ACT I.

A BOY

CORA

ELVIRA

SOLDIERS, PRIESTS, &c.

tent.

Ele. Audacious! Whence is thy privilege to interrupt the few moments of repose my harassed mind can snatch amid the tumults of this noisy camp? Shall I inform your master of this preSumptuous treachery?

Val. I am his servant, it is true-trusted by him-and I know him well; and therefore 'tis I ask, by what magic could Pizarro gain your heart, by what fatality still holds he your affections?

Ele. Hold! thou trusty secretary!

Val. Ignobly born, in mind and manners rude, ferocious, and unpolished, though cool and crafty if occasion need; in youth audacious; ill his first manhood; a licensed pirate, treating men as brutes, the world as booty; yet now the Spanish hero is e styled-the first of Spanish conquerors! and for a warrior so accomplished, 'tis fit Elvira should leave her noble family, her fame, her home, to hare the dangers, humours, and the crimes of ach a lover as Pizarro!

Ele. What! Valverde moralizing! But grant Im in error, what is my incentive? Passion, infatuation, call it as you will; but what attaches thee to this despised, unworthy leader? Base lucre

Pizarro. I know you.

Val. On my soul, you wrong me; what else my faults, I have none towards you: but indulge the time permits; the gloomy hour, I fear, too soon scorn and levity of your nature; do it while yet the

approaches.

Elv. Valverde a prophet too!

Val. Hear me, Elvira: shame from his late defeat, and burning wishes for revenge, again have brought Pizarro to Peru; but trust me, he overrates his strength, nor measures well the foe. Encamped in a strange country, where terror cannot force, nor corruption buy a single friend, what have we to hope? The army murmuring at increasing hardships, while Pizarro decorates with gaudy spoil the gay pavilion of his luxury, each day diminishes our force.

Elv. But are you not the heirs of those that

fall?

Val. Are gain and plunder then our only purpose? Is this Elvira's heroism?

Elv. No, so save me heaven! I abhor the motive, means, and end of your pursuits; but I will trust none of you. In your whole army there is not one of you that has a heart, or speaks ingenuously; aged Las-Casas, and he alone, excepted.

Val. He! an enthusiast in the opposite and

worse extreme.

Elv. Oh! had I earlier known that virtuous man, how different might my lot have been'

Val. I will grant Pizarro could not then so easily have duped you; forgive me, but at that event I still must wonder.

Elv. Hear me, Valverde. When first my virgin fancy waked to love, Pizarro was my country's idol. Self-taught, self-raised, and self-supported, he became her's, and I was formed to be won by glory and renown. 'Tis known that when he left Panama in a slight vessel, his force was not an hundred men. Arrived in the island of Gallo, with his sword he drew a line upon the sands, and said, "Pass those who fear to die or conquer with their leader." Thirteen alone remained, and at the head of these the warrior stood his ground. Even at the moment when my ears first caught this tale, my heart exclaimed, "Pizarro is its lord!" What since I have perceived, or thought, or felt, you must have more worth to win the knowledge of.

Val. I press no further; still assured, that while Alonzo de Molina, our general's former friend and pupil, leads the enemy, Pizarro never more will be a conqueror. (Trumpets without.)

Elv. Silence! I hear him coming; look not perplexed. How mystery and fraud confound the countenance! Quick, put on an honest face, if

thou canst.

Pizarro. (Speaking without.) Chain and secure him; I will examine him myself.

Enter PIZARRO. (Valverde bows; Elvira laughs.) Piz. Why dost thou smile, Elvira?

Elv. To laugh or weep without a reason, is one of the few privileges poor women have.

Piz. Elvira, I will know the cause, I am resolved.

Elv. I am glad of that, because I love resolution, and am resolved not to tell you. Now my resolution, I take it, is the better of the two, because it depends upon myself, and your's does not. Piz. Psha! trifler!

Val. Elvira was laughing at my apprehensions that

Piz. Apprehensions!

Val. Yes that Alonzo's skill and genius should so have disciplined and informed the enemy, as to-

Piz. Alonzo! the traitor! How I once loved that man! His noble mother entrusted him, a boy, to my protection. At my table did he feast; in my tent did he repose. I had marked his early genius, and the valorous spirit that grew with it. Often I had talked to him of our first adventures; what storms we struggled with; what perils we surmounted! When landed with a slender host upon an unknown land; then, when I told how famine and fatigue, discord and toil, day by day, did thin our ranks; amid close-pressing enemies, how still undaunted I endured and dared; maintained my purpose and my power, in despite of growling mutiny or bold revolt, 'till with my faithful few remaining, I became at last victorious; -when, I say, of these things I spoke, the youth, Alonzo, with tears of wonder and delight, would throw him on my neck, and swear, his soul's ambition owned no other leader.

Val. What could subdue attachment so begun? Piz. Las-Casas. He it was, with fascinating craft and canting precepts of humanity, raised in Alonzo's mind a new enthusiasm, which forced him, as the stripling termed it, to forego his country's claims for those of human nature.

Val. Yes, the traitor left you, joined the Peruvians, and became thy enemy and Spain's.

Piz. But first with weariless remonstrance he sued to win me from my purpose, and untwine the sword from my determined grasp. Much he spoke of right, of justice, and humanity; calling the Peruvians our innocent and unoffending brethren.

Val. They! Obdurate heathens! They our brethren!

Piz. But when he found, that the soft folly of the pleading tears he dropt upon my bosom, fell on marble, he flew and joined the foe: then profiting by the lessons he had gained in wronged Pizarro's school, the youth so disciplined and led his new allies, that soon he forced me-(Ha! I burn with shame and fury while I own it!)-in base retreat and foul discomfiture to quit the shore. Val. But the hour of revenge is come.

Piz. Itis. I am returned; my force is strengthened, and the audacious boy shall soon know that Pizarro lives, and has a grateful recollection of the thanks he owes him.

Val. 'Tis doubted whether still Alonzo lives. Piz. 'Tis certain that he does; one of his armour-bearers is just made prisoner; twelve thousand is their force, as he reports, led by Alonzo and Peruvian Rolla. This day they make a solemn sacrifice on their ungodly altars. We must profi by their security and attack them unprepared The sacrificers shall become the victims.

Elv. Wretched innocents! And their own blooc shall bedew their altars!

Piz. Right! (Trumpets without.) Elvira, retired Elv. Why should I retire?

Piz. Because men are to meet here, and on manly business.

Elv. O men! men! ungrateful and perverse! O woman! still affectionate though wronged! The beings to whose eyes you turn for animation, hope, and rapture, through the days of mirth and revelry; and on whose bosoms in the hour of sore calamity, you seek for rest and consolation, them, when the pompous follies of your mean ambition are the question, you treat as playthings or as slaves!—I shall not retire.

Piz. Remain then; and, if thou can'st, be silent. Elv. They only babble who practise not reflection. I shall think; and thought is silence.

Piz. Ha!-there's somewhat in her manner lately (Looks sternly and suspiciously at Elvira. who meets his glance with an undaunted eye.) Enter LAS-CASAS, ALMAGRO, GONZALO, DAVILLA Officers and Soldiers. (Trumpets without.) Las-C. Pizarro, we attend your summons. Piz. Welcome, venerable father! My friends most welcome. Friends and fellow-soldiers! a length the hour is arrived, which to Pizarro's hopes presents the full reward of our undaunted enter prize, and long-enduring toils. Confident in secu rity, this day the foe devotes to solemn sacrifice if with bold surprise we strike on their solemnity

trust to your leader's word-we shall not fail.

Alm. Too long inactive have we been moulder ing on the coast; our stores exhausted, and ou soldiers murmuring. Battle! battle!-then death to the armed, and chains for the defenceless.

Dav. Death to the whole Peruvian race!
Las-C. Merciful heaven!

Alm. Yes, general, the attack, and instantly Then shall Alonzo, basking at his ease, soon cease to scoff our suffering, and scorn our force.

Las-C. Alonzo! Scorn and presumption are not in his nature.

Alm. 'Tis fit Las-Casas should defend his pupil. Piz. Speak not of the traitor; or hear his name but as the bloody summons to assault and ven geance. It appears we are agreed?

Alm. and Dav. We are.
Gon. All!-Battle! Battle!

Las-C. Is then the dreadful measure of you cruelty not yet complete? Battle! Gracious hea ven! Against whom? Against a king, in whos mild bosom your atrocious injuries even yet have not excited hate; but who, insulted or victorious, stil

Las-C. Pizarro, hear me!-Hear me, chieftains!--And thou, All-powerful! whose thunders can shiver into sand the adamantine rock; whose lightnings can pierce to the core of the rived and quaking earth: oh! let thy power give effect to thy servant's words, as thy spirit gives courage to his will! Do not, I implore you, chieftains, countrymen-do not, I implore you, renew the foul barbarities which your insatiate avarice has inflicted on this wretched, unoffending race! Bat bush, my sighs; fall not, drops of useless sorrow; heart-breaking anguish, choke not my utterance! All I entreat is, send me once more to those you call your enemies. Oh! let me be the messenger of penitence from you; I shall return with blessings and with peace from them. Elvira, you weep! Alas! and does this dreadful crisis move no heart but thine?

Alm. Because there are no women here but she and thou.

Piz. Close this idle war of words; time flies, and our opportunity will be lost. Chieftains, are ye for instant battle?

Alm. We are.

Las-C. Oh, men of blood! (Kneels.) God! thou hast anointed me thy servant; not to curse, but to bless my countrymen: yet now my blessing on their force were blasphemy against thy goodness. (Rises.) No! I curse your purpose, homicides! I curse the bond of blood by which you are united. May fell division, infamy, and rout, defeat your projects, and rebuke your hopes! On you and on your children be the peril of the innocent blood which shall be shed this day! I leave you, and for ever. No longer shall these aged eyes be seared by the horrors they have witnessed. In caves, in forests, will I hide myself; with tigers and with savage beasts will I commune; and when at length we meet again before the blessed tribunal of that Deity, whose mild doctrines and whose mercies ye have this day renounced, then shall you feel the agony and grief of soul which tear the bosom of your accuser now! (Going.)

Ele. Oh! take me with thee, Las-Casas. Las-C. Stay! lost, abused lady! I alone am aseless here. Perhaps thy loveliness may persuade to pity, where reason and religion plead in vain. Ob save thy innocent fellow-creatures, if thou canst: then shall thy frailty be redeemed, and thon wilt share the mercy thou bestowest. [Exit. Piz. How, Elvira! wouldst thou leave me? Ele. I am bewildered, grown terrified! Your inhumanity and that good old man-olt! he appeared to me just now something more than heavenly! And you! ye all looked worse than earthly. Piz. Compassion sometimes becomes a beauty. El. Humanity always becomes a conqueror. Piz. Now to prepare our muster and our march. At mid-day is the hour of the sacrifice. Consulting with our guides, the route of your divisions shall be given to each commander. If we surprise, we conquer; and if we conquer, the gates of Quito will be opened to us.

Alm. And Pizarro then be monarch of Peru. Piz. Not so fast. Ambition for a time must take counsel from discretion. Ataliba still must hold the shadow of a sceptre in his hand; Pizarro

still appear dependant upon Spain: while the pledge of future peace, his daughter's hand, secures the proud succession to the crown I seek.

Alm. This is best. In Pizarro's plans observe the statesman's wisdom guides the warrior's valour. Val. (To Elvira.) You mark, Elvira? Elv. O yes; this is best; this is excellent. Piz. You seem offended. Elvira still retains my heart. Think-a sceptre waves me on.

Elv. Offended? No! Thou knowest thy glory is my idol; and this will be most glorious, most just and honourable. (Satirically.)

Piz. What mean you?

Elv. Oh! nothing-mere woman's prattle-a jealous whim, perhaps but let it not impede the royal hero's course. (Trumpets without.) The call of arms invites you. Away! away! you, his brave, his worthy fellow-warriors.

Piz. And go you not with me?

Elv. Undoubtedly! I needs must be the first to hail the future monarch of Peru.

Enter GOMEZ.

Alm. How, Gomez! what bringest thou? Gom. On yonder hill, among the palm-trees, we have surprised an old cacique; escape by flight he could not, and we seized him and his attendant unresisting; yet his lips breathed nought but bitterness and scorn.

Piz. Drag him before us. (Gomez leaves the tent, and returns conducting Orozembo and attendant in chains, guarded.)

What art thou, stranger?

Oro. First tell me which among you is the captain of this band of robbers.

Piz. Ha!

Piz. Audacious! This insolence has sealed thy doom. Die thou shalt, grey-headed ruffian. But first confess what thou knowest.

Oro. I know that which thou hast just assured me of that I shall die.

Piz. Less audacity, perhaps, might have preserved thy life.

Oro. My life is as a withered tree; it is not worth preserving.

Piz. Hear me, old man. Even now we march against the Peruvian army. We know there is a secret path that leads to your strong hold among the rocks guide us to that, and name thy reward. If wealth be thy wish

Oro. Ha! ha! ha! ha!

Piz. Dost thou despise my offer?

Oro. Thee and thy offer. Wealth! I have the wealth of two dear gallant sons; I have stored in heaven the riches which repay good actions here; and still my chiefest treasure do I bear about me. Piz. What is that? Inform me.

Oro. I will; for it never can be thine,-the treasure of a pure, unsullied conscience.

Piz. I believe there is no other Peruvian who dares speak as thou dost.

Oro. Would I could believe there is no other

Spaniard who dares act as thou dost!

Gon. Obdurate Pagan! How numerous is your

army?

Oro. Count the leaves of yonder forest. Alm. Which is the weakest part of your camp? Oro. It has no weak part; on every side 'tis fortified by justice.

Piz. Where have you concealed your wives and your children?

Oro. I will answer that; for I love to hear and to repeat the hero's name. Rolla, the kinsman of the king, is the idol of our army; in war, a tiger, chafed by the hunter's spear; in peace, more gentle than the unweaned lamb. Cora was once betrothed to him; but finding she preferred Alonzo, he resigned his claim, and, I fear, his peace, to friendship and to Cora's happiness; yet still he loves her with a pure and holy fire.

Piz. Romantic savage! I shall meet this Rolla

soon..

Oro. Thou hadst better not. The terrors of his noble eye would strike thee dead.

Dav. Silence, or tremble!

Oro. Beardless robber! I never yet have trembled before God: why should I tremble before man? Why before thee, thou less than man! Dav. Another word, audacious heathen, and I strike.

Oro. Strike, Christian! Then boast among thy fellows-I too have murdered a Peruvian!

Dav. Hell and vengeance seize thee! (Stabs him.) Piz. Hold!

Dav. Couldst thou longer have endured his insults?

Piz. And therefore should he die untortured? Oro. True! Observe, young man, your unthinking rashness has saved me from the rack; and you yourself have lost the opportunity of an useful lesson; you might have seen with what cruelty vengeance would have inflicted torments-and with what patience virtue would have borne

them.

Elv. (Supporting Orozembo's head upon her bosom.) Oh ye are monsters all. Look up, thou martyred innocent. Look up once more, and bless me, ere thou diest. God! how I pity thee! Oro. Pity me! Me! so near my happiness! Bless thee, lady! Spaniards: heaven turn your hearts, and pardon you as I do. (Orozembo is borne off, dying.)

Piz. Away!-Davilla! if thus rash a second time

Dav. Forgive the hasty indignation whichPiz. No more. Unbind that trembling wretch: let him depart; 'tis well he should report the mercy which we show to insolent defiance. Hark! our troops are moving.

Attendant. (On passing Elvira.) If, through your gentle means, my master's poor remains might be preserved from insult

Élv. I understand thee.

Alt. His sons may yet thank your charity, if not avenge their father's fate. [Exit.

Piz. What says the slave?

Elv. A parting word to thank you for your

mercy.

Piz. Our guard and guides approach. (Soldiers march through the tents.) Follow me, friends! Each shall have his post assigned, and ere Peruvia's god shall sink beneath the main, the Spanish banner, bathed in blood, shall float above the walls of vanquished Quito.

[Exeunt all but Elvira and Valverde. Val. Is it now presumption that my hopes gain strength with the increasing horrors which I see appal Elvira's soul?"

Elv. I am mad with terror and remorse. Would I could fly these dreadful scenes!

Val. Might not Valverde's true attachment be thy refuge?

Elv. What wouldst thou do to save or to avenge me?

Val. I dare do all thy injuries may demand. A word, and he lies bleeding at your feet.

Elv. Perhaps we will speak again of this. Now leave me. [Exit Valverde.] No! not this revenge. No! not this instrument. Fie! Elvira; even for a moment to counsel with this unworthy traitor! Can a wretch, false to a confiding master, be true to any pledge of love or honour? Pizarro will abandon me: yes me-who for his sake, have sacrificed -Oh, God!-What have I not sacrificed for him! Yet, curbing the avenging pride that swells this bosom, I still will further try him. Oh, men! ye who, wearied by the fond fidelity of virtuous love, seek in the wanton's flattery a new delight, oh! ye may insult and leave the hearts to which your faith was other peril; because such hearts, however you pledged, and, stifling self-reproach, may fear no injure and desert them, have yet the proud retreat science. But beware the desperate libertine, who of an unspotted fame of an unreproaching conforsakes the creature whom his arts have first deprived of all natural protection-of all self-consolation! What has he left her? Despair and vengeance! [Exit.

ACT. II.

SCENE I.-A Bank surrounded by a wild wood and rocks.-CORA sitting on the root of a tree, is playing with her child, and ALONZO hangs over them with delight.

Cora. Now confess, does he resemble thee, or not? Al. Indeed, he is liker thee: thy rosy softness, thy smiling gentleness.

Cora. But his auburn hair, the colour of his eyes, Alonzo. O! my lord's image, and my heart's adored! (Pressing the child to her bosom.)

Al. The little daring urchin robs me, I doubt, of some portion of thy love, my Cora. At least, he shares caresses, which 'till his birth were only mine.

Cora. Ono, Alonzo! A mother's love for her sweet babe is not a stealth from the dear father's store; it is a new delight that turns with quickened gratitude to him, the author of her augmented bliss.

Al. Could Cora think me serious?

Cora. I am sure he will speak soon: then will be the last of the three holidays allowed by nature's sanction to the fond anxious mother's heart.

Al. What are those three?

Cora. The ecstacy of his birth I pass; that in part is selfish: but when first the white blossoms of his teeth appear, breaking the crimson buds that did incase them: that is a day of joy next, when from his father's arms he runs without support, and clings, laughing and delighted, to his mother's knee; that is the mother's heart's next holiday; and sweeter still the third, whenever his little stammering tongue shall utter the grateful sound of " father, mother!" O! that is the dearest joy of all!

Al. Beloved Cora!