_Fri._ Alas! I must, you see I am commanded, commanded too by Love; Love more powerful than all the Sacred Ties of Friendship, therefore draw, and guard thy self. [_Draws._ _Bon._ Not I by Heaven! What wou'dst thou have me draw and kill my Friend? _Fri._ There thou stab'st my Soul. O where, where is now my Resolution fled? A fatal Blast has struck me; a sudden Horror shot me thro the Heart; a Trembling seiz'd my Knees, that I can hardly stand, and all my Vital Powers methinks seem dead; yet Love's the Fire must kindle all again, therefore I charge thee draw, or naked as thou art, I will assail thee. _Bon._ I am defended against all that thou canst do, in having Justice on my Side, and Friendship too to back it. _But since Humanity now bears so sway, To this unguarded Breast come make your way._ Strike home be sure. [_Opens his Bosom._ _Fri._ That were a barbarous Murder. _Bon._ How can the Effect prove different from the Cause? Or how can any thing but damn'd Barbarity ensue a Woman's much more damn'd Design? Who wou'd expect Reason from one that raves, or hope for Mercy in a Tyger's Den? Believe me, _Friendly_, all this may sooner be; Mercy may sooner dwell among the Savage Wolves and Bears, than in a Woman's Breast. _Fri._ O, my too rigid Fate, to place me thus on such a dangerous Precipice, that wheresoe're I turn my self for help, I see my Ruin still before mine Eyes. [_Seems to weep._ _Bon._ [_Pausing._] Stay--The Command which thy _Medea_ sent thee, was to kill thy only dearest Friend, was it not? _Fri._ Alas! it was. _Bon._ Then here, all Friendship dies between us; thus hast thou kill'd thy Friend, and satisfied that infernal Hag, thy cursed Mistress, who thus commanded thee: Away, I say, begon, and never see me more. _Fri._ Ha! _Bon._ Yes, base ungrateful Wretch, farewel, (_Offers to go_) --Yet stay, and since that Sacred Tie of Friendship's broke, know thou, most vile of Men, that _Bonvile_'s now thy Enemy; therefore do thou draw and guard thy spotted Life. _Fri._ How, Friend! _Bon._ Friend didst thou call me? On forfeit of thy Life that word no more; the very Name of Friend from thee, shall be a Quarrel: How can I tell but that thou lovest my Wife, and therefore feign'd this damn'd Design to draw me from her Arms? _Fri._ How! wrong thy Wife? O no, I never had a Thought so vile! Yet you must forgive me, indeed you must, by all that once was dear to me; and what I dare not mention more, by Love and Honour, I implore thy Pardon--Still art thou deaf to my Complaints?--Nay, then upon my Knee, I will enforce thy Pity. Behold me, _Bonvile_, prostrate at thy Feet, crawling for Mercy, swimming in Tears, and almost drown'd with Shame; extend thy Arm to help me, as thou'rt a Man, be God-like in thy Nature, and raise me from the Grave; turn thy Eyes on me, and sink me not with Frowns; O save me, save me, or I fall for ever.