_Mar._ And nothing more? Will you not see him Ere he depart? It may be the last time. _Doge_. The last!--my boy!--the last time I shall see My last of children! Tell him I will come. [_Exeunt_. ACT III. SCENE I.--_The prison of_ JACOPO FOSCARI. _Jac. Fos._ (_solus_). No light, save yon faint gleam which shows me walls Which never echoed but to Sorrow's sounds,[58] The sigh of long imprisonment, the step Of feet on which the iron clanked the groan Of Death, the imprecation of Despair! And yet for this I have returned to Venice, With some faint hope, 'tis true, that Time, which wears The marble down, had worn away the hate Of men's hearts; but I knew them not, and here Must I consume my own, which never beat 10 For Venice but with such a yearning as The dove has for her distant nest, when wheeling High in the air on her return to greet Her callow brood. What letters are these which [_Approaching the wall_. Are scrawled along the inexorable wall? Will the gleam let me trace them? Ah! the names Of my sad predecessors in this place,[59] The dates of their despair, the brief words of A grief too great for many. This stone page Holds like an epitaph their history; 20 And the poor captive's tale is graven on His dungeon barrier, like the lover's record Upon the bark of some tall tree,[60] which bears His own and his belovéd's name. Alas! I recognise some names familiar to me, And blighted like to mine, which I will add, Fittest for such a chronicle as this, Which only can be read, as writ, by wretches.[bk] [_He engraves his name_. _Enter a Familiar of "the Ten."_ _Fam._ I bring you food. _Jac. Fos._ I pray you set it down; I am past hunger: but my lips are parched-- 30 The water! _Fam._ There. _Jac. Fos._ (_after drinking_). I thank you: I am better. _Fam._ I am commanded to inform you that Your further trial is postponed. _Jac. Fos._ Till when? _Fam._ I know not.--It is also in my orders That your illustrious lady be admitted. _Jac. Fos._ Ah! they relent, then--I had ceased to hope it: 'Twas time. _Enter_ MARINA. _Mar._ My best belovéd! _Jac. Fos._ (_embracing her_). My true wife, And only friend! What happiness! _Mar._ We'll part No more. _Jac. Fos._ How! would'st thou share a dungeon?