Methinks it is the organ's solemn swell,

That from the church's aisles ascends to heaven.
The holy rite proceeds! sweet sounds, awake!
Awake again upon my raptured soul!

CHORUS.

The mystic light

[A distant chorus sings.

Has dawned upon his sight:

He sees, and he believes. Rejoice, rejoice,

With one acclaiming voice!

Strike, seraphs! strike your harps, and through the sky
Swell the full tide of rapturous melody!

[The Curtain falls, while Florinda kneels.

END OF ACT II.

ACT III.

SCENE I.—A magnificent Apartment in the House of the Cadi of Grenada.

A number of MOORS are assembled together—the CADI, HALY, HAMET, &c.

Cadi. Haly, the noblest of Grenada's Moors, Within the sacred walls where we are wont To celebrate the Prophet's holy name,

Meet at your bidding.

Hal. You are called together

By the command of Malec; he returns

From the Alpuxerras, fraught with some great tidings,

And bade me summon you.

Cadi. We need his counsel

In this our hour of sorrow; when our prince
Turns recreant from his people, it is well
Malec is left us still; for his great soul,
Firm to the prophet, lifts its stubborn height,
And, by the storms of fate, more deeply still
Is rooted in his country.

Ham. See-he comes!-
But with disturbéd step.-

Enter MALEC, L.

Mal. He is a Christian!

Lend me thy aid, good Hamet!-ha! I am old-
What! do I weep?-dry-dry my tears in rage;
Do not despise me, Moors!-I am a man-
I am again a man; no more of him!

Moors, fellow countrymen

Cadi. Speak, thou brave man! we wait the voice of Heaven

Mal. The voice of Heaven

First waked the great design. Amid the mountains
I sought those untamed Moors, whose fathers fled
To nature's fortresses, and left their sons

Their freedom and their faith!-the Prophet smiled,
And gave me power to light within their breasts
The fire that glowed in mine!-Moors! if your souls
Are noble as the rugged mountaineers,

You will not brook to see your sacred rights
Robbed by the tyrant.-Philip's law proscribes
Our creed, our rites, our sacred usages;
Plucks off our silken garments from our limbs,
And clothes us in our slavery. If he could,
He'd blot the burning sunbeam from our faces,
And wash us into white and pallid Christians!
Would you not rather die?

Moors. We will die before it.

Mal. No, you shall live in freedom! Know that already twenty thousand Moors

Are leagued by direst oaths;-[Moors touch swords.] ha!

I am glad

Your hands are laid upon your cimeters ;

Draw, draw them forth; and, as they blaze aloft,
Swear that you will be free!

Moors. We swear!

Mal. Then learn,

Through the Morisco towns a wide conspiracy
Has long been formed to raise on high
The standard of the Prophet;-the first blow
Shall be Grenada's capture !-be prepared
To join your countrymen. This very night

Their marshalled numbers, 'neath the auspicious moon,

Shall move upon the glorious enterprise!

And, ere the morn, the crescent shall be fixed
High on the Alhambra's towers!

Moors. We shall be free! [They brandish their cimeters. Mal. God and the Prophet grant it!

Oh, Mahomet! look down from Paradise,

Pity thy suffering people; raise again

Amid the land where once our fathers ruled,
Thine empire and thy faith!-kneel, fellow Moors,
For 'tis the hour of prayer; and tow'rds the east,
As low you bend, from 'mid the sacred shrine
Arise the hymn of holy melody,

For 'tis in heaven we trust!

CHANT.

The Moors kneel.

Allah! hear thy people's pray'r,
And lift thy vottries from despair!
On empire's mountain-height replace
The children of a noble race!

And set us free!

Prophet of God! restore

The conqu'ring days of yore,

And set us free!

[A step is heard without.

Cadi. Suspend your holy rite; let your hymns cease! Behold a Spaniard with profaning step

Comes rushing tow'rds the shrine !

Mal. An infidel

Presumes to break on our solemnity!

Enter HEMEYA, L., in precipitation, and in Spanish garments-the Moors all rise.

What do I see? ha! does he come to blast me?
Hem. I know you wonder that I dare approach
This consecrated spot-but when you hear-

Ha! now I feel my guilt.

Mal. Speak, noble Christian!

[Moors turn away.

How are we honoured with your gracious presence?

Hem. Oh! hear my prayer

Mal. You mean your high commands

I am a Moor, a vile ignoble slave

You are a Christian!

These costly garments that adorn your body

Proclaim your lordly rule:-What is your pleasure?

If you would buffet me, as many a time
I've seen it done, I'll bear it patiently.
Employ the privilege of your religion,
Right worthy, true, and honourable Christian!
Ilem. Your ev'ry word stings like an aspic here!
But do not think that, with remorseless soul,
I dare to come where ev'ry voiceless thing
Proclaims my guilt aloud; it is your safety
That leads me here before thee; Malec, fly!——
The Inquisition-

Mal. Ha! the Inquisition

Hem. Prepare to drag thee to their cells of death! Mal. Are we betrayed? hast thou betrayed us too! Traitor! accursed traitor! [Scizes him—after a pause.] I had forgot!

'Tis well-I had forget; I did not tell thee.—

Hem. Oh, use me as thou wilt; I will not pause
To search thy meaning:-hear me !-'twas e'en now
I met Pescara; with a face of smile

He came to greet me, and, with outstretched arm,
He grasped my hand in his; with that exclaimed,
"Here let our discord end: thou'st gained Florinda :
A generous mind towers o'er its enmities !"

And then, in pledge of friendship, bade me seek thee.
He bade me tell thee that the Inquisition

Had marked thee for their victim: I had doubted him, And would have turned with scorn, but that I saw Their bands of death move o'er Grenada's streets. E'en now they come.

Mal. Why, let them come; I'm glad

They choose me for the torture! let them come,

And I will brave them:-Knock, c.] Ha! I know you

well

The knock of death is there!

Hem. He is lost forever!

[A loud knocking.

[The Moors draw their cimeters.

Mal. Let your cimeters

Shrink back within their sheaths. Put up your weapons Moors. They're drawn but to defend

Mal. Put them up!

you.

Rumour, perchance, has reached their watchful ears,
And, doubtless, they are come, in hope to force.

Confession from my lips; but I will brave them.
Another, in their tort'ring wheel, might speak
What all their engines ne'er shall tear from me.
Nay, I command you hence !-put up your weapons-
Resistance now were vain; they would seize us all,
They'd put a hundred of us to the torture.

Fly hence! begone!

[Knock-the Moors retire.-Hem. and Malec remain. -Chain falls.

They burst the gates: I am prepared to meet them. Enter GOMEZ at the head of the INQUISITORS, L. 3d E. Gom. You stand the Inquisition's prisoner! Invet'rate infidel, by thy example

The Moors shall learn

Mal. That I'm beyond your power.

Gom. Beyond our power?

Mal. These old and palsied limbs indeed are yours, But my eternal spirit is my own!

Then hear! I spurn as well as curse your power,
And the vile tyrant that upholds you!

Gom. Bear witness that he utters blasphemy

Against the anointed king.

Mal. Against the king! against the anointed king! Oh, you profane that name, when thus

you call

The villain who has shamed the diadem
On his perfidious brows; his gloomy throne

Is palled with black, and stained with martyr blood,
While superstition, with a torch of hell,

Stands its fierce guardian! monks, with holy rage,
Rule every council, prompt each barb'rous impulse,
And light their own ferocity within him!
Such is the monarch of your wretched Spain,
Abhorred in his unhappy realm, and spurned
By all the world beside.

Gom. Hold! or yon roof

Will topple on our heads! you have confirmed
The deadly guilt that you are charged withal,
And added heavier crime. You are accused
Of foul endeavour to seduce a Moor
Back to your cursed faith.

Hem. A Moor! what Moor?