Chi. And if fhe do, I would I were a eunuch. Drag hence her husband to fome fecret hole, And make his dead trunk pillow to our luft. Tam. But when you have the honey you defire, Let not this wafp out-live, us both to fting.

Chi. I warrant, Madam, we will make that fure; Come, mistress, now perforce we will enjoy That nice-preferved honefty of yours.

Lav. O Tamora, thou bear'st a woman's faceTam. I will not hear her speak; away with her. Lav. Sweet Lords, entreat her hear me but a word

Dem. Liften, fair Madam; let it be your glory To fee her tears; but be your heart to them, As unrelenting flints to drops of rain.

Lav. When did the tyger's young ones teach the dam?

O, do not teach her wrath; she taught it thee;
The milk, thou fuck'dit from her, did turn to marble;
Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny.

Yet every mother breeds not fons alike;
Do thou intreat her, fhew a woman pity.

Chi. What! wouldst thou have me prove myself a baftard?

Lav. 'Tis true the raven doth not hatch a lark; Yet have I heard, (O, could I find it now!) The lion, moved with pity, did endure To have his princely paws pared all away. Some fay, that ravens foster forlorn children, The whilft their own birds famifh in their nefts: Oh be to me, though thy hard heart fay, no, Nothing fo kind, but fomething pitiful.

Tam. I know not what it means: away with her. Lav. Oh, let me teach thee for my father's fake, (That gave thee life, when well he might have flain thee)

Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears.

Tam. Hadit thou in perfon ne'er offended me, Even for his fake am I now pitilefs: Remember, boys, I poured forth tears in vain, To fave your brother from the faerifice; But fierce Andronicus would not relent; Therefore away with her, and ufe her as you will; The worse to her, the better loved of me.

Lav. O Tamora, be called a gentle Queen, And with thine own hands kill me in this place; For 'tis not life that I have begged fo long: Poor I was flain, when Baffianus died.

3

Tam. What beggeft thou then? fond woman, let me go.

Lav. 'Tis prefent death I beg; and one thing

more,

That womanhood denies my tongue to tell :
O, keep me from their worfe than killing luft,
And tumble me into fome loathfome pit,
Where never man's eye may behold my body :
Do this, and be a charitable murderer.

Tam. So fhould I rob my sweet fons of their fee. No; let them fatisfy their luft on thee.

Dem. Away; for thou haft ftaid us here too long. Lav. No grace? no womanhood? a beaftly

creature!

The blot and enemy of our general name !
Confufion fall--

Chi. Nay, then I'll stop your mouth

bring

thou her husband: [Dragging off Lavinía. This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him.

[Exeunt.

Tam. Farewel, my fons; fee that you make her

fure.

Ne'er let my heart know merry chear indeed, 'Till all the Andronici be made away.

VOL. XI.

D

Now will I hence to feek my lovely Moor,
And let my fpleenful fons, this trull deflour. [Exit.

Enter AARON, with QUINTUS and MARCUS.

Aar. Come on, my Lords, the better foot before; Strait will I bring you to the loathfome pit Where I efpied the panther faft afleep.

Quin. My fight is very dull, whate'er it bodes. Mar. And mine, I promise you; were't not for fhame,

Well could I leave our fport to fleep a while.

[Marcus falls into the Pit. Quin. What, art thou fallen? what subtle hole

is this,

Whose mouth is covered with rude-growing briars, Upon whofe leaves are drops of new-fhed blood, As fresh as morning-dew diftilled on flowers?

A very

fatal place it seems to me :

Speak, brother, haft thou hurt thee with the fall? Mar. O brother, with the dismallest object That ever eye, with fight, made heart lament.

Aar. Now will I fetch the King to find them here; That he thereby may have a likely guess, How these were they that made away his brother. [Exit Aaron.

Mar. Why doft not comfort me, and help me out From this unhallowed and blood-stained hole?

Quin. I am surprised with an uncouth fear; A chilling fweat o'er-runs my trembling joints; My heart fufpects more than mine eye can fee. Mar. To prove thou haft a true divining heart, Aaron and thou, look down into the den, And fee a fearful fight of blood and death. Quin. Aaron is gone; and my compaffionate heart

Will not permit my eyes once to behold

The thing whereat it trembles by furmife:
O tell me how it is; for ne'er till now
Was I a child, to fear I know not what.
Mar. Lord Baffianus lyes embrewed here,
All on a heap, like to a flaughtered lamb,
In this detefted, dark, blood-drinking pit.
Quin. If it be dark, how doft thou know 'tis he?
Mar. Upon his bloody finger he doth wear
A precious ring, that lightens all the hole :
Which, like a taper in fome monument,
Doth fhine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks,
And fhews the ragged entrails of this pit.
So pale did fhine the moon on Pyramus,
When he by night lay bathed in maiden blood.
O brother, help me with thy fainting hand,
(If fear hath made thee faint, as me it hath)
Out of this fell devouring receptacle,
As hateful as Cocytus' misty mouth..

[out,

Quin. Reach me thy hand, that I may help thee Or, wanting ftrength to do thee fo much good, I may be plucked into the swallowing womb Of this deep pit, poor Baffianus' grave.

I have no ftrength to pluck thee to the brink. Mar. And I no ftrength to climb without thy help.

Quin. Thy hand once more; I will not loofe again, 'Till thou art here aloft, or I below.

Thou canst not come to me, I come to thee.

Enter the Emperor and AARON.

[Fall in

Sat. Along with me;-I'll fee what hole is here, And what he is that now is leaped into't. Say, who art thou that lately didft defcend Into this gaping hollow of the earth?

Mar. Th' unhappy fon of old Andronicus,

Brought hither in a moft unlucky hour,

To find thy brother Baffianus dead.

Sat. My brother dead? I know thou dost but jest: He and his Lady both are at the Lodge, Upon the north fide of this pleafant chafe; 'Tis not an hour fince I left him there.

Mar. We know not where you left him all alive: But out, alas! here have we found hiin dead.

Enter TAMORA with Attendants; ANDRONICUS, and LUCIUS.

Tam. Where is my Lord the King?

Sat. Here, Tamora; though grieved with killing grief.

Tam. Where is thy brother Baffianus ?

Sat. Now to the bottom doft thou fearch my Poor Baffianus here lyes murdered. [wound; Fam. Then all too late I bring this fatal writ, The complot of this timeless tragedy;

And wonder greatly that man's face can fold
In pleafing fmiles fuch murderous tyranny.

[She gives Saturninus a Letter.

Saturninus reads the Letter.

"And if we mifs to meet him handsomely, "Sweet huntfman, Baflianus 'tis we mean, "Do thou fo much as dig the grave for him,.. "Thou knoweft our meaning: look for thy reward Among the nettles of the elder tree,

66

"Which over-shades the mouth of that fame pit,
"Where we decreed to bury Baffianus.
"Do this, and purchase us thy lafting friends."

Oh, Tamora! was ever heard the like?
This is the pit, and this the elder tree: