Fitted by kind for rape and villainy;
Single you thither then this dainty doe,
And strike her home by force, if not by words:
This way, or not at all, ftand you in hope.
Come, come, our Empress with her facred wit
To villainy and vengeance confecrate,
We will acquaint with all that we intend ;
And she shall file our engines with advice,
That will not fuffer you to fquare yourselves,
But to your wishes' height advance you both.
The Emperor's Court is like the Houfe of Fame,
The Palace full of tongues, of eyes, of ears;
The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf, and dull;
There speak, and ftrike, brave boys, and take your

turns.

There ferve your lufts, fhadow'd from heaven's eye;
And revel in Lavinia's Treafury.

Chi. Thy counfel, lad, fmells of no cowardise.
Dem. Sit fas aut nefas, 'till I find the stream
To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits,
Per Styga, per Manes vebor.

[Exeunt.

by kind-] That is, by nature, which is the old fignifica

tion of kind.

SCENE

SCENE III.

Changes to a Foreft.

Enter Titus Andronicus and his three Sons, with bounds and horns, and Marcus.

HE Hunt is up, 3 the morn is bright and

THE

gray,
The fields are fragant, and the woods are green;
Uncouple here, and let us make a bay,

And wake the Emperor and his lovely Bride,
And rouze the Prince, and ring a hunter's peal,
That all the Court may echo with the noife.
Sons, let it be your charge, as it is ours,
To tend the Emperor's perfon carefully;
I have been troubled in my fleep this night,
But dawning day new comfort harh infpir'd.

Here a cry of bounds, and wind horns in a peal: then enter Saturninus, Tamora, Baffianus, Lavinia, Chiron, Demetrius, and their Attendants.

Tit. Many good morrows to your Majefty.
-Madam, to you as many and as good,
I promised your Grace a hunter's peal.

Sat. And you have rung it luftily, my Lords,
Somewhat too early for new-married ladies.
Baf. Lavinia, how say you?

Lav. I fay, no :

I have been broad awake two hours and more.

2 The divifion of the play into acts, which was first made by the editors in 1623, is improper. There is here an interval of action, and here the fecond act ought to have begun. 3

the morn is bright and

gray;] . e. bright and yet not red, which was a fign of ftorms and rain, but gray which foretold fair weather. Yet the Oxford Editor alters gray to gay. WARBURTON..

Sat.

Sat. Come on then, horfe and chariots let us have, And to our sport.-Madam, now ye shall fee

Our Roman hunting.

Mar. I have dogs, my Lord,

[To Tamora.

Will roufe the proudeft Panther in the chafe,
And climb the highest promontory-top.

Tit. And I have horfe will follow, where the game
Makes way, and run like fwallows o'er the plain.
Dem. Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor
hound,

But hope to pluck a dainty Doe to ground. [Exeunt.

SCENE

IV.

Changes to a defart part of the Forest:

Enter Aaron alorie.

È, that had wit, would think, that I had

Aar. HE

none,

To bury fo much gold under a tree;
And never after to inherit it.

Let him, that thinks of me fo abjectly,

Know, that this gold muft coin a ftratagem;"
Which, cunningly effected, will beget
A very excellent piece of villainy;

And fo repofe, fweet gold, for their unreft,
That have their alms out of the Emprefs' cheft.

Enter Tamora.

Tam. My lovely Aaron, wherefore look'ft thou fad When every thing doth make a gleeful boast? The birds chaunt melody on every bush, The fnake lies rolled in the chearful fun,

♦ That have their alms, &c.] This is obfcure. It seems to mean only that they who are to

come at this gold of the empress, are to fuffer by it.

The

The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind,
And make a checquer'd fhadow on the ground.
Under their sweet fhade, Aaron, let us fit,
And whilst the babling Echo mocks the hounds,
Replying fhrilly to the well-tun'd horns,
As if a double Hunt were heard at once,
Let us fit down and mark their yelling noise:
And after conflict, fuch as was fuppos'd
The wandring Prince and Dido once enjoy'd,
When with a happy ftorm they were furpriz'd,
And curtain'd with a counfel-keeping cave;
We may, each wreathed in the other's arms,
(Our paftimes done) poffefs a golden flumber;
Whilst hounds and horns, and sweet melodious birds
Be unto us, as is a nurfe's fong

Of lullaby, to bring her babe afleep.

Aar. Madam, though Venus govern your defires, Saturn is dominator over mine.

What fignifies my deadly-ftanding eye,
My filence, and my cloudy melancholy,
My fleece of woolly hair, that now uncurls,
Even as an adder, when she doth unrowl
To do fome fatal execution?

No, madam, these are no venereal figns;
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand;
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
Hark, Tamora, the Emprefs of my foul,
Which never hopes more heav'n than refts in thee,
This is the day of doom for Baffianus ;
His Philomel muft lose her tongue to-day;
Thy fons make pillage of her chastity,
And wash their hands in Baffianus' blood.
Seest thou this letter, take it up, I pray thee,
And give the King this fatal-plotted fcrowl.
Now question me no more, we are espied;
Here comes a parcel of our hopeful booty,
Which dread not yet their lives' destruction.
Tam. Ah, my fweet Moor, fweeter to me than life.
6

'Aar.

Aar. No more, great Emprefs, Baffianus comes; Be cross with him, and I'll go fetch thy fons To back thy quarrels, whatfoe'er they be.

[Exit.

Baf. Whom have we here? Rome's royal Emprefs? Unfurnish'd of her well-befeeming troops? Or is it Dian, habited like her,

Who hath abandoned her holy groves,

To fee the general Hunting in this foreft?
Tam. Saucy controller of our private steps:
Had I the power, that, fome fay, Dian had,
Thy Temples fhould be planted presently
With horns, as was Acteon's; and the hounds
Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs,
Unmannerly Intruder as thou art!

Lav. Under your patience, gentle Emprefs,
'Tis thought, you have a goodly gift in horning;
And to be doubted, that your Moor and you
Are fingled forth to try experiments.

Jove fhield your hufband from his hounds to-day!
'Tis pity, they should take him for a ftag.

Baf. Belive me, Queen, your fwarth Cimmerian Doth make your honour of his body's hue, Spotted, detefted, and abominable. Why are you fequeftered from all your train? Difmounted from your fnow-white goodly fteed, And wandred hither to an obfcure plot, Accompanied with a barbarous Moor, If foul defire had not conducted you?

Lav. And being intercepted in your sport, Great reason, that my noble Lord be rated

5 fwarth Cimmerian. ] Swarth is black. The Moor is

called Cimmerian from the affinity of blackness to darkness.