losing my senses already; and if you should turn yourself into a giant, with saucer-eyes, or a black horse without a head, or any of the ugly shapesI ask pardon-you apparitions sometimes put on, I am sure I should go clean o'one side at the Earneft in least glimpse of you. Pray, then, in the name of the blessed virgin, and all the saints, male and female, be so good as to vanish quietly, and leave your poor frightened old friend wit enough to keep him out of a mad-house.

treaty.

Vexation.

Pand. This is undoubtedly that rogue Mascarille's manufacture. He has, for some gracious purpose, contrived to send me to the country on a fool's errand, and I suppose, in my absence, he has, to answer some other pious end, persuaded Encourage. you that I am dead. Come, give me thy hand, and thou wilt be convinced I am not dead more than thyself.

Reluctance.

Encourage.

Ans. drawing back.] What was it I saw laid out upon the bed, then ?

Pand. How should I know? It was not I, however.

Reluctance. Ans. If I were sure you are not dead, I should not be afraid to touch you: but the hand of a

Shuddering dead man must be so co-o-old !

Encourage. Pand. Prithee now give over.

Terror.

I tell you, it is nothing but Mascarille's invention. [He seizes Anselm's hand, who screams out.]

Ans. Ah! St. Anthony preserve me!-AhReturning aheheh Why-why-after all, your hand courage. is not so co-oo-old, neither. Of the two, it is rather warmer than my own. Can it be, though, that you are not dead?

Encourage.

Recollect.

Encourage.

Pand. Not I.

Ans. I begin to question it a little myself. But still my mind misgives me plaguily about the corpse I saw laid out upon your bed. If I could but find out what that was

Pand. Pshaw, prithee, what signifies it what it was? As long as you see plainly I am not dead.

But

Vexation.

Ans. Why yes, as you say, that is the point. Affenting. But yet the corpse upon the bed haunts me. [pauses] I'll be hang'd if it be not as you say. Mascarille is a rogue. But, if you be not dead, I am in two sweet scrapes. One is, the danger of being dubbed Mascarille's fool. The other of losing fifty pieces, I furnished him for your inter

ment.

Pand. O, you have lent him money, have Discovery. you ? Then the secret is out.

Apology.

Ans. Yes; but you know, it was upon the credit of your estate, and for your own personal benefit. For, if you had been dead, you must have been buried, you know. And Mascarille told me, your son could come at no ready cash, you know. So that I hope you will see me paid, Requesting you know.

Pand. I'll be hang'd if I do. I have enough Refufing. to pay on that score otherwise.

Ans. I'll pluck off every single grey hair that is upon my old foolish head.-What! to have no more wit at this time of life!-I expect nothing else than that they should make a farce in praise of my wisdom, and act me, till the town be sick of me, [Exeunt different ways.]

LXXV.

EXHORTATION.

The speech of GALGACUS the general of the Caledonii, (1) in which he exhorts the army he had assembled, in order to expel the Romans, to fight valiantly against their foes under JUL. AGRICOLA.

Corn. Tacit. VIT. AGRIC.

COUNTRYMEN, and FELLOW-SOLDIERS !

WHEN I consider the cause, for which we

have drawn our swords, and the necessity of striking an effectual blow, before we sheath them.

(1) The Caledonii, were, according to Ptolemy, the inhabitants of the interior parts of Scotland.

Vexation.

Courage.

Vexation.

Courage.

again, I feel joyful hopes arising in my mind, that this day an opening shall be made for the restoration of British liberty, and for shaking off the infamous yoke of Roman slavery. Caledonia is yet free. The all-grasping power of Rome has not yet been able to seize our liberty. But it is only to be preserved by valour. By flight Warning. it cannot for the sea confines us; and that the more effectually, as being possessed by the fleets of the enemy. As it is by arms, that the brave acquire immortal fame, so it is by arms that the sordid must defend their lives and properties, or Encourage, lose them. You are the very men, my friends, who have hitherto set bounds to the unmeasurable ambition of the Romans. In consequence of your inhabiting the more inaccessible parts of the island, to which the shores of those countries on the continent, which are enslaved by the Romans, are invisible, you have hitherto been free from the common disgrace, and the common sufferings. You lie almost out of the reach of fame Warning. itself. But you must not expect to enjoy this

untroubled security any longer, unless you bestir yourselves so effectually, as to put it out of the power of the enemy to search out your retreats, and disturb your repose. If you do not, curiosity alone will set them a prying, and they will conclude that there is somewhat worth the labour of conquering, in the interior parts of the island, merely because they have never seen them. What is little known, is often coveted, because so little known. And you are not to expect, that you should escape the ravage of the general plunderers of mankind, by any sentiment of moderation Accufing. in them. When the countries, which are more

accessible, come to be subdued, they will then force their way into those, which are harder to come at. And if they should conquer the dry land, over the whole world, they will then think of carrying their arms beyond the ocean, to see

whether there be not certain unknown regions, which they may attack, and reduce under subjection to the Roman empire. For we see, that if a country is thought to be powerful in arms, the Romans attack it, because the conquest will be glorious; if inconsiderable in the military art, because the victory will be easy; if rich, they are drawn thither by the hope of plunder; if poor, by the desire of fame. The east and the west, the south and the north, the face of the whole earth, is the scene of their military atchievements; the world is too little for their ambition, and their avarice. They are the only nation ever known to be equally desirous of conquering a poor kingdom as a rich one. Their supreme joy seems to to be ravaging, fighting, and shedding of blood; and when they have unpeopled a region, so that there are none left alive able to bear arms, they say they have given peace to that country.

Horror.

Horror.

Accufing.

Nature itself has peculiarly endeared to all Tenderness men, their wives and their children. But it is known to you, my countrymen, that the conquered youth are daily draughted off to supply the deficiencies in the Roman army. The wives, the sisters, and the daughters of the conquered, are either exposed to the violence, or at least corrupted by the arts of these cruel spoilers. The fruits of our industry, are plundered to make up the tributes imposed on us by oppressive avarice, Britons sow their fields; and the greedy Romans reap them. Our very bodies are worn out in car- Complaint. rying on their military works, and our toils are rewarded by them with abuse and stripes. Those, who are born to slavery, are bought and maintained by their master. But this unhappy coun- Indignation try pays for being enslaved, and feeds those who enslave it. And our portion of disgrace is the bitterest, as the inhabitants of this island are the last, who have fallen under the galling yoke.

Accufing. Our native bent against tyranny, is the offence, which most sensibly irritates those lordly usurpers. Our distance from the seat of government, and our natural defence by the surrounding ocean, render us obnoxious to their suspicions: for they know, that Britons are born with an instinctive love of liberty; and they conclude, that we must be naturally led to think of taking the advantage of our detached situation, to disengage ourselves one time or other, from their oppression.

Warning.

Commen

dation.

Thus, my countrymen, and fellow-soldiers, suspected and hated, as we ever must be by the Romans, there is no prospect of our enjoying even a tolerable state of bondage under them. Courage. Let us, then, in the name of all that is sacred, and in defence of all that is dear to us, resolve to exert ourselves, if not for glory, at least for safety; if not in vindication of British honour, at least in defence of our lives. How near were the Brigantines (1) to shaking off the yoke-led on too by a woman?-They burnt a Roman settlement: they attacked the dreaded Roman legions in their camp. Had not their partial success drawn them into a fatal security, the business was done. And shall not we, of the Caledonian region, whose territories are yet free, and whose strength entire, shall we not, my fellow-soldiers, attempt somewhat, which may shew these foreign ravagers, that they have more to do than they think of, before they be masters of the whole island.

Regret.

Courage.

Remon

ftrance.

But, after all, who are these mighty Romans! Are they gods, or mortal men, like ourselves ? Do we not see that they fall into the same errors and weaknesses as others? Does not peace effeminate them? Does not abundauce debauch them? Does not wantonness enervate them? Contempt. Do they not even go to excess in the most un

(1) The Brigantines, according to Ptolemy, inhabited what is now called Yorkshire, the bishopric of Durham, &c.