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АСТ V.

SCENE I.

The camp, at a small distance from Rome.

Enter Lucius with Goths, with drum and foldiers.

A

LUCIUS,

PPROVED warriors, and my faithful friends, I have received letters from great Rome, Which fignify, what hate they bear their emperor, And how defirous of our fight they are.

Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness,
Imperious and impatient of your wrongs;
And wherein Rome hath done you any scathe,
Let him make treble fatisfaction.

Goth. Brave flip, fprung from the great Andronicus,
Whofe name was once our terror, now our comfort;
Whofe high exploits and honourable deeds,
Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,
Be bold in us; we'll follow where thou lead'ft,
Like stinging bees in hottest fummer's day,
Led by their mafter to the flower'd fields,
And be aveng'd on curfed Tamora.

Omn. And, as he faith, fo fay we all with him. Luc. I humbly thank him, and I thank you all. But who comes here, led by a lufty Goth?

Enter a Goth leading Aaron, with his child in his

arms.

Goth. Renowned Lucius, from our troops I ftray'd To gaze upon a ruinous monaftery;

And

To gaze upon a ruinous monaftery.] Shakespeare has fo perpetually offended againft chronology in all his plays, that no very conclufive argument can be deduced from the particular abfurdity of thefe anachronisms, relative to the authenticity of Titus Andro

nicus.

And as I earnestly did fix mine eye Upon the wafted building, fuddenly I heard a child cry underneath a wall; I made unto the noife, when foon I heard The crying babe controul'd with this difcourfe: "Peace, tawny flave, half me and half thy dam. "Did not thy hue bewray whofe brat thou art, “Had nature lent thee but thy mother's look, Villain, thou might'st have been an emperor; "But where the bull and cow are both milk-white, They never do beget a coal-black calf.

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"Peace, villain, peace! (even thus he rates the babe) "For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth;

"Who, when he knows thou art the emperefs' babe, "Will hold thee dearly for thy mother's fake." With this my weapon drawn, I rush'd upon him, Surpriz'd him fuddenly, and brought him hither, To ufe as you think needful of the man,

Luc. O worthy Goth, this is the incarnate devil, That robb'd Andronicus of his good hand; This is the pearl that pleas'd your emperefs' eye, And here's the bafe fruit of his burning luft. Say, wall-ey'd flave, whither would'st thou convey This growing image of thy fiend-like face? Why doft not speak? what! deaf? no! not a word? A halter, foldiers; hang him on this tree, And by his fide his fruit of baftardy.

Aar. Touch not the boy, he is of royal blood. Luc. Too like the fire for ever being good. Firft, hang the child, that he may fee it sprawl, A fight to vex the father's foul withal.

nicus. And yet the ruined monaftery, the pepish tricks, &c. that Aaron talks of, and the French falutation from the mouth of Titus are altogether fo very much out of place, that I cannot perfuade myfelf even our hafty poet could have been guilty of their infertion, or have permitted them to remain, had he corrected the performance for another. STEEVENS.

Get

Get me a ladder.

Aar. Lucius, fave the child,

And bear it from me to the emperefs;

If thou do this, I'll fhew thee wond'rous things,
That highly may advantage thee to hear;
If thou wilt not, befall what may befall,

I'll speak no more; but vengeance rot you all!
Luc. Say on, and if it please me which thou speak'ft,
Thy child shall live, and I will fee it nourish'd.

Aar. An if it please thee? why, affure thee, Lucius,
'Twill vex thy foul to hear what I shall speak;
For I must talk of murders, rapes, and maffacres,
Acts of black night, abominable deeds,
Complots of mifchief, treafon, villainies,
Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform'd;
And this fhall all be buried by my death,
Unless thou fwear to me, my child fhall live.
Luc. Tell on thy mind; I fay, thy child fhall live.
Aar. Swear, that he fhall; and then I will begin.
Luc. Who fhould I fwear by? thou believ'ft no
God:

That granted, how can'ft thou believe an oath ?
Aar. What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not;
Yet, for I know thou art religious,

And haft a thing within thee called confcience,
With twenty popifh tricks and ceremonies,
Which I have feen thee careful to observe,
Therefore I urge thy oath; (for that, I know,
An idiot holds his bauble for a God,

And keeps the oath, which by that God he fwears,
To that I'll urge him ;)—therefore, thou fhalt vow
By that fame God, what God foe'er it be,

Aar. Get me a ladder. Lucius, fave the child.] All the printed editions have given this whole verse to Aaron. But why should the Moor here ask for a ladder, who earnestly wanted to have his child faved? THEOBALD.

That

That thou ador'ft and haft in reverence,
To fave my boy, nourish, and bring him up;
Or elfe I will discover nought to thee.

Luc. Even by my God, I swear to thee, I will.
Aar. First, know thou, I begot him on the em-
perefs.

Luc. O moft infatiate, luxurious woman!

Aar. Tut, Lucius, this was but a deed of charity, To that which thou shalt hear of me anon. 'Twas her two fons that murder'd Baffianus ; They cut thy fifter's tongue, and ravish'd her, And cut her hands, and trimm'd her as thou faw'ft. Luc. Oh, deteftable villain! call'st thou that

trimming?

Aar. Why, fhe was washed, and cut, and trimm'd; And 'twas trim fport for them that had the doing

of it.

Luc. Oh, barbarous beaftly.villains, like thyself! Aar. Indeed, I was the tutor to inftru&t them. That codding fpirit had they from their mother, As fure a card as ever won the fet;

That bloody mind, I think, they learn'd of me,
7 As true a dog, as ever fought at head ;-
Well, let my deeds be witnefs of my worth.
I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole,
Where the dead corps of Baffianus lay:
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within the letter mention'd;
Confederate with the queen, and her two fons.
And what not done, that thou haft caufe to rue,
Wherein I had no ftroke of mifchief in't!

I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand,
And when I had it drew myfelf apart,

And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.

As true a dog as ever fought at head;] An allufion to bull-dogs, whofe generality and courage are always fhown by meeting the bull in front, and feizing his nofe.

JOHNSON.

I pry'd

I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall,
When for his hand he had his two fons' heads;
Beheld his tears, and laugh'd fo heartily,
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his.
And when I told the emperess of this sport,
She fwooned almoft at my pleafing tale,
And for my tidings, gave me twenty kiffes.
Goth. What! canft thou fay all this, and never
blush?

Aar. Ay, like a black dog, as the faying is.
Luc. Art thou not forry for these heinous deeds?
Aar. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now 1 curfe the day (and yet, I think,
Few come within the compafs of my curfe)
Wherein I did not fome notorious ill,
As kill a man, or else devife his death;
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it;
Accufe fome innocent, and forfwear myself;
Set deadly enmity between two friends;
Make poor men's cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-ftacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves,
And fet them upright at their dear friends' doors,
Even when the forrow almoft was forgot;
And on their fkins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
"Let not your forrow die, though I am dead."
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things,
As willingly as one would kill a fly;

And nothing grieves me heartily indeed,
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

Luc. Bring down the devil, for he must not die
So fweet a death, as hanging prefently.

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Aar.

Bring down the devil.] It appears, from thefe words, that the audience were entertained with part of the apparatus of an execu

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