ce not understand it
[word missing in original]

* * * * *
* * * *

THE
FOUNDLING OF THE FOREST:

A PLAY.

By WILLIAM DIMOND, Esq.

Author of "Adrian and Orrila," "Hero of the North,"
"Hunter of the Alps," &c. &c.

"And yet poor Edwin was no vulgar boy." _Beattie._

Published by Bradford and Inskeep, Philadelphia;
Inskeep and Bradford, New-York; and William
M'ilhennny, Boston.

Smith and Maxwell, Printers.

1810.

THE FOUNDLING OF THE FOREST.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

Count De Valmont.
Baron Longueville.
Florian, _a foundling adopted by De Valmont_.
Bertrand, _valet to Longueville_.
L'Eclair, _valet to Florian_.
Gaspard, _an old domestic_.
Sanguine, } _bravoes in the pay of Longueville_.
Lenoire, }

Geraldine, _niece to De Valmont_.
Rosabelle, _her woman_.
Monica, _an old woman_.
Unknown Female.
_Domestics, Peasants, Dancers, &c. &c._

SCENE--_The Chateau de Valmont and its environs, situate in the
upper Alsace, near the River Rhine._

ACT I.

SCENE I.--_A hall in the Chateau de Valmont._

Enter _Bertrand_, in agitation, followed by _Longueville_.

_Ber._ Forbear, my lord! to urge me further.--Would you tempt me to
insure perdition?--my soul is heavy enough with weight of crimes
already.

_Long._ Hypocrite! You, whom I have known in childhood--a villain, even
from the cradle--committing crimes as pastimes--has your hand been
exercised thus long in blood, to shake with conscience, and desert me
now?

_Ber._ I have, indeed, deserved reproaches, but not from your lips,
my lord! Remember, for you it was this hand was first defiled with
blood--remember, too--

_Long._ Yes, villain! I do remember, that my misplaced bounty once gave
you back a forfeit life. Twenty years past, when, as a deserter, you
were sentenced, by the regiment under my command, to death, your fate
was inevitable, had not I vouchsafed a pardon. Traitor! you, too, had
best remember a solemn oath at that same period passed your lips, which
bound you, soul and body, to my service ever--unscrupling to perform my
pleasures, whether good or ill, and still to hold my secrets fast from
earthly ears, though unabsolving priests renounced you on the death-bed.

_Ber._ (_shuddering_) Ay! ay! it was an oath of horror, and if you
command, it must be kept. Well, then--the young, the