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I bend my head with joy, and think it happiness
To give my life a ransom for my faith.
From thee, thou treasure of my heart, I learn
That greatest, hardest task, to part with thee.'
L. J. Gray. Oh! gloriously resolv'd!
'My heart rejoices in thee more ev'n now,
Thus constant as thou art, in death thus faithful,
'Than when the holy priest first join'd our hands,
And knit the sacred knot of bridal love.'

Heav'n is my [witness,

Gard. The day wears fast; Lord Guilford, have you Will you lay hold on life?

Guil. What are the terms?

Gard. Death, or the mass, attend you..

Guil. 'Tis determin'd,:

Lead to the scaffold.

Gard. Bear him to his fate.

[thought?

Guil. Oh! let me fold thee once more in my arms, Thou dearest treasure of my heart, and print

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A dying husband's kiss upon thy lip!'

Shall we not live again, ev'n in those forms?
Shall I not gaze upon thee with these eyes?

L. J. Gray. Oh, wherefore dost thou soothe me with thy softness?

Why dost thou wind. thyself about my heart,
And make this separation painful to us?
'Here break we off at once; and let us now,
6 Forgetting ceremony, like two friends
'That have a little business to be done,
'Take a short leave, and haste to meet again.
Guil. Rest on that hope, my soul-my wife-
'L. J. Gray. No more.'

Guil. My sight hangs on thee

Oh, support me, [Heav'n,

In this last pang-and let us meet in bliss!

[Guilford is led off by the Guard.

Esupporting

L. J. Gray. Can nature bear this stroke?' First Wom. Alas, she faints! L. J. Gray. Wo't thou fail now?—The killing stroke And all the bitterness of death is o'er.*

[is past,

* When Lord Russel (who was beheaded in the time of Charles

Gard. Here let the dreadful hand of vengeance stay; Have pity on your youth, and blooming beauty; Cast not away the good which Heav'n bestows;' Time may have many years in store for you, All crown'd with fair prosperity.

Has perish'd in perverseness.

L. J. Gray. Cease, thou raven,

Your husband

Nor violate with thy profaner malice,

My bleeding Guilford's ghost-'Tis gone, 'tis flown;
But lingers on the wing, and waits for me.

[Folding-doors at the back of the stage are opened
and discover a scaffold hung with black, Execu-
tioner and Guards,

And see my journey's end.

First Wom. My dearest lady. "Second Wom. Oh, misery!'

L. J. Gray. Forbear, my gentle maids,

[Weeping.

Nor wound my peace with fruitless lamentations;
The good and gracious hand of Providence

Can raise you better friends than I have been.
First Wom. Oh, never! never!-
L. J. Gray. Help to disarray,

And fit me for the block: do this last service,
And do it cheerfully. Now you will see
Your poor unhappy mistress sleep in peace,
And cease from all her sorrows. These few trifles,
The pledges of a dying mistress' love,

Receive and share among you. Thou, Maria,*
[To First Wom.
Hast been my old, my very faithful servant:
In dear remembrance of thy love, I leave thee

the Second) took leave of Lady Russel on the morning of his execution, as he turned away from her he said, "The bitterness of death "is now past." See Hume, Vol. VIII. ch. LXIX, p. 194. See also 1. Samuel xv. 32. and p. 236 of this Vol. line 21.

*It appears from the History that the names of the two women attending on Lady Jane, were Mrs. Elizabeth Tilney, and Mrs. Helen, to whom she gave her gloves and her handkerchief; that the person to whom she gave her prayer-book was Sir John Bridges; and that she sent her Greek Testament to her sister the night before her execution. See p. 344, 341 and 336.

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This book, the law of everlasting truth:

Make it thy treasure still; 'twas my support,
When all help else forsook me.

Gard. Will you yet

Repent, be wise, and save your precious life!

L. J. Gray. Oh, Winchester! has learning taught To barter Truth for life?

Gard. Mistaken folly!

You toil and travel for your own perdition,
And die for hateful errors.

L. J. Gray. Who judge rightly,

And who persist in error, will be known,

Then, when we meet again.

[thee that:

Once more, farewel,

[To her women.

Goodness be ever with you.

"When I'm dead,

'Intreat they do no rude dishonest wrong

To my cold, headless corpse; but see it shrouded,
And decent laid in earth.'

Gard. Wo't thou then die?

Thy blood be on thy head.

L. J. Gray. My blood be where it falls; let the earth And may it never rise, or call for vengeance:* [hide it; Oh, that it were the last shall fall a victim

To zeal's inhuman wrath! Thou, gracious Heav'n,
Hear and defend at length thy suffering people;
Raise up a monarch of the royal blood,
Brave, pious, equitable, wise and good:
In thy due season let the hero come,

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To save thy altars from the rage of Rome:
Long let him reign, to bless the rescu'd land,'
And deal out justice with a righteous hand.
And when he fails, oh! may he leave a son,
With equal virtues to adorn his throne;
To latest times the blessing to convey,
And guard that faith for which I die to-day.

66

[Lady Jane goes up to the scaffold. The doors

are closed.

"The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." Genesis IV. 10.

Enter PEMBROKE.*

Pemb. Horror on horror! Proud outrageous ven

geance,

[To Gard.

That struck my Guilford! Oh! his bleeding trunk
Shall live in these distracted eyes for ever!
Perish thy fatal arts, thy cruel counsels!
The Queen is deaf and pitiless as thou art.
Gard. The just reward of heresy and treason
Is fallen upon them both for their vain obstinacy;
Untimely death, with infamy on earth,

And everlasting punishment hereafter.

Pemb. And can'st thou tell? Who gave thee to explore
The secret purposes of Heaven, or taught thee
To set a bound to mercy unconfin'd?

But know, thou proud, perversely-judging Winchester,
Howe'er your hard, imperious censures doom,
And portion out our lot in worlds to come,
Those, who, with honest hearts, pursue the right,
And follow faithfully Truth's sacred light,
Tho' suff'ring here, shall from their sorrows cease,
Rest with the saints, and dwell in endless peace.

THE END.

In my Preface to Jane Shore, page 99, I have quoted part of a passage from Johnson's Life of Rowe, where he censures his want of attention to the unities. He then proceeds to say, "Rowe by "this licence, easily extricates himself from difficulties; as in Jane "Gray, when we have been terrified with all the dreadful pomp of "public execution, and are wondering how the heroine or the poet "will proceed, no sooner has Jane pronounced some prophetic rhymes than-pass and begone-the scene closes, and Pembroke "and Gardiner are turned out upon the stage."

Upon the subject of the Unities I have offered a few remarks in the former place. I have here endeavoured to get over a part of the difficulty by making doors to be opened and closed in the back scene, instead of the scene itself being drawn and closed again, which is, while the characters are on the stage, as if the wall between the two apartments should be removed and brought on again, In this way I have no objection to the scene as it now stands.

THE palms of virtue heroes oft have worn;
Those wreaths to-night a female brow adorn.
The beauteous Saint, unfortunately brave,
Sunk with those altars which she strove to save.
Greatly she dar'd to prop the juster side,
As greatly with her adverse fate comply'd,
Did all that could be ask'd, resign'd, and died;
Died for the land for which she wish'd to live,
And gain'd that liberty she could not give.
Oh, happy people! of this fav'rite isle,

On whom so many virtuous females smile!

*

For
r you, kind Heaven new blessings still supplies,
Bids other saints, and other guardians rise:
For you, the fairest of her sex is come,'
Adopts our Britain, and forgets her home:
For truth and you the heroine declines,
Austria's proud eagles, and the Indian mines.
What sense of such a bounty can be shown!
But beg of Heaven to make the fair its own.
Your gratitude with ease may be express'd;
Strive but to be, what she would make
Let no vile faction vex the vulgar ear
With fond surmise, and false-affected fear:
Confirm but to yourselves the given good;
"Tis all she asks for all she has bestow'd.

you,

bless'd.

Such was our great example shown to-day, And with such thanks our author's pains repay. If, from these scenes, to guard your faith you learn, If, for your laws you show a just concern, If you are taught to dread a Popish reign, Our beauteous patriot has not died in vain.

* See The Author's Dedication, p. 351, and Note,

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

HODSON, PRINTER, CAMBRIDGE.

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