 | Osman |  |
SCENE II.
The Street.The expell'd Aga and Lieutenant of the Janizaries meeting.
LIEUTENANT.
O! Aga; what a wretched World we live in?
The Porte is all Confusion!—What brought you here?
Be cautious.
AGA.
Hearing a Treaty was propos'd,
And Matters like to be accommodated,
I ventur'd forth (in Safety, as I thought)
In this Disguise; but long I had not roam'd,
When the most fatal, and afflicting Sight,
103
Osman! the brave, the valiant, gen'rous Osman!
Conducted like a dang'rous Criminal,
Amid the Shouts, the Taunts, th'Execrations,
Of the insulting, barb'rous Janizaries:
He, still the Prince, and all Benignity:
Patience sat smiling on his awful Brow,
Temper'd with Majesty, serenely great:
He urg'd the Soldiers to dispatch his Life,
And not commit him to the Executioner—
My Heart dropt Blood at the detested Spectacle,
And was the only one among the Croud,
That, touch'd with Sense of Horror, shew'd Compassion.
The Shops were all close shut, no Man appear'd,
But backwards fled, t'avoid the tragick Sight;
Nor was a Creature stirring in the Streets,
But the inhuman Actors of this Scene—
My Rage had well nigh laid me open to 'em;
But not to throw an useless Life away,
I master'd my Distraction by Constraint:
I was resolv'd to view the End; so following
Among the Croud, beheld my Prince immur'd
Within the Prison of the Seven Towers:
What next will be his Fate, I'm ignorant.
104
This is no Time for us t'appear abroad;
Friendship for Osman, were a Crime unpardonable.
[Exeunt.
| Osman | |