Ren. ’Tis a cold night indeed, I am aged,
Full of decay and natural infirmities;

[PIERRE re-enters

We shall be warm, my friend, I hope, to-morrow.

Pierr. ’Twas not well done, thou shouldst have stroked him
And not have galled him.

Jaff. Damn him, let him chew on’t.
Heaven! where am I? beset with cursed fiends,
That wait to damn me: what a devil’s man,
When he forgets his nature—hush, my heart.

Ren. My friends, ’tis late: are we assembled all?
Where’s Theodore?

Theo.

At hand.

Ren. Spinosa.

Spin. Here.

Ren.Bramveil.

Bram. I’m ready.

Ren. Durand and Brabe.

Dur. Command us, We are both prepared!

Ren. Mezzana, Revillido,
Ternon, Retrosi; oh, you are men, I find,
Fit to behold your fate, and meet her summons.
To-morrow’s rising sun must see you all
Decked in your honours! are the soldiers ready?

Omn. All, all.

Ren. You, Durand, with your thousand must possess
St. Mark’s: you, captain, know your charge already:
’Tis to secure the ducal palace: you,
Brabe, with a hundred more must gain the Secque.
With the like number Bramveil to the Procuralle.
Be all this done with the least tumult possible,
Till in each place you post sufficient guards:
Then sheathe your swords in every breast you meet.

Jaff. O reverend cruelty! damn’d bloody villain!

Ren. During this execution, Durand, you
Must in the midst keep your battalia fast,
And, Theodore, be sure to plant the cannon
That may command the streets; whilst Revillido,
Mezzana, Ternon, and Retrosi, guard you.
This done, we’ll give the general alarm,
Apply petards, and force the ars’nal gates;
Then fire the city round in several places,
Or with our cannon, if it dare resist,
Batter’t to ruin. But ’bove all I charge you
Shed blood enough, spare neither sex nor age,
Name nor condition; if there live a Senator
After to- morrow, tho’ the dullest rogue
That e’er said nothing, we have lost our ends;
If possible, let’s kill the very name
Of Senator, and bury it in blood.

Jaff. Merciless, horrid slave!—Ay, blood enough!
Shed blood enough, old Renault: how thou charm’st me!

Ren. But one thing more, and then farewell till Fate
Join us again, or separate us ever:
First let’s embrace, Heav’n knows who next shall thus
Wing ye together: but let’s all remember
We wear no common cause upon our swords;
Let each man think that on his single virtue
Depends the good and fame of all the rest,
Eternal honour or perpetual infamy.
Let’s remember through what dreadful hazards
Propitious Fortune hitherto has led us,
How often on the brink of some discovery
Have we stood tottering, and yet kept our ground
So