ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 189 



complains that he has now no fon to clofe his eyes, his fon 

 throws himfelf on the neck of his father, yet is unable to dis- 

 cover that this wretch, this robber, this ailaffin, is his Charles. 

 At that moment, a diflant noife is heard, and prefently the dim 

 gleam of torches begins to illumine the fcene around them 

 The glare of their light increafes ; the voices are heard more 

 near ; the accuftomed mufic of their favage triumph founds : 

 and the faithful band of Moor, true to their commiffion of ven- 

 geance, bring the criminal Francis chained before his father 

 and his brother. It is impoffible to convey by narrative the 

 horrid fublimity of the fituation which this fcene prefents, or 

 of thofe expreffions to which the wounded fenfibility of Moor, 

 wrought up to the mod infatiable revenge againfl the author 

 of his father's mifery and his own, gives birth. The reader 

 could hardly conceive any modern imagination, how pregnant 

 foever with tragic terrors, to produce a fcene that could vie 

 with the dread picture of the fourth act ; when he has read the 

 fifth, he will find the horror equalled, and the intereft fur- 

 pafTed. 



Moor leads the wretched Francis before his father. The old 

 man is willing to forgive him ; but his brother has devoted 

 him to vengeance. He defires the band to lead his father to a 

 remote part of the wood ; and then, fettling the fury of his 

 revenge into the terrible folemnity of difpaflionate juftice, he 

 places his brother in the midft of his fierce afTociat.es, and de- 

 fires them to pronounce fentence on his crimes. They confult 

 fome time together on an adequate punifhment ', and then, fe- 

 licitating themfelves on the thought, they throw him into the 

 dungeon in which this barbarous parricide had buried his fa- 

 ther. The old man is brought in. He feels the yearnings of 

 paternal affection for his guilty fon, and exclaims againft the 

 cruelty of his avengers. Moor throws himfelf into his arms, 

 and difcovers to him his favourite, his Charles. Juft then, 

 Amelia, who had efcaped from the caftle of his brother, enters, 



and 



