CLAVIGO : A TRAGEDY. 439 



you hate me, for I have never ceased to love you ? Amidst every tumult of 

 pleasure, through all the seductive whisperings of vanity and pride, I have 

 remembered those blissful, unalloyed days which I passed in happier re- 

 straint at your feet, when we saw before us a succession of blooming pros- 

 pects. And now, why should you not realize all we hoped ? Will you re- 

 fuse now to enjoy the happiness of life, because a gloomy interval has de- 

 layed our hopes? No, love, believe me, the choicest pleasures the world 

 bestows are not quite pure, the extremest bliss is marred by our passions, 

 interrupted by fate. Shall we complain at having shared the common 

 destiny ? and ought we to make ourselves culpable by casting this oppor- 

 tunity from us, to redeem the past, to restore peace to a distracted family, 

 to reward the heroism of a noble brother, and secure our own happiness 

 for ever? My friend, whom I do not deserve ; my friend, who must be so 

 while you are a friend of virtue, to which I am returned, join your prayers 

 with mine. Maria ! (he kneels} Maria ! do you no longer know my voice ? 

 do you no longer know my heart? Maria! Maria! 



Mar. O, Clavigo ! 



Clav. (Springs up, seizes her hand, and kisses it rapturously.') She forgives 

 me ! she loves me ! (embraces Guilbert and Buenco) she loves me still ! O, 

 Maria, my heart told me so ! I might have thrown myself at your feet, 

 and in mute anguish wept out my repentance ; you would have understood 

 me without a word, as I receive my pardon without a word. No, this 

 cordial affinity of our souls is not destroyed ; no, they still beat responsive 

 as before, when there needed no sign to impart our inmost emotions. 

 Maria Maria Maria ! 



Enter Beaumarchais. 



Beau. Ha! 



Clav. (Running towards him.} My brother ! 



Beau. Do you forgive him ? 



Mar. Leave me, leave me ! my senses fail me. (Sophia leads her away.) 



Beau. Has she forgiven him ? 



Buen. So it appears. 



Beau. You do not deserve your happiness. 



Clav. Believe me, I feel I do not. 



Re-enter Sophia. 



Sop. She has forgiven him. She burst into a flood of tears. <l Pray let 

 him go," said she, sobbing, " that I may recover ! I forgive him. Ah, 

 sister !" exclaimed she, falling upon my neck, " how could he know that I 

 so love him ?" 



Clav. (Kissing her hand.) I am the happiest man under heaven. My 

 brother ! 



Beau. (Embraces him.} From my heart then ; although I frankly tell 

 you, I can't love you yet. But now be ours, and let the past be forgotten. 

 The paper which you gave me here it is. ( He takes it from his letter-case, 

 tears it, and gives it him.} 



Clav. I am yours, eternally yours. 



Sop. I entreat you go now ; she cannot compose herself while she hears 

 your voice. 



Clav. (Embraces each.) Adieu ! adieu ! A thousand kisses to my angel. 

 (Exit.} 



Beau. So let it be then, although I did wish it might be otherwise. A 

 girl is, however, a good-natured sort of creature j and } my friends, I must 

 tell you, it was the earnest wish of our ambassador that Maria might forgive 

 him, and that a happy marriage should be the sequel of this grievous history. 



Guilb. I am now perfectly happy again. 



Buen. He is your brother, and so adieu ! You will never see me enter 

 your house again. 



