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and hoping to get into his estate, hired us to hide him. That's all.

Mayor. And you the horrid deed performed? Shake. We did, with his assistance, and Green's and Michael's.

Mayor. This letter proves Alicia, from the first,

Was made acquainted with your black design. B. Will. I know nothing of that; but if she was, she repented of it afterwards. So, I think, you call a change of mind.

Mayor. That may avail her at the bar of hea

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Mos. To save a brother, and most wretched friend

Mayor. She has undone herself. Behold how innocence

May suffer in bad fellowship.-And Bradshaw, My honest neighbour Bradshaw, too: I read it With grief and wonder.

Brad. Madam, I appeal

To you; as you are shortly to appear
Before a judge, that sees our secret thoughts,
Say, had I knowledge, or—

Alic. You brought the letter,

But well I hope, you knew not the contents. Mayor. Hence with them all, till time and farther light

Shall clear these mysteries.

A. Fowl. If I'm condemned,

My blood be on his head, that gives the sentence. I'm not accused, and only ask for justice.

Frank. You shall have justice all, and rigorous justice.

So shall the growth of such enormous crimes,
By their dread fate, be checked in future times.
Of avarice, Mosby a dread instance prove,
And poor Alicia of unlawful love!

[Exeunt omnes.

ZARA.

BY

HILL.

PROLOGUE.

THE French, howe'er mercurial they may seem,
Extinguish half the fire, by critic phlegm;
While English writers nature's freedom claim,
And warm their scenes with an ungovern'd flame:
'Tis strange
that nature never should inspire
A Racine's judgment with a Shakespeare's fire!
Howe'er to-night-(to promise much we're loth)
But you've a chance, to have a taste of both.
From English plays, Zara's French author fir'd,
Confess'd his muse beyond herself inspir'd;
From rack'd Othello's rage he rais'd his style,
And snatch'd the brand that lights this tragic pile;
Zara's success his utmost hopes outflew,
And a twice twentieth weeping audience drew.
As for our English friend, he leaves to you,
Whate'er may seem to his performance due ;
No views of gain his hopes or fears engage,
He gives a child of leisure to the stage;
Willing to try, if yet forsaken nature
Can charm, with any one remember'd feature.
Thus far the author speaks--but now the
player,

With trembling heart, prefers his humble prayer.

To-night, the greatest venture of my life,
Is lost or sav'd, as you receive a wife:
If time, you think, may ripen her to merit,
With gentle smiles, support her wav'ring spirit.
Zara in France, at once an actress rais'd,
Warm'd into skill, by being kindly prais'd:
Oh! could such wonders here from favour flow,
How would our Zara's heart with transport glow!
But she, alas! by juster fears oppress'd,
Begs but your bare endurance, at the best;
Her unskill'd tongue would simple nature speak,
Nor dares her bounds, for false applauses, break.
Amidst a thousand faults, her best pretence
To please is unpresuming innocence.
When a chaste heart's distress your grief de-
mands,

One silent tear outweighs a thousand hands,
If she conveys the pleasing passions right,
Guard and support her this decisive night;
If she mistakes, or finds her strength too small,
Let interposing pity-break her fall.

In

you it rests, to save her, or destroy; If she draws tears from you, I weep for joy.

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Zara was performed in 1735, and first introduced to the stage the justly celebrated MRS CIBBER. She had not then attained her twentieth year, but those, who witnessed the whole of her after theatrical career, have declared that her talents admitted no improvement :---She burst forth at ouce in the maturity of grace and excellence. The effect on the audience may be conceived. The prologue was, of course, spoken by Mr Cibber

ACT I.

SCENE I.

Enter ZARA and SELIMA.

Sel. It moves my wonder, young and beauteous Zara,

Whence these new sentiments inspire your heart!
Your peace of mind increases with your charms :
Tears now no longer shade your eyes' soft lustre:
You meditate no more those happy climes,
To which Nerestan will return to guide you.
You talk no more of that gay nation now,
Where men adore their wives, and woman's
power

Draws reverence from a polished people's softness,
Their husbands' equals, and their lovers' queens;
Free without scandal; wise without restraint;
Their virtue due to nature, not to fear.
Why have you ceased to wish this happy change?
A barred seraglio!-sad, unsocial life!
Scorned, and a slave! All this has lost its terror;
And Syria rivals, now, the banks of Seine.
Zar. Joys, which we do not know, we do not
wish.

My fate's bound in by Sion's sacred wall:
Closed, from my infancy, within this palace,
Custom has learnt, from time, the power to
please.

I claim no share in the remoter world,
The sultan's property, his will my law;
Unknowing all but him, his power, his fame,
To live his subject is my only hope,
All else an empty dream.

Sel. Have you forgot

Absent Nerestan then, whose generous friendship

So nobly vowed redemption from your chains?
How oft have you admired his dauntless soul !
Osman, his conqueror, by his courage charmed,
Trusted his faith, and on his word released him:
Though not returned in time-we yet expect him.
Nor had his noble journey other motive,
Than to procure our ransom.-And is this,
This dear, warm hope, become an idle dream?
Zar. Since after two long years he not returns,
'Tis plain his promise stretch'd beyond his power.
A stranger and a slave, unknown, like him,
Proposing much, means little;-talks and vows,
Delighted with a prospect of escape :-
He promis'd to ransom ten Christians more,
And free us all from slavery!-I own
I once admired the unprofitable zeal,
But now it charms no longer.

Sel. What if yet,

He, faithful, should return, and hold his vow; Would you not then——

Zar. No matter-Time is past, And every thing is changed

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But, know me better- -'twas unjust suspicion.
All emperor as he is, I cannot stoop
To honours, that bring shame and baseness with
them:

Reason and pride, those props of modesty,
Sustain my guarded heart, and strengthen virtue :
Rather than sink to infamy, let chains
Embrace me with a joy, such love denies.
No-I shall now astonish thee;-His greatness
Submits to own a pure and honest flame.
Among the shining crowds, which live to please
him,

His whole regard is fixed on me alone:
He offers marriage; and its rites now wait,
To crown me empress of this eastern world.

Sel. Your virtue and your charms deserve it all:

My heart is not surpris'd but struck to hear it. If to be empress can complete your happiness, I rank myself with joy among your slaves.

Zar. Be still my equal-and enjoy my blessings;

For, thou partaking, they will bless me more.
Sel. Alas! but Heaven! will it permit this
marriage?

Will not this grandeur, falsely called a bliss,
Plant bitterness, and root it in your heart?
Have you forgot you are of Christian blood?

Zur. Ah me! What hast thou said? why

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Due to the God you purpose to forsake.
Zar. Can my fond heart, on such a feeble
proof,

Embrace a faith, abhorred by him I love?
I see too plainly custom forms us all;
Our thoughts, our morals, our most fixed belief,
Are consequences of our place of birth:
Born beyond Ganges, I had been a Pagan;
In France, a Christian; I am here a Saracen :
'Tis but instruction, all! Our parents' hand
Writes on our heart the first faint characters,
Which time, re-tracing, deepens into strength,
That nothing can efface, but death or Heaven.
Thou wert not made a prisoner in this place,
Till after reason, borrowing force from years,
Had lent its lustre to enlighten faith:-
For me, who, in my cradle, was their slave,
Thy Christian doctrines were too lately taught

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Nay-for I mean to tell thee all my weakness-
Perhaps I had, ere now, profest thy faith,
But Osman loved me-and I've lost it all :—
I think on none but Osman-my pleased heart,
Filled with the blessing, to be loved by him,
Wants room for other happiness. Place thou
Before thy eyes, his merit and his fame,
His youth, yet blooming but in manhood's dawn,
How many conquered kings have swelled his
power!

Think, too, how lovely! how his brow becomes
This wreath of early glories!-Oh, my friend!
I talk not of a sceptre which he gives me:

No to be charmed with that were thanks too humble,

Offensive tribute, and too poor for love! 'Twas Osman won my heart, not Osman's crown: I love not in him aught besides himself. Thou think'st, perhaps, that these are starts of passion:

But, had the will of Heaven, less bent to bless him,

Doom'd Osman to my chains, and me to fill The throne that Osman sits on-ruin and wretchedness

Catch and consume my wishes, but I would,
To raise him to myself, descend to him.

Sel. Hark! the wish'd music sounds-'Tis he-
he comes-
[Exit SEL.
Zar. My heart prevented him, and found him

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Their laws, their lives, their loves, delight not me.
I know our prophet smiles on am'rous wishes,
And opens a wide field to vast desire;
I know, that at my will I might possess ;
That, wasting tenderness in wild profusion,
I might look down to my surrounded feet,
And bless contending beauties. I might speak,
Serenely slothful, from within my palace,
And bid my pleasure be my people's law.
But, sweet as softness is, its end is cruel.
I can look round, and count a hundred kings,
Unconquered by themselves, and slaves to others;
Hence was Jerusalem to Christians lost;
But Heaven, to blast that unbelieving race,
Taught me to be a king, by thinking like one.
Hence, from the distant Euxine to the Nile,
The trumpet's voice has wak'd the world to war,
Yet, amidst arms and death, thy power has
reach'd me;

For thou disdain'st, like me, a languid love;
Glory and Zara join—and charm together.

Zur. I hear at once, with blushes and with joy, This passion, so unlike your country's customs. Osm. Passion, like mine, disdains my country's

customs;

The jealousy, the faintness, the distrust,
The proud, superior coldness of the East.
I know to love you, Zara, with esteem ;
To trust your virtue, and to court your soul.
Nobly confiding, I unveil my heart,
And dare inform you, that 'tis all your own:
My joys must all be yours: only my cares
Shall lie concealed within-and reach not Zara.

Zar. Obliged by this excess of tenderness, How low, how wretched, was the lot of Zara! Too poor with aught, but thanks, to pay such blessings! Osm. Not so. again;

I love, and would be loved

Let me confess it, I possess a soul,
That what it wishes, wishes ardently.

I should believe you hated, had you power
To love with moderation: 'tis my aim,

In every thing, to reach supreme perfection.
If with an equal flame I touch your heart,
Marriage attends your smile-But know, 'twill
make

Me wretched, if it makes not Zara happy.
Zar. Ah, sir! if such a heart as generous Os-
man's

Can, from my will, submit to take its bliss,
What mortal ever was decreed so happy!
Pardon the pride with which I own my joy,
Thus wholly to possess the man I love!
To know and to confess his will my fate!
To be the happy work of his dear hands!
To be-

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Shine but in vain, unwarming, if unseen;

Demand a hundred Christians; they are thine: Take them, and bid them teach their haughty country,

They left some virtue among Saracens.-
Be Lusignan alone excepted-He,

Who boasts the blood of kings, and dares lay claim

To my Jerusalem-that claim, his guilt.
Such is the law of states; had I been vanquished,
Thus had he said of me. I mourn his lot,
Who must in fetters, lost to day-light, pine,
And sigh away old age in grief and pain.
For Zara-but to name her as a captive,
Were to dishonour language;-she's a prize
Above thy purchase:-all the Christian realms,
With all their kings to guide them, would unite
In vain, to force her from me.-Go, retire.—
Ner. For Zara's ransom, with her own con-
sent,

I had your royal word. For Lusignan-
Unhappy, poor old man-

Osm. Was I not heard?

Have I not told thee, Christian, all my will? What if I praised thee !-This presumptuous virtue,

Compelling my esteem, provokes my pride;
Be gone and when to-morrow's sun shall rise
On my dominions, be not found-too near me.
[Exit NERESTAN.
Zar. [Aside.] Assist him, Heaven!
Osm. Zara, retire a moment-

With forms and reverence, let the great ap- Assume, throughout my palace, sovereign empire,

proach us;

Not the unhappy;-every place alike,
Gives the distressed a privilege to enter.
[Exit ORAS.
I think with horror on these dreadful maxims,
Which harden kings insensibly to tyrants.

Re-enter ORASMIN with Nerestan.
Ner. Imperial sultan! honoured, even by foes!
See me returned, regardful of my vow,
And punctual to discharge a Christian's duty.
I bring the ransom of the captive Zara,
Fair Selima, the partner of her fortune,
And of ten Christian captives, prisoners here.
You promised, sultan, if I should return,
To grant their rated liberty:-Behold,
I am returned, and they are yours no more.
I would have stretched my purpose to myself,
But fortune Iras denied it ;-my poor all
Sufficed no further, and a noble poverty
Is now my whole possession.-I redeem
The promised Christians; for I taught them
hope:

But, for myself, I come again your slave,
To wait the fuller hand of future charity.
Osm. Christian! I must confess thy courage

charms me.

But let thy pride be taught, it treads too high, When it presumes to climb above my mercy. Go ransomless thyself, and carry back

Their unaccepted ransoms, joined with gifts, Fit to reward thy purpose; instead of ten,

While I give orders to prepare the pomp That waits to crown thee mistress of my throne. [Leads her out and returns. Orasmin! didst thou mark the imperious slave! What could he mean?-he sighed-and, as he went,

Turned and looked back at Zara!-didst thou mark it?

Oras. Alas! my sovereign master! let not jealousy

Strike high enough to reach your noble heart. Osm. Jealousy, saidst thou? I disdain it :-

No!

Distrust is poor; and a misplaced suspicion
Invites and justifies the falsehood feared.-
Yet, as I love with warmth-so, I could hate!
But Zara is above disguise and art:
My love is stronger, nobler, than my power.
Jealous!-I was not jealous! If I was,
I am not-no-my heart-but, let us drown
Remembrance of the word, and of the image:
My heart is filled with a diviner flame.-
Go, and prepare for the approaching nuptials.
Zara to careful empire joins delight.

I must allot one hour to thoughts of state,
Then, all the smiling day is love and Zara's.
[Exit ORASMIN
Monarchs, by forms of pompous misery pressed,
In proud, unsocial misery, unblessed,
Would, but for love's soft influence, curse their

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