To joys unutterable.—Quit, quit this place,

And let us fly together.

[Brings her from the tomb.

Jul. Why do you force me so ?—I'll ne'er consent ;

My strength may fail me, but my will's unmoved;

I'll not wed Paris ;-Romeo is my husband.

Rom. Romeo is thy husband! I am that Romeo ;

Nor all the opposing powers of earth or man

Shall break our bonds, or tear thee from my heart.

Jul. I know that voice;-its magic sweetness wakes
My tranced soul:-I now remember well
Each circumstance.

O my lord, my husband!—

Dost thou avoid me, Romeo?

You fright me :-Speak :-O, let me hear some voice

Besides my own, in this drear vault of death,

Or I shall faint.--Support me

Rom. O, I cannot ;

I have no strength; but want thy feeble aid.

Cruel poison!

Jul. Poison! What means my lord? Thy trembling voice,

Pale lips, and swimming eyes,-Death's in thy face.

Rom. It is indeed; I struggle with him now;

The transports that I felt

To hear thee speak, and see thy opening eyes,
Stopp'd, for a moment, his impetuous course,

And all my mind was happiness and thee;
But now the poison rushes through my veins ;-
I have not time to tell,-

Fate brought me to this place, to take a last,
Last farewell of my love, and with thee die.
Jul. Die? Was the friar false?

Rom. I know not that.

I thought thee dead; distracted at the sight,-
O fatal speed!-drank poison,-kiss'd thy lips,
And found within thy arms a precious grave :—
But, in that moment,-O!-

Jul. And did I wake for this!

Rom. My powers are blasted:

"Twixt death and love l'am torn, I am distracted :

But death's strongest :-And must I leave thee, Juliet!

O, cruel, cursed fate! in sight of Heaven,

Jul. Thou ravest; lean on my breast.

Rom. Fathers have flinty hearts, no tears can melt 'em :Nature pleads in vain; children must be wretched.

Jul. O, my breaking heart!

Rom. She is my wife, our hearts are twined together,Capulet, forbear;-Paris, loose your hold;—

Pull not our heart-strings thus ;-they crack,—they break,— O, Juliet! Juliet !—

[Dies.

The distraction that marks the concluding scene, is no less admirable, when to the Friar's attempts at consolation she replies,

"Patience!

Talk'st thou of patience to a wretch like me ?"

The desponding and indignant expression of her countenance is sufficient without the words.

Her

resolution being wrought up to the highest pitch,

she exclaims,

"Come thou not near me;

Or this dagger shall quit my Romeo's death."

Her wild attachment to the spot increases,

"Go, get thee hence; for I will not away."

She then looks franticly round, as if by chance, and discovers the phial,

"What's here? A phial!-Romeo's timeless end.-
O, churl! drink all; and leave no friendly drop

To help me after!—I will kiss thy lips;

Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them.—”

The last words are expressed with peculiar pathos and sensibility, and her eagerness to finish the catastrophe is inimitable,

"Then I'll be brief.-O, happy dagger!

[Stabs herself.

[Dies.

This is thy sheath!-there rest,-and let me die.

Perhaps there is no character so difficult to personate as the lover, especially in the female. The acting of Miss O'Neill was so superior in Juliet, as from the first to electrify the audience. She possest over them, from what we have described, a magic charm throughout the whole representation, and every one left the theatre with the impression, that she was the very Juliet Shakspeare drew, that she spoke, looked, and felt the character. Her appearance on this night fixed her fame-its influence on the audience may be compared to the famous letter of Cæsar-Venividi-vinci.-She came-she was seen-she vanquished.

BELVIDERA.

Miss O'Neill having thus so successfully sus➡ tained the ordeal of London criticism, from the tender and lovesick Juliet, past on to a character of still greater interest, the delineation of con

jugal and filial affection in the person of Belvidera, as pourtrayed in Otway's Tragedy of Venice Preserved. This tragedy is the most finished of Otway's pieces, a man, great as a dramatic poet, but who literally died of want, while his productions have conferred plenty and happiness on others. The age in which he lived was insensible to his merit, though ample justice has been done him in the succeeding period, and the two master-pieces of his pen, Venice Preserved, and The Orphan, have continued standard representations, and will continue so, while nature and taste regulate the British stage. His Venice Preserved first appeared in 1685, when his talents as a writer were fully matured. It is written with much energy, with a powerful impression of nature, and an interesting concatenation of circumstances; and it possesses all that pathos in the language, and those attractive sentiments of the heroine, that render it one of the most affecting representations that grace the British stage. It is one also, that has shewn to advantage, the powers of most of the great actresses at successive periods, from the time of Mrs. Oldfield to our present Heroine.