bravo in the service of this dame, who now says that, for the future, she means to be all virtue and clemency, and that her only desire is to obtain the affections of the young man who is sleeping. Gubetta shrugs up his shoulders at what he seems to consider a very startling change of disposition, and thinks it better, under these circumstances, to leave his mistress and the sleeper together. Lucrèce, for the lady is no other, takes off her mask, and kisses the forehead of the youth; but in doing so she has been seen by two strangers, who had been watching her-one her husband,* the other a gentleman attached to his service, and of the same honourable profession as Gubetta. Gennaro (this is the name of the personage hitherto so quiescent) now awakes. He tells Lucrèce that he is a soldier of fortune, an orphan ignorant of his parents, and that he only lives to discover his mother, and to make himself worthy of her. 66 "I mean my sword to be pure and holy as that of an emperor. I've been offered any thing to enter the service of that infamous Lucrèce Borgia-I refused." "Gennaro! Gennaro!" says the lady, "you *The Duke of Ferrara. should pity the wicked; you know not their hearts." It is at this moment that the young nobles with whose conversation the play commenced come again on the scene. ACT I. SCENE V. The same. Maffio Orsini, Jeppo Liveretto, Ascanio Petrucci, Oloferno Vitellozzo, Don Apostolo Gazella. Nobles, Ladies, Pages carrying torches. MAFFIO (a torch in his hand). Gennaro, dost thou wish to know the woman to whom thou art talking love? DONA LUCRECE (aside, under her mask). Just Heaven! GENNARO. You are my friends-but I swear before God, that whoever touches the mask of this lady is a bold fellow ! -The mask of a woman is as sacred as the face of a man. MAFFIO. But first the woman must be a woman, Gennaro; not that we wish to insult this lady-we only wish to tell her our names. (Making a step towards Dona Lucrèce.) Madam, I am Mario Orsini, brother to the Duke of Gravina, whom your bravos strangled during the night while he was sleeping. JEPPO. Madam, I am Jeppo Liveretto, nephew of Liveretto Vitelli, poniarded by your orders in the cellars of the Vatican. ASCANIO. Madam, I am Ascanio Petrucci, cousin of Pandolfo Petrucci, Lord of Sienna, whom you had assassinated in order to rob him more easily of his town. OLOFERNO. Madam, my name is Oloferno Vitellozzo, nephew of Jago d'Appiani, whom you had poisoned at a fete, after having treacherously despoiled him of his good and lordly citadel of Piombino. DON APOSTOLO. Madam, you had Don Francisco Gazella put to death upon the scaffold. Don Francisco Gazella was maternal uncle to Don Alphonso of Aragon, your third husband, killed by your order on the stairs of St. Peter's. I am Don Apostolo Gazella, cousin of the one and son of the other. O God! DONA LUCRECE. GENNARO. Who is this woman? MAFFIO. And now that we have told you our names, do you wish that we should tell you yours? DONA LUCRECE. No-no, my lords-not before him! MAFFIO (taking off her mask). Take off your mask, madam, so that one may see whether you can blush. DON APOSTOLO. That woman, Gennaro, to whom you were whispering love, is a murderess and an adultress. JEPPO. Incestuous in every degree-incestuous with her two brothers, one of whom slew the other for her love. DONA LUCRECE. Pity! ASCANIO. Incestuous with her father, who is pope. OLOFERNO. A monster, who would be incestuous with her children, if children she had; but Heaven refuses issue to such creatures. DONA LUCRECE. Enough! enough! MAFFIO. Would you know her name, Gennaro? DONA LUCRECE. Pity-pity, my lords! MAFFIO. Gennaro, would'st thou know her name? LUCRECE (dragging herself to the knees of Gennaro). Listen not, my Gennaro ! MAFFIO (stretching out his arm). It's-Lucrèce Borgia! Oh! GENNARO (pushing her back). (She falls, having fainted at his feet.) Soon after this, Maffio, Jeppo, Ascanio, Oloferno, Don Apostolo, are sent by Venice on a special embassy to Ferrara, where Lucrèce Borgia holds her court, and Gennaro accompanies them, being the sworn brother in arms of Maffio D'Orsini. The passions in action are-the affection of Lucrèce for Gennaro-the jealous indignation of the Duke of Ferrara against Gennaro, whom he supposes, from what he saw at the mask of Venice, to be a lover-and the vengeance of Lucrèce, who has determined to punish the young Venetian nobles who had insulted her. Gennaro lays himself open to the Duke's plans by the historical outrage of erasing the B from the front of the ducal palace, which left ‘orgia' engraved upon that part which Lucrèce inhabited. The second Act contains a most spirited scene between Lucrèce Borgia and her husband, arising from this insult.* * Lucrèce, having first passionately demanded vengeance on the person who had outraged her palace, as |