Which gives you Leonora now will cease.
Carlos has lost her; should you lose her too,
Why, then you heap new torments on your friend,
By that respect which labour'd to relieve him
"Tis well, he is disturb'd; it makes him pause. [Aside. Alon. Think'st thou, my Zanga, should I ask don Carlos,
His goodness would consent that I should wed her?
Zan. I know it would..
Alon. But then the cruelty
To ask it, and for me to ask it of him!
Zan. Methinks you are severe upon your friend.
Who was it gave him liberty and life?
Alon. That is the very reason which forbids it.
Were I a stranger I could freely speak:
In me it so resembles a demand,
Exacting of a debt, it shocks my nature.
Zan. My lord, you know the sad alternative.
Is Leonora worth one pang or not?
It hurts not me, my lord, but as I love you:
Warmly as you I wish don Carlos well;
But I am likewise don Alonzo's friend:
There all the diff'rence lies between us too.
In me, my lord, you hear another self;
And, give me leave to add, a better too,
Clear'd from those errors, which, though caus'd by vir
Are such as may hereafter give you pain
Don Lopez of Castile would not demur thus.
Alon. Perish the name! What, sacrifice the fair
To age and ugliness, because set in gold?
I'll to don Carlos, if my heart will let me.
I have not seen him since his sore affliction;
But shunn'd it, as too terrible to bear.
How shall I bear it now? I'm struck already. [Exit.
Zan. Half of my work is done. I must secure
Don Carlos, ere Alonzo speak with him.
[He gives a Message to a Servant, then returns.
Proud, hated Spain, oft drench'd in Moorish blood!
Dost thou not feel a deadly foe within thee?
Shake not the tow'rs where'er I pass along,
Conscious of ruin, and their great destroyer?
Shake to the centre if Alonzo's dear.
Look down, ob, holy prophet! see me torture
This Christian dog, this Infidel, who dares
To smite thy votaries, and spurn thy law;
And yet hopes pleasure from two radiant eyes,
Which look as they were lighted up for thee!
Shall he enjoy thy paradise below?
Blast the bold thought, and curse him with her charms! But see, the melancholy lover comes.
Car. Hope, thou hast told me lies from day to day, For more than twenty years; vile promiser! None here are happy, but the very fool, Or very wise; and I wasn't fool enough To smile in vanities, and hug a shadow; Nor have I wisdom to elaborate
An artificial happiness from pains:
Ev'n joys are pains, because they cannot last. [Sighs.
How many lift the head, look gay, and smile
Against their consciences? And this we know,
Yet, knowing, disbelieve, and try again
What we have try'd, and struggle with conviction.
Each new experience gives the former credit;
And rev'rend grey threescore is but a voucher,
That thirty told us true.
I mourn your fate: but are no hopes surviving? Car. No hopes. Alvarez has a heart of steel. "Tis fix'd-'tis past-'tis absolute despair!
Zan. You wanted not to have your heart made tender, By your own pains, to feel a friend's distress. Car. I understand you well. Alonzo loves; I pity him.
Zan. I dare be sworn you do. Yet he has other thoughts.
Car. What canst thou mean?
Zan. Indeed he has; and fears to ask a favour A stranger from a stranger might request; What costs you nothing, yet is all to him:
Nay, what indeed will to your glory add,
For nothing more than wishing your friend well.
Car. I pray be plain; his happiness is mine.
Zan. He loves to death; but so reveres his friend,
He can't persuade his heart to wed the maid
Without your leave, and that he fears to ask.
In perfect tenderness I urg'd him to it.
Knowing the deadly sickness of his heart,
Your overflowing goodness to your friend,
Your wisdom, and despair yourself to wed her,
I wrung a promise from him he would try:
And now I come, a mutual friend to both,
Without his privacy, to let you know it,
And to prepare you kindly to receive him.
Car. Ha! if he weds I am undone indeed;
Not don Alvarez' self can then relieve me.
Zan. Alas, my lord, you know his heart is steel:
""Tis fix'd, 'tis past, 'tis absolute despair."
Car. Oh, cruel heav'n! and is it not enough
That I must never, never see her more?
Say, is it not enough that I must die;
But I must be tormented in the grave?—
Ask my consent!-Must I then give her to him?
Lead to his nuptial sheets the blushing maid?
Oh!-Leonora! never, never, never!
Zan. A storm of plagues upon him! he refuses.
Car. What, wed her-and to-day?
Zan. To-day, or never.
To-morrow may some wealthier lover bring,
And then Alonzo is thrown out like you:
Then whom shall he condemn for his misfortune?
Carlos is an Alvarez to his love.
Car. Oh, torment! whither shall I turn?
Zan. To peace.
Car. Which is the way?
Zan. His happiness is
I dare not disbelieve you.
Car. Kill my friend!
Or worse-Alas! and can there be a worse?
A worse there is: nor can my nature bear it.
Zun. You have convinc'd me 'tis a dreadful task.
I find Alonzo's quitting her this morning
For Carlos' sake, in tenderness to you,
Betray'd me to believe it less severe
Than I perceive it is.
Car. Thou dost upbraid me.
Zan. No, my good lord; but since you can't comply, "Tis my misfortune that I mention'd it;
For had I not, Alonzo would indeed
Have died, as now, but not by your decree.
Car. By my decree! Do I decree his death?
I do-Shall I then lead her to his arms?
Oh, which side shall I take? Be stabb'd, or-stab? 'Tis equal death! a choice of agonies!
Ah, no!-all other agonies are ease
To oneOh, Leonora!-never, never!
Go, Zanga, go, defer the dreadful trial,
Though but a day; something, perchance, may happen
To soften all to friendship and to love.
Go, stop my friend, let me not see him now;
But save us from an interview of death.
Zan. My lord, I'm bound in duty to obey you-
If I not bring him, may Alonzo prosper.
[Aside, and exit. Car. What is this world?-Thy school, oh, misery! Our only lesson is to learn to suffer;
And he who knows not that was born for nothing.
But put it most severely-should I live-
Live long-alas, there is no length in time!
Nor in thy time, oh, man!-What's fourscore years?
Nay, what, indeed, the age of time itself,
Since cut from out eternity's wide round?
Yet Leonora-she can make time long,
Its nature alter, as she alter'd mine.
While in the lustre of her charms I lay,
Whole summer suns roll'd unperceiv'd away;
I years for days, and days for moments told,
And was surpris'd to hear that I
grew old.
Now fate does rigidly its dues regain,
And ev'ry moment is an age of pain.
As he is going out, enter ZANGA and DON ALONZO: ZANGA stops DON CARLOS.
Zan. Is this don Carlos? this the boasted friend? How can you turn your back upon his sadness? Look on him, and then leave him if you can. Car. I cannot yield; nor can I bear his griefs. Alonzo! [Goes to him, and takes his Hand.
Alon. Oh, Carlos!
Car. Pray forbear.
Alon. Art thou undone, and shall Alonzo smile?
Alonzo, who, perhaps, in some degree
Contributed to cause thy dreadful fate?
I was deputed guardian of thy love;
But, oh! I lov'd myself! Pour down afflictions
On this devoted head; make me your mark;
And be the world by my example taught,
How sacred it should hold the name of friend.
Car. You charge yourself unjustly: well I know
The only cause of my severe affliction.
Alvarez, curs'd Alvarez!-So much anguish
Felt for so small a failure, is one merit
Which faultless virtue wants. The crime was mine,
Who plac'd thee there, where only thou couldst fail;
Though well I knew that dreadful post of honour
I gave thee to maintain. Ah! who could bear
Those eyes unhurt? The wounds myself have felt
(Which wounds alone should cause me to condemn
They plead in thy excuse; for I too strove [thee),
To shun those fires, and found 'twas not in man.
Alon. You cast in shades the failure of a friend,
And soften all; but think not you deceive me;
I know my guilt, and I implore your pardon,
As the sole glimpse I can obtain of peace.
Cur. Pardon for him, who but this morning threw
Fair Leonora from his heart, all bath'd
In ceaseless tears, and blushing for her love!
Who, like a rose-leaf wet with morning dew,
Would have stuck close, and clung for ever there!
But 'twas in thee, through fondness for thy friend,
To shut thy boson against ecstacies;
|