Page:Dramas 3.pdf/273

Rh

'Twixt heaven and earth, so godlike, that the mind Scarcely believes this nether world of sin Hath been his previous home.—He is most guiltless.

What proof givest thou of this, and who art thou who hast twice this day addressed us with mien and air so varied, and two such different voices?

The man who did the deed: the unhappy Claudien.

And thou confessest thyself to be the murderer of Hartman?

You call it murder—so it may be called. He at the moment lay unarm'd; I, therefore, Can make no plea of self-defence. But murder, Deliberately devised, ne'er stain'd these hands: And if there be a man in this assembly Who loves a virtuous woman—such, I trow, In every court and crowd are to be found— Let him declare how he should feel on hearing Her fair name outraged by a sland'rous tongue, The caitiff struggling to elude his grasp: And if a fatal stroke by rage inflicted