father—       Bel. My father! [Part.]       Jaf. Nay, the throats of the whole senate Shall bleed, my Belvidera. He, amongst us, [28]     That spares his father, brother, or his friend, Is damned. Bel. Oh! Jaf. Have a care, and shrink not even in thought For, if thou dost—       Bel. (L. C.) I know it: thou wilt kill me. Do! strike thy sword into this bosom: lay me Dead on the earth, and then thou wilt be safe. Murder my father! Though his cruel nature, Has persecuted me to my undoing, Driven me to basest wants; can I behold him, With smiles of vengeance, butchered in his age? The sacred fountain of my life destroyed? And canst thou shed the blood that gave me being?       [Leans on him Nay, be a traitor, too, and sell thy country! Can thy great heart descend so vilely low, Mix with hired slaves, bravos, and common stabbers, Join such a crew, and take a ruffian's wages, To cut the throats of wretches as they sleep? [Part. Jaf. (R. C.) Thou wrong'st me, Belvidera! I've engaged With men of souls, fit to reform the ills Of all mankind: there's not a heart among them, But's stout as death, yet honest as the nature Of man first made, ere fraud and vice were fashion. Bel. (L.) What's he, to whose cursed hands last night thou gav'st me? Was that well done? Oh! I could tell a story, Would rouse thy lion heart out of its den, And make it rage with terrifying fury! Jaf. (C.) Speak on, I charge thee! Bel. Oh, my love! [Leaning on him,] if e'er Thy Belvidera's peace deserved thy care, Remove me from this place. Last night! last night! Jaf. Distract me not, but give me all the truth! Bel. No sooner wert thou gone, and I alone, Left in the power of that old son of mischief; No sooner was I laid on my sad bed, But that vile wretch approached me. Then my heart Throbbed with its fears;—      Oh, how I wept and sighed, [29]     And shrunk, and trembled! wished, in vain, for him      That should protect me! Thou, alas, wast gone! Jaf. [Turning, R.] Patience, sweet Heaven, till I make vengeance sure! Bel. He drew the hideous dagger forth, thou gav'st him, And, with upbraiding smiles, he said, "Behold it:      This is the pledge of a false husband's love:"      And in his arms then pressed, and would have clasped me; But, with my cries, I scared his coward heart, Till he withdrew, and muttered vows to hell.       [Rush into each other's arms. These are thy friends! [Part]with these thy life: thy honour, Thy love, all staked—and all will go to ruin! Jaf. (C.) No more; I charge thee, keep this secret close. Clear up 

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