

Begin with me ;-here-here, plant all your daggers!
Much rather would I as your victim die,
Than live as your accomplice.

Rien. Spare us, my lord!

Nor press this past endurance; your reproof
Has sunk into our hearts, and shamed away
All passions but for freedom, and our country.

Ålas. Your country's freedom! say your own discharge From wholesome rule and honest industry!—

You mean immunity for blood and spoil ;-
The privilege of wild riot and revenge ;-
The liberty of lawless depredation.

Con. (Advancing earnestly.) O! brave friends!
Or let me close this breach, or perish in it!
For 'tis a gap that's wide enough for ruin.
Come! let us clear our honor, and our cause,
At once, from this foul taint; let each man here,
Who bears a patriot's heart, draw forth his sword,
And on that hallowed cross, the soldier holds
An emblem of his faith, defense, and service,
Swear to repress all promptings of revenge,
All private interests, ends, and enmities;
And as he hopes for honor, fame, or safety,
Seek alone his country's weal, and freedom.

(The chiefs all draw their swords, kneel down and kiss the hilt.) Rien. We swear-and as our hearts are in the oath,

So may our wishes prosper!

Alas. (Kneels also.) Record it, heaven!

And in a cause so just, vouchsafe thy guidance. (They all rise.) This solemn sanction, Conrad, reassures me.

Now, once again, I pledge me to your fortunes.

My friends, your hands!

Whate'er of comment harsh, in heat has passed,
To chafe, or wound one generous spirit here,

Your candor, sirs, will in its cause excuse.

Rien. The fault is ours-we own it, and our swords

To-morrow shall redeem it on the foe.

Alas. Then to our work like men, who are fit for liberty!

Fierce in the field as tigers for our rights,

But when the sword is sheathed, the friends of peace,

And firm, for law and justice.

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Portius. You know, I'd rather die than disobey you.

Scene.-A Chamber.

(Cato, solus, sitting in a thoughtful posture; in his hand, Plato's book on the Immortality of the Soul; a drawn sword on the table by him.)

Cato. It must be so-Plato, thou reasonest wellElse whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,

This longing after immortality?

Or whence this secret dread, this inward horror,
Of falling into nought! Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us;

"Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.

Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!
Through what variety of untried being,

Through what new scenes and changes, must we pass?

The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me:
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.
Here will I hold. If there's a power above us,
(And that there is, all Nature cries aloud

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