TAMERLANE.
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Mine can forgive the Wrong, and bid thee live.Keep thy own wicked Secret, and be safe:If thou continu'st still to be the same,'Tis Punishment enough to be a Villain:If thou repent'st, I have gain'd one to Vertue,And am, in that, rewarded for my Mercy.Hence! from my sight!———It shocks my Soul, to think[Exit Dervise.That there is such a Monster in my Kind.Whither will Man's Impiety extend?Oh gracious Heav'n! do'st thou with-hold thy Thunder,When bold Assassines take thy Name upon 'em,And swear, they are the Champions of thy Cause?
Enter Moneses.
Mon.Oh, Emperor! before whose awful Throne kneeling to Tam.Th' afflicted never kneel in vain for Justice,Undone, and ruin'd, blasted in my Hopes,Here let me fall before your sacred Feet,And groan out my Misfortunes, till your Pity,(The last Support and Refuge that is left me)Shall raise me from the Ground, and bid me live.
Tam.Rise, Prince, nor let me reckon up thy Worth,And tell, how boldly That might bid thee ask,Lest I should make a Merit of my Justice,The common Debt I owe to thee, to All,Ev'n to the meanest of Mankind, the CharterBy which I claim my Crown, and Heav'ns Protection:Speak then as to a King, the Sacred NameWhere Pow'r is lodg'd, for Righteous Ends alone.
Mon.One only Joy, one Blessing, my fond HeartHad fix'd its Wishes on, and that is lost;That Sister, for whose safety my sad SoulEndur'd a thousand Fears.———
Tam.I well remember,When e're the Battles join'd, I saw thee first,With Grief uncommon to a Brother's Love,Thou told'st a moving Tale of her Misfortunes,
Such
