But the part most eminently deserving our attention as mark- SECT.
1.
ing the theatrical taste of the times, is the relation of the
treatment of the hostages sent to the king of Arabia, and the
conduct of Acripanda upon that occasion.-Ussimano, king
of Egypt, having murdered his first wife Orselia, in order to
obtain the hand of Acripanda, exposes her infant son on the
banks of the Nile. After having been suckled for some time
by a wolf, the child is found by a shepherd, and carried to the
court of the king of Arabia, where he is at length exalted to
the throne. Stimulated by the shade of his mother, he en-
gages in a war with the king his father, whom he obliges to
make a shameful retreat from the field of battle. Flushed
with his victory, and confident in his strength, he offers
haughty terms of peace. The terms are acceded to, and the
children of Acripanda sent as hostages. The cruel Arab,
knowing them to be the children of the woman whose charms
had occasioned the death of his mother, dooms them to im-
mediate death, and acts himself as executioner, severing, with
his sword, the heads and limbs of those innocent victims of
his vengeance from their reeking bodies. A female atten-
dant, who had formed part of their train, collects their scat-
tered members, and putting them into a bag of white linen,
(candido lino) returns to the court of Ussimano. Meeting
the queen, she relates the horrid circumstance, and produces
her bloody burthen, declining, at the same time, to open the
bag. But the queen insists on seeing the remains of her chil-
dren. The maid complies with a trembling hand, and as she
Q

pro

SECT. produces each limb, minutely details the manner in which it

I.

had been struck off.

(Ahi!) fu la bella garzonetta, à cui
Prende con una man gli aurei capegli
Con l'altra un colpo su l' eburnee spalle
Crudelmente distese ed hor quel membro

Ed hor questo ferille, ed al fin poi

Del crudo ferro suo la punta acuta
Cento fiate immerse,

E cento la ritrasse

Fuor del candido petto

Solo à i colpi d' amor per segno eletto.

Cadde ella à terra prona,

E nel cader' entro un sospiro accolta

Versò l' anima fuora,

E il bel volto leggiadro

Qual colto fior, che il color serbe ancora, &c.

A long dialogue ensues between the chorus and the queen, who at length summoning all her resolution, proceeds to assort the reeking parts in order to reduce them to their original form.(n

Non languite hor, vi prego,

Ma intrepide, e sicure

Durate, ò mani, à la mest' opra, mentre

(#) Theseus employs himself in the same way in the Hippolytus of Seneca, when the mangled limbs and body of his son are brought upon the stage.

Che

Che numerando, e raccogliendo io vado
De i miei figliuoi le dissipate membra;
E lor ridóno un' altra volta quella
Forma, ch' hebber da me ne l' alvo pria.

This pious office being performed, the queen retires and the
chorus conclude the act with an ode. But let us turn away
from this scene of horror. We have had "blood enough."
I cannot, however, dispatch this drama without observing,
that the scene in which the shades of Acripanda's children
appear, announcing their death, and informing their mother
that they go before to prepare a seat for her in heaven, evinces
a master-hand. It is impossible to read this scene unmoved;
but in representation it must have been deeply and tenderly
affecting.

SECT.

I.

Acrip. (Ahi!) ch' io vi miro, è siete
I cari miei gemelli,

Omb.

Ma non so, s' ìo vi miro
Io sogno, o s' io son desta.
Che fate in quella nube?
Miracoli vegg' io,

S' io non vaneggio, e siete
Veramente i miei figli.

Scendete in questo seno,
Perche imprimer' io possa
Su le guanci vivaci,
Affettuosi baci.

In van cerchi baciarne

O' genetrice amata,
Ch' appressandoti à noi
Stringer, ed abbracciare
Sol' l' aura, ò nulla puoi.
Noi siam l'anime nude

De' tuoi fidi gemelli,

Che vederti bramiamo

Prima, ch' al ciel saliamo.

Ma la parte mortal, che tu ne desti

Per man crudele ed empia

Del rè nimico, sotto

La già promessa pace,

Su la riva del Nilo

Dilacerata giace.

Acrip.