Might move compassion, like a beggar's rags;
Nay, more, a beggar's are his own, and these
But lent to the poor puppet, who must play
Its part with all its empire in this ermine.
I. Ber. Wouldst thou be king?

Doge.

Yes-of a happy people.

I. Ber. Wouldst thou be sovereign lord of Venice? Doge.

If that the people shared that sovereignty,

So that nor they nor I were further slaves
To this o'ergrown aristocratic Hydra,

The poisonous heads of whose envenom❜d body
Have breathed a pestilence upon us all.

Ay,

I. Ber. Yet, thou wast born and still hast lived patrician.

Doge. In evil hour was I so born; my birth Hath made me Doge to be insulted: but

I lived and toil'd a soldier and a servant

Of Venice and her people, not the senate;

Their good and my own honour were my guerdon.
I have fought and bled; commanded, ay, and conquer'd;
Have made and marr'd peace oft in embassies,
As it might chance to be our country's 'vantage;
Have traversed land and sea in constant duty,
Through almost sixty years, and still for Venice,
My fathers' and my birthplace, whose dear spires,
Rising at distance o'er the blue Lagoon,
It was reward enough for me to view
Once more; but not for any knot of men,
Nor sect, nor faction, did I bleed or sweat!

But would you know why I have done all this?
Ask of the bleeding pelican why she

VOL. IV.

D

Hath ripp'd her bosom? Had the bird a voice,
She'd tell thee 'twas for all her little ones.

I. Ber. And yet they made thee duke.

Doge.

They made me so;

I sought it not, the flattering fetters met me
Returning from my Roman embassy,
And never having hitherto refused

Toil, charge, or duty for the state, I did not,
At these late years, decline what was the highest
Of all in seeming, but of all most base

In what we have to do and to endure:

Bear witness for me thou, my injured subject,
When I can neither right myself nor thee.

I. Ber. You shall do both, if you possess the will;
And many thousands more not less oppress'd,
Who wait but for a signal-will you give it?
Doge. You speak in riddles.

1. Ber.

Which shall soon be read

At peril of my life; if you disdain not

To lend a patient ear.

Doge.

I. Ber.

Say on.

Not thou,

Nor I alone, are injured and abused,

Contemn'd and trampled on; but the whole people
Groan with the strong conception of their wrongs:
The foreign soldiers in the senate's pay

Are discontented for their long arrears;

The native mariners, and civic troops,

Feel with their friends; for who is he amongst them
Whose brethren, parents, children, wives, or sisters,
Have not partook oppression, or pollution,
From the patricians? And the hopeless war

Against the Genoese, which is still maintain'd
With the plebeian blood, and treasure wrung

From their hard earnings, has inflamed them further: Even now-but, I forget that speaking thus,

Perhaps I pass the sentence of my death!

Doge. And suffering what thou hast done-fear'st thou death?

Be silent then, and live on, to be beaten

By those for whom thou hast bled.

I. Ber.

No, I will speak

At every hazard; and if Venice' Doge
Should turn delator, be the shame on him,
And sorrow too; for he will lose far more
Than I.

Doge. From me fear nothing; out with it!

I. Ber. Know then, that there are met and sworn in secret

A band of brethren, valiant hearts and true;

Men who have proved all fortunes, and have long
Grieved over that of Venice, and have right
To do so; having served her in all climes,
And having rescued her from foreign foes,
Would do the same from those within her walls.
They are not numerous, nor yet too few

For their great purpose; they have arms, and means,
And hearts, and hopes, and faith, and patient courage.
Doge. For what then do they pause?

I. Ber.

An hour to strike. Doge (aside). Saint Mark's shall strike that hour!

I. Ber.

I now have placed

My life, my honour, all my earthly hopes
Within thy power, but in the firm belief

That injuries like ours, sprung from one cause,
Will generate one vengeance: should it be so,
Be our chief now-our sovereign hereafter.
Doge. How many are ye?

I. Ber.

Till I am answer'd.

Doge.

I'll not answer that

How, sir! do you menace?

I. Ber. No; I affirm. I have betray'd myself;
But there's no torture in the mystic wells
Which undermine your palace, nor in those
Not less appalling cells, the "leaden roofs,"
To force a single name from me of others.
The Pozzi and the Piombi were in vain;

They might wring blood from me, but treachery never.
And I would pass the fearful " Bridge of Sighs,”

Joyous that mine must be the last that e'er
Would echo o'er the Stygian wave which flows
Between the murderers and the murder'd, washing
The prison and the palace walls: there are

Those who would live to think on 't, and avenge me.
Doge. If such your power and purpose, why come

here

To sue for justice, being in the course

To do yourself due right?

I. Ber.

Because the man,

Who claims protection from authority,
Showing his confidence and his submission
To that authority, can hardly be

Suspected of combining to destroy it.

Had I sate down too humbly with this blow,

A moody brow and mutter'd threats had made me

A mark'd man to the Forty's inquisition;

But loud complaint, however angrily
It shapes its phrase, is little to be fear'd,
And less distrusted. But, besides all this,
I had another reason.

Doge.

What was that?

I. Ber. Some rumours that the Doge was greatly moved By the reference of the Avogadori

Of Michel Steno's sentence to the Forty

Had reach'd me. I had served you, honour'd you,
And felt that you were dangerously insulted,
Being of an order of such spirits, as

Requite tenfold both good and evil: 'twas
My wish to prove and urge you to redress.
Now you know all; and that I speak the truth,
My peril be the proof.

Doge.
You have deeply ventured;
But all must do so who would greatly win:
Thus far I'll answer you-your secret's safe.
I. Ber. And is this all?

Doge.

Unless with all intrusted,

What would you have me answer?

I. Ber.

I would have you

Trust him who leaves his life in trust with you.

Doge. But I must know your plan, your names, and numbers;

The last may then be doubled, and the former

Matured and strengthen'd.

I. Ber.

We're enough already;

You are the sole ally we covet now.

Doge. But bring me to the knowledge of your chiefs. I. Ber. That shall be done upon your formal pledge To keep the faith that we will pledge to you.