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Pharaoh.-Spare me this once.

I'll let them go. Take all, but stay the plague!

What noise is that?

Chephren. My lord, we know not.

But all around are dying.

Pharaoh. Where is Menes?

Let some one hasten! See that he is safe!

Jannes.-Horrible dream! I will not yield to shadows!
Sethos. See how he struggles, as with some fierce foeman.
Jannes.-This is no phantasy. Is there a God?

Sethos.-His face blackens, his cramped and knotted limbs
Twist as in torture. And now all is over.

The gods have mercy on him.-Look at Pharaoh.

Pharaoh.-This is thy hand. The threatening is fulfilled. I feel thine awful presence, dread Destroyer!

I see thy dim form, and thy face severe

Frowning on Egypt. Thou standest in the city,

And reachest over all the land. On, on

Thou movest! Still thine arm smites high and low,
From Memphis to far Ethiopia's verge

I see the dying thousands; populous cities
Pouring forth myriads; death in every house;

Beasts, men, and gods, falling beneath thy sword.
Chephren. How the king stands gazing on vacancy!

Enter a Soldier.

Sethos.-Speak, Speak!

Soldier.-Oh, horrible!

Sethos.-Tell us the worst.

Soldier. No tongue can tell.-The guards around the palace, Struck by some unknown foe, drop in their ranks, And die. Scarce half are left.

Chephren.-The wretch is dead.

Enter Women and Children from all parts of the palace.

A Woman.-O whither shall we flee? Death follows us.
Another Woman.-Great God, have mercy! Spare my little one!
Children.-O mother, save us!

Sethos.-How the king is stunned;

And Jambres appears lifeless as a statue.

The noise increases. Horrid tumult rages
Throughout the palace.

Enter many nobles.

One speaks.-Saw you the awful form?

Chephren.-I saw it, whither shall we flee? Where hide From this dread foe?

A Noble.-Pharaoh, our children die :

Noble, and slave, and prisoner in the pit.

He moves not hears not.-Quick arouse thee, Pharaoh,
Or all will perish.

Enter Rameses.-Pharaoh, send to Moses

See the Destroyer moving o'er the land.

Death fills the palace crammed with wedding guests!
Fills all the city!

Enter Arsinoe.-Pharaoh, the prince is dead!
Pharaoh.-Terrible God, thou hast conquered!
Rameses.-Hear that shriek!

The maddened roar of twice ten thousand lions ;
A mighty mingled yell of man and beast.
'Tis Egypt's dying groan, the end of all things.
This is the bitter fruit of thy hard heart.

Chephren. See the crowds pouring in on every side.

Crowd.-Help Pharaoh, help! We shall be all dead men!
Pharaoh.-Hasten to Moses. Tell him, thus saith Pharaoh :
Go out from Egypt. Serve the Lord, your God.
Take with you all your people; all your children;
Take all your flocks and herds, as you have said.
But go in haste! And bless me also!

MEMPHIS.

A street at midnight. Crowds running in all directions. A confused uproar of men, and herds of wild dogs; mingled with the cry of death from every house.

An old man.-O death! death! death! Thy triumphs are complete! It is the end of time. In my long life

I have seen nothing equal.

A young man. Gracious gods,

Be merciful! Be merciful! O spare me! (He dies)

Crowd. (Many falling in the street.)-Isis, have mercy! Great Osiris, save us!

Old man. They will not hear you. Call on Israel's God.

He hath done this.

Crowd.-O God of Israel, save us!

Old man.-Behold him! See you not the stern Destroyer?
Crowd. The form! The terrible form! Great God, have mercy!
Old man.-
-Hear you this universal cry, Egyptians?

And know you not the cause? This day again

The king refused to liberate the Hebrews.

Therefore their God, enraged, pours out his vengeance
On the whole nation.

An Egyptian.-Why does he refuse?

Why should we suffer for the tyrant's pride?
Down with the tyrant!

Crowd.-Down with the tyrant!

To the palace! Let us all to the palace!

Old man. My friends, the king himself hath not escaped.
Death has been in the palace, and has seized

Our country's pride and ornament, prince Menes.
Egyptian.-Is the prince dead? Let us directly go,
And force the tyrant to set free the Hebrews!

Hear that cry!

Old man.-Hark! Death has not yet finished.
It grows louder.-We shall be all dead men.
Crowd.-Come to the palace! Instant to the palace!
Down with the tyrant! Freedom to the Hebrews!

Old man.-See, hither comes a crowd, as if in haste.
They are coming from the palace.

Egyptian.-They are the men

Who have misled the king.

Seize on the priests!

Hang them in their own temples!

Crowd.-Seize the magicians!

Trample them under foot!

(Enter priests and magicians, with a great crowd.)

Chephren.-We go to Goshen,

To send the Hebrews hence. Therefore, good friends,
Hinder us not. It is a work of haste.

We shall be all dead men.

Egyptian.-Let us go too,

And beg them to be gone-force them away.

Old man. Take with you money, jewels, ornaments,

To buy their favour.

Chephren.-To your houses! Go!

Meet us at Goshen !

GOSHEN.

The close of the paschal supper. Moses. Pheron, Rachel, and others. Chorus of virgins.

Hail to thee, lovely bride!

The God of Israel ever shield thee!
And earth its richest treasures yield thee!
Hail to thee, lovely bride!

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'Mid Israel's camp no plague shall blight thee;
No foe molest, nor phantom fright thee;
Thou dwell'st in safety here.

Then cheer thee, happy bride!
Joy oft is born of gloom and sorrow.
These evening clouds will break to-morrow.
Then cheer thee, happy bride!

GOSHEN.

Moses and Hebrews assembled.

Moses.-Children of Israel, swelling 'mid our feast
We heard the cry of mourning. A million deaths
Were in that wail of terror: yet on us

The sword of the Destroyer has not fallen.
We feast and triumph. This mysterious lamb
Has been the instrument of our salvation.
Some glorious truth lies hid beneath this symbol.
The spirit of prophecy obscurely shows
Some greater triumph than we hail to-night
O'er some more potent enemy; in which
Not Israel only, but the world shall glory.
Then for posterity, as for ourselves,

Let us rejoice; and in our passover
Celebrate this salvation, dimly shown,
Which shall enrich all nations and all ages.
Even now I see the book of time unrol
Its inmost page; and I behold the world
Blessed in Israel. In far distant days
A light shall dawn on countries yet unpeopled,
And realms yet undiscovered; and this feast
Which we have solemnized shall be observed
By all earth's millions. In the latter days
In Abraham shall be gathered all the tribes
Which throng the earth; and this deliverance
Be sung by every people while the earth
Remaineth.

Enter an Egyptian.

See,

Moses.-Fear hath bereft his soul of reason.
His wandering eye roams through the vacant air,
And shews no consciousness. Terror hath killed him.

Enter another Egyptian.

Egyptian.-Help, Moses, help! Am I in safety yet?
Moses. Here is no danger.

Egyptian.-Oh! this horrid night!

I thought all human kind had met their doom!
That deafening shriek never, till life's last hour,
Will leave my ears; that awful fiery form

Ne'er quit my sight. Maddened, I fled, and fled,
For death was close behind.

Enter another Egyptian.

Pheron.-Another fugitive!

Egyptian.-Oh! Moses, stay the plague!

If e'er sweet pity touched your heart, have mercy
Upon despairing Egypt. Men and babes,

Youth and old age, are mown down like the grass.

Enter others.

An Egyptian.-No god is like Jehovah. He hath conquered;

And Pharaoh, proud no longer, gives you freedom.

You are the masters; we your lowly slaves.

But O, my lord, be god-like. Spare the lives
That yet are left.

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