324 CJ.AVIGO : A TRAGEDY. 



marry Maria, and you must feel that I am not come to play the part of a 

 brother in a comedy, who requires an explanation, and procures a husband 

 for his sister. You have premeditatedly insulted an honourable girl, be- 

 cause you believed her destitute of succour or the means of revenge in a 

 foreign country. Thus acts the base coward. Now, in the first place, 

 write with your own hand voluntarily, with open doors and in the pre- 

 sence of your servants that you are a detestable villain, who has betrayed, 

 deceived, and, without the slightest cause, humiliated my sister, with this 

 declaration I shall go to Aranjuez, where our ambassador resides, show 

 it, have it printed, and after to-morrow it will be disseminated through 

 the court and town. I have powerful friends here, have time and money, 

 and I will employ them all to persecute you most relentlessly, until my 

 sister's anger be appeased, and she herself arrests my efforts. 



Clav. I will not make this declaration. 



Beau. That I believe, for, perhaps, were I in your place, I should be 

 equally unwilling to do it. But this is your alternative. If you do not write 

 it, then I will remain ; from this moment I will not leave you, but will 

 follow you about until, weary of such fellowship, you seek to rid yourself 

 of me by the sword. If I prove more fortunate than you ; without seeing 

 the ambassador, without having spoken with a single person here, I 

 will take my dying sister in my arms, place her in my carriage and return 

 with her to France. Should fate favour you, I have done my duty, and you 

 may then laugh at our cost; meanwhile the breakfast ! (Rings the bell. A 

 servant brings chocolate. JBeaumarchais takes his cup, and walks about the ad- 

 joining gallery, viewing the pictures.) 



Clav. Air ! Air ! Thou art taken unawares caught like a child where 

 art thou, Clavigo ? How wilt thou end this ? How canst thou end it ? 

 Horrible dilemma, into which thy folly, thy treachery, have precipitated 

 thee ! (Seizes his sword from the table.} Ha! brief and easy. (Replaces it.) 

 And is there no way, no alternative, but death or murder ! horrible mur- 

 der ! To rob the unhappy girl of her last comfort, her only succour, her 

 brother! To shed the blood of this noble, brave youth ! And thus load 

 thyself with the insupportable curse of a family doubly injured ! O ! that 

 was not the prospect in the early days of our acquaintance, when that 

 amiable creature attracted thee by her numberless charms ! And, when 

 thou didst forsake her, sawest thou not the frightful consequences of the 

 shameful act ! What bliss awaited thee in her arms ! in the friendship of 

 such a brother ! Maria ! Maria ! O that thou couldst forgive ! that I 

 might at thy feet expiate all with my repentant tears ! And why not? ^My 

 heart overflows ; my soul swells with hope ! Sir ! 



Beau. What, have you resolved? 



Clav. Hear me! My treachery to your sister is not to be excused. 

 Vanity misled me. I feared the accomplishment of my hopes, that my 

 prospects of a life of celebrity would be destroyed by this marriage. Could 

 I have known she had such a brother, she would have appeared in my eyes 

 no insignificant foreigner ; but, I should have anticipated the most con- 

 siderable advantages from this union. You inspire me with the highest 

 esteem; and while you make me deeply feel the injustice I have done your 

 sister, you infuse a desire, a power, to redress the wrong. I will throw 

 myself at her feet ! Oh, aid me ! Aid, if it be possible to obliterate my 

 guilt, and end this misery. Restore me your sister, Sir; bestow her on 

 me ! How happy should I be to receive a wife from your hand, and par- 

 don for my misconduct. 



Beau. It is too late ! My sister no longer loves you, and I abhor you. 

 Write the desired declaration, that is all I require of you. And leave 



to me the task of accomplishing my revenge. 

 Clav. Your obstinacy is neither just nor judici 



icious. I grant you, that now, 



