Gò, show your slaves how choleric you arc, And make your bòndmen tremble. Must 'I búdge? Cas. Is it come to this? Bru. You say, you are a better soldier: Cas. You wrong me èvery way; you wròng me, Brutus; I said an elder soldier, not a bétter. Cas. When Cæsar lived, he durst not thus have moved mc. Bru. Peace, peace; you durst not so have tempted him. Cas. I' durst not? Bru. Nò. Cas. What? durst not tempt hím? Bru. For your life you durst not. Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love; I mày do that I shall be sorry for. Bru. You have done that you should be sorry There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats; For I am armed so strong in honesty, for. For certain sums of góld, which you denied me;- By heaven, I had rather coin my heàrt, And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring To you for gold to pay my légions, Which you denied me. Was that done like Cassius? Should I have answered Caius Cássius so? Cas. 'I deníed you nòt. Bru. You did. Cas. I did not: he was but a fool That brought my answer back.-Brutus hath rived my heart: But Brutus makes míne greater than they àre. Bru. I do not like your fáults. Cas. A friendly eye could never sèe such faults. Cas. Come, A'ntony, and young Octàvius, come; For Cassius is a-weary of the world: Háted by one he lòves; bráved by his brother; When thou didst hate hìm wórst, thou lovèdst him bétter Bru. Sheathe your dàgger: Be angry when you will, it shall have scope; SHERIDAN'S INVECTIVE AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. 339 And straight is còld again. Cas. Hath Cassius lived To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, Cas. O Brútus! Bru. What's the matter? Cas. Have you not lòve enough to bear with me, When that rash humour which my mòther gave me Makes me forgetful? Bru. Yès, Cassius; and, from henceforth, When you are over-earnest with your Brútus, He'll think your mòther chides, and leave you so. SHAKSPEARE. SHERIDAN'S INVECTIVE AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. [RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, distinguished as a statesman, wit, and dramatist, was born at Dublin in 1751, and died in 1816. He was returned to Parliament as member for the borough of Stafford, and attained distinguished celebrity as an orator. He made the grandest display of his eloquence during the impeachment of Warren Hastings. His writings are chiefly dramatic.] HAD a stranger, at this time, gone into the province of Oude, ignorant of what had happened since the death of Sujah Dowla, that man, who, with a savage heart, had still great lines of character, and who, with all his ferocity in war, had still, with a cultivating hand, preserved to his country the riches which it derived from benignant skies and a prolific soil—if this stranger, ignorant of all that had happened in the short interval, and observing the wide and general devastation, and all the horrors of the scene-of plains unclothed and brown-of vegetables! burnt up and extinguished-of villages depopulated and in ruin-of temples unroofed and perishing-of reservoirs broken down and dry-he would naturally inquire, what war has thus laid waste the fertile fields of this once beautiful' and 340 SHERIDAN'S INVECTIVE AGAINST WARREN HASTINGS. opulent country-what civil dissensions have happened, thus to tear asunder! and separate the happy societies' that once possessed those villages-what disputed succession, what religious rage, has, with unholy violence, demolished those temples, and disturbed fervent but unobtruding piety, in the exercise of its duties ? What merciless enemy has thus spread the horrors of fire and sword-what severe visitation of Providence has dried up the fountain, and taken from the face of the earth' every vestige of verdure? Or, rather, what monsters' have stalked over the country, tainting and poisoning, with pestiferous breath, what the voracious appetite could not devour? To such questions, what must be the answer? No wars have ravaged these lands and depopulated these villages, no civil discords have been felt-no disputed succession-no religious rage-no merciless enemy-no affliction of Providence, which, while it scourged for the moment, cut off the sources of resuscitation-no voracious and poisoning monsters-no, all this has been accomplished by the friendship, generosity, and kindness of the English nation. They have embraced us with their protecting arms, and, lo! those are the fruits of their alliance. What, then, shall we be told that, under such circumstances, the exasperated feelings of a whole people, thus goaded and spurred on to clamour and resistance, were excited' by the poor and feeble influence of the Begums! When we hear the description of the paroxysm, fever, and delirium, into which despair! had thrown the natives, when on the banks of the polluted Ganges, panting for death, they tore more widely open' the lips of their gaping wounds, to accelerate their dissolution; and, while their blood was issuing, presented their ghastly eyes to heaven, breathing their last and fervent prayer, that the dry earth' might not be suffered to drink their blood, but' that it might rise up to the throne of God, and rouse the eternal Providence to avenge the wrongs of their country,—will it be said that this was brought about by the incantations of these Begums' in their secluded Zenana? or that they could inspire this enthusiasm and this despair into the breasts of a people! who felt no grievance, and had suffered no torture? What motive, then, could have such influence in their bosom? What motive? That which Nature, the common parent, plants in the bosom of man, and which, though it may be less active in the Indian' than in the Englishman, is still congenial with, and makes part of his being that feeling which tells him, that man was never made to be the property of man; but that when, through pride and insolence of power, one human creature' dares to tyrannize over another, it is a power usurped, and resistancel is a duty-that feeling which tells him that all power is delegated for the good, not for the injury of the people, and that when it is converted from the original purpose, the compact is broken, and the right' is to be resumedthat principle' which tells him, that resistance to power usurped' is not merely a duty' which he owes to himself and to his neighbour, but a duty! which he owes to his God, in asserting and maintaining the rank' which he gave him in the creation, to that common God, who, where he gives the form of man, whatever may be the complexion, gives also the feelings and the rights of man-that principle, which neither the rudeness of ignorance' can stifle, nor the enervation of refinement' extinguish-that principle, which makes it base for a man' to suffer when he ought to act, which, tending to preserve to the species' the original designations of Providence, spurns at the arrogant distinctions of man, and vindicates the independent qualities of his race. SHERIDAN THE ISLES OF GREECE. THE isles of Greece, the isles of Greece! |