Jaff. My Belvidera! ho! my Belvidera!

Enter Belvidera.

Belv. Who calls so loud at this late peaceful hour?
That voice was wont to come in gentler whispers,
And fill my ears with the soft breath of love:
Thou hourly image of my thoughts, where art thou?

Jaff. Indeed ’tis late.

Belv. Oh! I have slept and dreamt,
And dreamt again: where hast thou been, thou loiterer?
Tho’ my eyes closed, my arms have still been opened;
Stretched every way betwixt my broken slumbers,
To search if thou wert come to crown my rest;
There’s no repose without thee: Oh, the day
Too soon will break, and wake us to our sorrow;
Come, come to bed, and bid thy cares good-night.

Jaff. O Belvidera! we must change the scene
In which the past delights of life were tasted:
The poor sleep little, we must learn to watch
Our labours late, and early every morning,
Midst winter frosts; then clad and fed with sparing,
Rise to our toils, and drudge away the day.

Belv. Alas! where am I! whither is’t you lead me!
Methinks I read distraction in your face!
Something less gentle than the fate you tell me:
You shake and tremble too! your blood runs cold!
Heavens guard my love, and bless his heart with patience.

Jaff. That I have patience, let our fate bear witness.
Who has ordained it so, that thou and I,
(Thou the divinest Good man e’er possessed,
And I the wretched’st of the race of man)
This very hour, without one tear, must part.

Belv. Part! must we part? Oh! am I then forsaken?
Will my love cast me off? have my misfortunes
Offended him so highly, that he’ll leave me?
Why drag you from me; whither are you going?
My dear! my life! my love!

Jaff. O friends!

Belv. Speak to me.

Jaff. Take her from my heart;
She’ll gain such hold else, I shall ne’er get loose.
I charge thee take her, but with tender’st care
Relieve her troubles and assuage her sorrows.

Ren. Rise, madam! and command amongst your servants!

Jaff. To you, sirs, and your honours, I bequeath her,
And with her this, when I prove unworthy— [Gives a dagger.
You know the rest:—then strike it to her heart;
And tell her, he, who three whole happy years
Lay in her arms, and each kind night repeated
The passionate vows of still-increasing love.
Sent that reward for all her truth and sufferings.

Belv. Nay, take my life, since he has sold it cheaply;
Or send me to some distant clime your slave,
But let it be far off, lest my complainings
Should reach his guilty ears, and shake his peace.

Jaff. No, Belvidera, I’ve contrived thy honour.
Trust to my faith, and be but fortune kind
To me, as I’ll preserve that faith unbroken,
When next we meet, I’ll lift thee to a height,
Shall gather all the gazing world about thee,
To wonder what strange virtue placed thee there.
But if we ne’er meet more—

Belv. O thou unkind one,
Never meet more? have I deserved this from you?
Look on me, tell me, speak, thou dear deceiver,
Why am I separated from thy love?
If I am false, accuse me; but if true,
Don’t, prithee, don’t in poverty forsake me,
But pity the sad heart, that’s torn with parting.
Yet hear me! yet recall me—

[Exeunt Renault, Bedamar, and Belvidera.