With greedy talents* gripe my bleeding heart,
And like a harpy + tires on my life.

Theridamas and Tamburlaine, I die:
And fearful vengeance light upon you both!
[Dies.—Tamburlaine takes Cosroe's crown,
puts it on his own head.

dissela

and

TAMB. Not all the curses which the ‡ Furies breathe, Shall make me leave so rich a prize as this.

Theridamas, Techelles, and the rest,

Who think you now is king of Persia ?

ALL. Tamburlaine! Tamburlaine !

TAMB. Though Mars himself, the angry god of

arms,

And all the earthly potentates conspire

To dispossess me of this diadem,
Yet will I wear it in despite of them,

As great commander of this eastern world,

If you but say that Tamburlaine shall reign.

ALL. Long live Tamburlaine, and reign in Asia! TAMB. So; now it is more surer on my head Than if the gods had held a parliament,

And all pronounc'd me king of Persia.

[Exeunt.

* talents] Was often used by our early writers for talons; as many passages might be adduced to shew. Hence the quibble in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, act iv. sc. 2. "If a talent be a claw," &c.

+ harpy] So the 8vo.-The 4to "Harper"; and with that reading the line is cited, in a note on Macbeth, act iv. sc. 1, by Steevens, who also gives "tires upon my life; but" tires " (a well-known term in falconry, and equivalent here to—preys) is to be pronounced as a dissyllable (in the 4to it is spelt "tyers").

the] So the 4to.-The 8vo "thy."

ACT III.

SCENE I.

Enter BAJAZETH, the Kings of FEZ, MOROCCO, and ARGIER, with others, in great pomp.

BAJ. Great kings of Barbary and my portly
bassoes*,

We hear the Tartars and the eastern thieves,
Under the conduct of one Tamburlaine,
Presume a bickering with your emperor,
And think to rouse us from our dreadful siege
Of the famous Grecian Constantinople.

You know our army is invincible;

As

many circumcised Turks we have, And warlike bands of Christians renied‡,

*bassoes] i. e. bashaws.

+ think] Old eds. " thinks" and "thinkes."

Christians renied] i. e. Christians who have denied, or renounced their faith.-In The Gent. Magazine for Jan. 1841, J. M. would read "Christians renegadens" or "Christian renegades:" but the old text is right; among many passages that might be cited, compare the following;

"And that Ydole is the God of false Cristene, that han reneyed hire feythe." The Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maundevile, p. 209. ed. 1725.

"For that thou should'st reny thy faith, and her thereby pos

sesse,

The Soldan did capitulat in vaine: the more thy blesse." Warner's Albions England, B. XI. Ch. 68. p. 287. ed. 1596.

As hath the ocean or the Terrene* sea

Small drops of water when the moon begins
To join in one her semicircled horns:

Yet would we not be brav'd with foreign power,
Nor raise our siege before the Grecians yield,
Or breathless lie before the city-walls.

K. OF FEZ. Renowmèd+ emperor and mighty
general,

What, if you sent the bassoes of your guard
To charge him to remain in Asia,

Or else to threaten death and deadly arms
As from the mouth of mighty Bajazeth?

BAJ. Hie thee, my bassot, fast to Persia;
Tell him thy lord, the Turkish emperor,
Dread lord of Afric, Europe, and Asia,
Great king and conqueror of Græcia,
The ocean, Terrene, and the Coal-black sea,
The high and highest monarch of the world
Wills and commands, (for say not I entreat,)
Nots once to set his foot in|| Africa,
Or spread¶ his colours in Græcia,
Lest he incur the fury of my wrath :
Tell him I am content to take a truce,

Terrene] i. e. Mediterranean.

+ Renoumèd] See note, p. 27. So the 8vo.-The 4to "renowned."

basso] So the 8vo -The 4to "Brother."

Not] So the 8vo.-The 4to "Nor."

in] So the 8vo.-The 4to " on."

Or spread, &c.] A word has dropt out from this line.

Because I hear he bears a valiant mind:
But if, presuming on his silly power,
He be so mad to manage arms with me,
Then stay thou with him,—say, I bid thee so;
And if, before the sun have measur'd heaven*
With triple circuit, thou regreet us not,
We mean to take his morning's next arise
For messenger he will not be reclaim'd,
And mean to fetch thee in despite of him.

BAS. Most great and puissant monarch of the

earth,

Your basso will accomplish your behest,

And shew your pleasure to the Persian,

As fits the legate of the stately Turk.

[Exit.

K. OF ARG. They say he is the king of Persia;
But, if he dare attempt to stir your siege,
"Twere requisite he should be ten times more,
For all flesh quakes at your magnificence.

BAJ. True, Argier; and tremble[s] at my looks. K. OF MOR. The spring is hinder'd by your smothering host;

For neither rain can fall upon the earth,
Nor sun reflex his virtuous beams thereon,
The ground is mantled with such multitudes.
BAJ. All this is true as holy Mahomet;
And all the trees are blasted with our breaths.

K. OF FEZ. What thinks your greatness best to be achiev'd

* measur'd heaven] So the 8vo.-The 4to "measured the heaven."

In pursuit of the city's overthrow?

BAJ. I will the captive pioneers of Argier Cut off the water that by leaden pipes Runs to the city from the mountain Carnon; Two thousand horse shall forage up and down, That no relief or succour come by land; And all the sea my galleys countermand: Then shall our footmen lie within the trench, Ánd with their cannons, mouth'd like Orcus' gulf, Batter the walls, and we will enter in ;

And thus the Grecians shall be conquerèd. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Enter ZENOCRATE, AGYDAS, ANIPPE, with others.

AGYD. Madam Zenocrate, may I presume To know the cause of these unquiet fits, That work such trouble to your wonted rest? 'Tis more than pity such a heavenly face Should by heart's sorrow wax so wan and pale, When your offensive rape by Tamburlaine, (Which of your whole displeasures should be most,) Hath seem'd to be digested long ago.

ZENO. Although it be digested long ago,

As his exceeding favours have deserv'd,

And might content the Queen of Heaven, as well
As it hath chang'd my first conceiv'd disdain ;
Yet since a farther passion feeds my thoughts
With ceaseless* and disconsolate conceits+,

* ceaseless] So the 8vo.-The 4to "carelesse."
+ conceits] i. e. fancies, imaginations.