The Hull of the Palace illuminated.-SARDANAPALUS
and his Guests at Table. - A Storm without, and
Thunder occasionally heard during the Banquet.
Sar. Fill full! why this is as it should be: here
Is my true realm, amidst bright eyes and faces
Happy as fair! Here sorrow cannot reach.

Zum. Nor elsewhere- where the king is, pleasure sparkles.

Sar. Is not this better now than Nimrod's huntings, Or my wild grandam's chase in search of kingdoms She could not keep when conquer'd? Alt.

They were, as all thy royal line have been,
Yet none of those who went before have reach'd
The acme of Sardanapalus, who
Has placed his joy in peace- the sole true glory.
Sar. And pleasure, good Altada, to which glory
Is but the path. What is it that we seek ?
Enjoyment! We have cut the way short to it,
And not gone tracking it through human ashes,
Making a grave with every footstep.

Who dare to say so!-'Tis impossible.
What cause?

Sar. What cause? true,-fill the goblet up;
We will not think of them: there are none such,
Or if there be, they are gone.
Alt.
Guests, to my pledge!
Down on your knees, and drink a measure to
The safety of the king-the monarch, say I?
The god Sardanapalus !

[ZAMES and the Guests kneel, and exclaim — Mightier than

His father Baal, the god Sardanapalus !

[It thunders as they kneel; some start up in confusion.

Zam. Why do you rise, my friends? in that strong peal

His father gods consented.

Upon a nation whom she knows not well;
The Assyrians know no pleasure but their king's,
And homage is their pride.

Sar.

Nay, pardon, guests,

The fair Greek's readiness of speech.

We honour her of all things next to thee. Hark! what was that?

Zam.

That! nothing but the jar Of distant portals shaken by the wind. Alt. It sounded like the clash of — Hark again! Zam. The big rain pattering on the roof. Sar. No more. Myrrha, my love, hast thou thy shell in order? Sing me a song of Sappho, her, thou know'st, Who in thy country threw

As Salemenes fear'd; the faithless satraps

Pan. 'Tis nothing—a mere flesh wound. I am worn More with my speed to warn my sovereign, Than hurt in his defence.

3 [Early in the third Act, the royal banquet is disturbed by sudden tidings of treason and revolt; and then the reveller blazes out into the hero, and the Greek blood of Myrrha mounts to its proper office! JEFFREY.]

Pan.
My own slight guard
Were faithful -and what's left of it is still so.
Myr. And are these all the force still faithful? —
Pun.
Νο

The Bactrians, now led on by Salemenes,
Who even then was on his way, still urged
By strong suspicion of the Median chiefs,
Are numerous, and make strong head against
The rebels, fighting inch by inch, and forming
An orb around the palace, where they mean
To centre all their force, and save the king.
(He hesitates.) I am charged to-

Myr.

'Tis no time for hesitation. Pan. Prince Salemenes doth implore the king To arm himself, although but for a moment, And show himself unto the soldiers: his Sole presence in this instant might do more Than hosts can do in his behalf.

Sar. Altada- Zames-forth, and arm ye! There Is all in readiness in the armoury.

See that the women are bestow'd in safety

In the remote apartments: let a guard

Be set before them, with strict charge to quit
The post but with their lives — command it, Zames.
Altada, arm yourself, and return here;
Your post is near our person.

[Exeunt ZAMES, ALTADA, and all save MYRRHA. Enter SFERO and others with the King's Arms, &c. Sfe. King! your armour. Sar. (arming himself). Give me the cuirass- so: my baldric; now

My sword: I had forgot the helm -where is it?
That's well-no, 't is too heavy: you mistake, too—
It was not this I meant, but that which bears
A diadem around it.

That too conspicuous from the precious stones
To risk your sacred brow beneath—and, trust me,
This is of better metal, though less rich.

Sur. You deem'd! Are you too turn'd a rebel?
Fellow!

Your part is to obey: return, and-no

It is too late-I will go forth without it.
Sfe. At least, wear this.
Sar.

Wear Caucasus! why, 'tis

Sar. I go forth to be recognised, and thus Shall be so sooner. Now my spear! I'm arm'd. [In going stops short, and turns to SFERO. Sfero-I had forgotten-bring the mirror. Sfe. The mirror, sire? Sar.

Yes, sir, of polish'd brass, Brought from the spoils of India - but be speedy. 2

[Exit SFERO. Sar. Myrrha, retire unto a place of safety. Why went you not forth with the other damsels ? Myr. Because my place is here. And when I am gone

Sar. Myr. I follow.

When I late left him, and I have no fear:
Our troops were steady, and the phalanx form'd.
Sar. Tell him to spare his person for the present,
And that I will not spare my own-and say,
I come.
Pan.

There's victory in the very word.

[Exit PANIA.

"In the third Act, where Sardanapalus calls for a mirror to look at himself in his armour, recollect to quote the Latin passage from Juvenal upon Otho (a similar character, who did the same thing). Gifford will help you to it. The trait is, perhaps, too familiar, but it is historical (of Otho, at least), and natural in an effeminate character." Lord B. to Mr. M.]

2" Ille tenet speculum pathici gestamen Othonis, Actoris Arunci spolíum, quo se ille videbat

'T were not the first Greek girl had trod the path.

I will await here your return.

Is spacious, and the first to be sought out,

If they prevail; and, if it be so,
And I return not

Love me, whate'er betide. My chiefest glory
Shall be to make me worthier of your love.
Myr. Go forth, and conquer !

[Exeunt SARDANAPALUS and SFERO. '
Now, I am alone.

All are gone forth, and of that all how few
Perhaps return. Let him but vanquish, and
Me perish! If he vanquish not, I perish;
For I will not outlive him. He has wound
About my heart, I know not how nor why.
Not for that he is king; for now his kingdom
Rocks underneath his throne, and the earth yawns
To yield him no more of it than a grave;
And yet I love him more, Oh, mighty Jove!
Forgive this monstrous love for a barbarian,
Who knows not of Olympus! yes, I love him
Now, now, far more than

shout!

Methinks it nears me.

-Hark-to the war

If it should be so, [She draws forth a small vial. This cunning Colchian poison, which my father Learn'd to compound on Euxine shores, and taught

Who fulminate o'er my father's land, protect him! Were you sent by the king?

Alt.

By Salemenes, Who sent me privily upon this charge, Without the knowledge of the careless sovereign. The king the king fights as he revels! ho! What, Sfero! I will seek the armouryHe must be there. [Exit ALTADA. Myr. "T is no dishonour- -no 'Tis no dishonour to have loved this man. I almost wish now, what I never wish'd Before, that he were Grecian. If Alcides Were shamed in wearing Lydian Omphale's She-garb, and wielding her vile distaff, surely He, who springs up a Hercules at once, Nursed in effeminate arts from youth to manhood, And rushes from the banquet to the battle, As though it were a bed of love, deserves That a Greek girl should be his paramour, And a Greek bard his minstrel, a Greek tomb His monument. How goes the strife, sir?

[Exit Officer.

Myr. (sola). He's gone; and told no more than that all 's lost!

What need have I to know more? In those words,
Those little words, a kingdom and a king,

A line of thirteen ages, and the lives
Of thousands, and the fortune of all left
With life, are merged; and I, too, with the great,
Like a small bubble breaking with the wave
Which bore it, shall be nothing. At the least,
My fate is in my keeping: no proud victor
Shall count me with his spoils.

Myrrha, without delay; we must not lose
A moment all that's left us now.
Myr.
Pan. Sent me here to conduct you hence, beyond
The river, by a secret passage.

Alt.

Ho, Sfero, ho!

Myr.

Then

And charged me to secure your life,

Will he then give way?

And beg you to live on for his sake, till He can rejoin you.

Myr.

Pan. Not till the last. Still, still he does whate'er Despair can do; and step by step disputes The very palace. Myr.

They are here, then :

ay,

each other in a dining-room, is extremely well told; and Sardanapalus displays the precise mixture of effeminacy and courage, levity and talent, which belongs to his character. HEBER.]

Enter SALEMENES and Soldiers, &c.

Sal.
Flattering: they are beaten backward from the palace,
And we have open'd regular access

To the troops station'd on the other side
Euphrates, who may still be true; nay, must be,
When they hear of our victory. But where
Is the chief victor? where's the king?

scene that ensues is very masterly and characteristic. — JEFPREY.]

Sar. We've clear'd the palaceSal.

Not quite; but let it pass.

And I trust the city. Our numbers gather; and I've order'd onward A cloud of Parthians, hitherto reserved, All fresh and fiery, to be pour'd upon them In their retreat, which soon will be a flight.

Sar. It is already, or at least they march'd Faster than I could follow with my Bactrians, Who spared no speed. I am spent: give me a seat. Sal. There stands the throne, sire. Sar. "Tis no place to rest on, For mind nor body: let me have a couch, [They place a sent. A peasant's stool, I care not what: so-now I breathe more freely. Sal.

This great hour has proved The brightest and most glorious of your life. Sar. And the most tiresome. Where's my cupbearer ?

Made warriors of more than me. I paused
To look upon her, and her kindled cheek;
Her large black eyes, that flash'd through her long hair
As it streamed o'er her; her blue veins that rose
Along her most transparent brow; her nostril
Dilated from its symmetry; her lips

Apart; her voice that clove through all the din,
As a lute's pierceth through the cymbal's clash,
Jarr'd but not drown'd by the loud brattling; her
Waved arms, more dazzling with their own born
whiteness

Than the steel her hand held, which she caught up
From a dead soldier's grasp;-all these things made
Her seem unto the troops a prophetess
Of victory, or Victory herself,
Come down to hail us hers.

Sal. Well then, to have him king, and yours, and all
He should, or should not be; to have him live,
Let him not sink back into luxury.

You have more power upon his spirit than
Wisdom within these walls, or fierce rebellion
Raging without: look well that he relapse not.
Myr. There needed not the voice of Salemenes
To urge me on to this: I will not fail.
All that a woman's weakness can
Sal.

Omnipotent o'er such a heart as his :
Exert it wisely.

Sar.

Is power

[Exit SALEMENES. Myrrha! what, at whispers With my stern brother? I shall soon be jealous. 1

selfish domestic feelings which led him to dislike the fair Ionian, exhorts her to use her utmost power to keep her lover from relaxing into luxury. The transient effect which their whispers produce on Sardanapalus is well imagined. BISHOP HEBER.]