_Belv._ Look not upon me as I am a woman, But as a bone, thy wife, thy friend, who long Has had admission to thy heart, and there Studied the virtues of thy gallant nature: Thy constancy, thy courage, and thy truth, Have been my daily lesson; I have learnt them, Am bold as thou, can suffer or despise The worst of fates for thee; and with thee share them. _Jaff._ Oh, you divinest powers! look down and hear My prayers! instruct me to reward this virtue! Yet think a little, ere thou tempt me further; Think I've a tale to tell will shake thy nature, Melt all this boasted constancy thou talk'st of, Into vile tears and despicable sorrows: Then if thou shouldst betray me! _Belv._ Shall I swear? _Jaff._ No; do not swear,--I would not violate Thy tender nature with so rude a bond,-- But as thou hopest to see me live my days, And love thee long, lock this within thy breast:-- I've bound myself by all the strictest sacraments, Divine and human-- _Belv._ Speak! _Jaff._ To kill thy father. _Belv._ My father! _Jaff._ Nay, the throats of the whole Senate Shall bleed, my Belvidera: he amongst us That spares his father, brother, or his friend, Is damned. How rich and beauteous will the face Of ruin look, when these wide streets run blood, I and the glorious partners of my fortune Shouting, and striding o'er the prostrate dead, Still to new waste; whilst thou, far off in safety Smiling, shall see the wonders of our daring; And when night comes, with praise and love receive me! _Belv._ Oh! _Jaff._ Have a care, and shrink not, even in thought! For if thou dost-- _Belv._ 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? 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, Nose-slitters, alley-lurking villains--join With such a crew, and take a ruffian's wages, To cut the throats of wretches as they sleep? _Jaff._ 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 amongst them, But's stout as death, yet honest as the nature Of man first made, ere fraud and vice were fashions. _Belv._ What's he to whose cursed hands last night thou gavest 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. _Jaff._ Speak on, I charge thee!