Who beat the heav'ns with thy applauded name,
Now crowd to meet, and hail her as their queen.
Sussex is enter'd here, commands the Tower,
Has plac'd his guards around, and this sad place,
So late thy palace, is become our prison.

I saw him bend his knee to cruel Gardiner,
Who, freed from his confinement, ran to meet him,
Embrac'd and bless'd him with a hand of blood;
Each hast'ning moment I expect 'em here,

To seize, and pass the doom of death upon us.
Guil. Ha! seiz'd! Shalt thou be seiz'd? and shall
I stand,

And tamely see thee borne away to death?
Then blasted be my coward name for ever.
No, I will set myself to guard this spot,
To which our narrow empire now is shrunk :
Here I will grow the bulwark of my queen;
Nor shall the hand of violence profane thee,
Until my breast have borne a thousand wounds,
Till this torn mangled body sink at once
A heap of purple ruin at thy feet.

L. J. Gray. And could thy rash distracted rage

thus ?

do

Draw thy vain sword against an armed multitude, "Only to have my poor heart split with horror, "To see thee stabb'd and butcher'd here before me " Oh, call thy better nobler courage to thee,

And let us meet this adverse fate with patience! "Greet our insulting foes with equal tempers,

"With even brows, and souls secure of death;

"Here stand unmov'd; as once the Roman senate "Receiv'd fierce Brennus, and the conquering Gauls, "Till ev'n the rude Barbarians stood amaz'd

"At such superior virtue." Be thyself,

For see the trial comes !

Enter SUSSEX, GARDINER, Officers and Soldiers.

Suss. Guards, execute your orders; seize the trai

tors:

Here my commission ends. To you, my lord, [To Gar.
So our great mistress, royal Mary, bids,

I leave the full disposal of these pris❜ners ?
Το your wise care the pious queen commends
Her sacred self, her crown, and what's yet more,
The holy Roman church; for whose dear safety,
She wills your utmost diligence be shewn,
To bring rebellion to the bar of justice.

Yet farther, to proclaim how much she trusts
In Winchester's deep thought, and well try'd faith,
The seal attends to grace those rev'rend hands;
And when I next salute you, I must call you
Chief minister and chancellor of England.

Gar. Unnumber'd blessings fall upon her head,
My ever-gracious lady! to re:nember

With such full bounty her old humble beadsman! For these, her foes, leave me to deal with them. Suss. The queen is on her entrance, and expects me: My lord, farewell.

Gar. Farewell, right noble Sussex :

Commend me to the queen's grace; say her bidding

Shall be observ'd by her most lowly creature.

[Exit Sussex.

Lieutenant of the Tower, take hence your pris'ners:

Be it your care to see 'em kept apart,

That they may hold no commerce with each other.
L. J. Gray. That stroke was unexpected.
Guil. Wilt thou part us?

Gar. I hold no speech with heretics and traitors. Lieutenant, see my orders are obey’d.

[Exit Gar. Guil. Inhuman, monstrous, unexampl'd cruelty Oh, tyrant! but the task becomes thee well; Thy savage temper joys to do death's office; To tear the sacred bands of love asunder,

And part those hands which heav'n itself hath join’d. Duch. Suff. To let us waste the little rest of life Together, had been merciful.

Suff. Then it had not

Been done like Winchester.

Guil. Thou stand'st unmov'd;

Calm temper sits upon thy beauteous brow; Thy eyes, that flow'd so fast for Edward's loss, Gaze unconcern'd upon the ruin round thee; As if thou hadst resolv'd to brave thy fate, And triumph in the midst of desolation. "Ha! see, it swells; the liquid crystal rises, "It starts, in spite of thee,- -but I will catch it;

"Nor let the earth be wet with dew so rich."

L. 7. Gray. And dost thou think, my Guilford, I

can see

My father, mother, and ev'n thee my husband,

Torn from my side without a pang of sorrow?
How art thou thus unknowing in my heart!
Words cannot tell thee what I feel. There is
An agonizing softness busy here,

That tugs the strings, that struggles to get loose,
And pour my soul in wailings out before thee.

Guil. Give way, and let the gushing torrent come;
Behold the tears we bring to swell the deluge,
Till the flood rise upon the guilty world,
And make the ruin common.

L. J. Gray. Guilford! no:

The time for tender thoughts and soft endearments
Is fled away and gone: joy has forsaken us;
Our hearts have now another part to play;

They must be steel'd with some uncommon fortitude,
That, fearless, we may tread the paths of horror;
And, in despite of fortune and our foes,

Ev'n in the hour of death, be more than conquerors.
Guil. Oh, teach me ! say, what energy divine
Inspires thy softer sex, and tender years,
With such unshaken courage?

L. J. Gray. Truth and innocence;

A conscious knowledge rooted in my heart,
That to have sav'd my country was my duty.

Yes, England, yes, my country, I would save thee;
But Heav'n forbids, Heav'n disallows my weakness.
And to some dear selected hero's hand

Reserves the glory of thy great deliverance.
Lieut. My lords, my orders

Guil. See! we must-must part.

L. J. Gray. Yet surely we shall meet again. "Guil. Oh! Where?

"L. J. Gray. If not on earth, among yon golden

stars,

"Where other suns arise on other earths,

"And happier beings rest on happier seats : "Where with a reach enlarg'd, our soul shall view "The great Creator's never-ceasing hand

"Pour forth new worlds to all eternity, "And people the infinity of space."

Guil. Fain wou'd I cheer my heart with hopes like these ;

But my sad thoughts turn ever to the grave;
To that last dwelling, whither now we haste;
Where the black shade shall interpose betwixt us,
And veil thee from these longing eyes for ever.

L. J. Gray. 'Tis true, by those dark paths our journey leads,

And through the vale of death we pass to life.
But what is there in death to blast our hopes? ·

Behold the universal works of nature,

Where life still springs from death.

"To us the sun

"Dies ev'ry night, and ev'ry morn revives: "The flow'rs, which winter's icy hand destroy'd, "Lift their fair heads, and live again in spring." Mark, with what hopes upon the furrow'd plain, The careful plowman casts the pregnant grain ; There hid, as in a grave, a while it lies, Till the revolving season bids it rise;