The stain, the curse, of each succeeding year!)
For something, or for nothing, in his pride
He struck me— -While I tell it, do I live?
He smote me on the cheek-I did not stab him,
For that were poor revenge-E'er since, his
folly

Has strove to bury it beneath a heap
Of kindnesses, and thinks it is forgot.
Insolent thought! and like a second blow!
Affronts are innocent, where men are worthless;
And such alone can wisely drop revenge.
Isa. But with more temper, Zanga, tell your
story;

To see your strong emotions startles me.

Zan. Yes, woman, with the temper that befits it.

Has the dark adder venom? So have I,
When trod upon. Proud Spaniard, thou shalt
feel me !

For from that day, that day of my dishonour,
I from that day have cursed the rising sun,
Which never failed to tell me of my shame.
I from that day have blessed the coming night,
Which promised to conceal it; but in vain;
The blow returned for ever in my dream.
Yet on I toiled, and groaned for an occasion
Of ample vengeance; none is yet arrived.
Howe'er, at present. I conceive warm hopes
Of what may wound him sore in his ambition,
Life of his life, and dearer than his soul.
By nightly march he purposed to surprise
The Moorish camp; but I have taken care
They shall be ready to receive his favour.
Failing in this, a cast of utmost moment,
Would darken all the conquests he has won.
Isa. Just as I entered, an express arrived,
Zan. To whom?

Isa. His friend, Don Carlos.

Zan. Be propitious,

Oh! Mahomet, on this important hour,

And give, at length, my famished soul revenge!
What is revenge, but courage to call in
Our honour's debts, and wisdom to convert
Others' self-love into our own protection?
But see, the morning dawns;

I'll seek Don Carlos, and enquire my

fate.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Palace.

Enter Don MANUEL and Don CARLOS. Man. My lord don Carlos, what brings your express?

Car. Alonzo's glory, and the Moors' defeat. The field is strewed with twice ten thousand slain,

Though he suspects his measures were betrayed.
He'll soon arrive. Oh, how I long to embrace
The first of heroes, and the best of friends!
I loved fair Leonora long before

The chance of battle gave me to the Moors,:
From whom so late Alonzo set me free;

| And while I groaned in bondage, I deputed
This great Alonzo, whom her father honours,
To be my gentle advocate in love,

To stir her heart, and fan its fires for me.
Man. And what success?

Car. Alas, the cruel maid

Indeed her father, who, though high at court,
And powerful with the king, has wealth at heart,
To heal his devastation from the Moors,
Knowing I am richly freighted from the east,
My fleet now sailing in the sight of Spain,"
(Heaven guard it safe through such a dreadful
storm!)

Caresses me, and urges her to wed.
Man. Her aged father, sce,
Leads her this way.

Car. She looks like radiant Truth,
Brought forward by the hand of hoary Time-
You to the port with speed, 'tis possible
Some vessel is arrived. Heaven grant it bring
Tidings, which Carlos may receive with joy!

Enter Don ALVAREZ and LEONORA.

Alv. Don Carlos, I am labouring in your fa

vour,

With all a parent's soft authority,
And earnest counsel.

Car. Angels second you!

For all my bliss or misery hangs on it.

Alv. Daughter, the happiness of life depends On our discretion, and a prudent choice; Look into those they call unfortunate, And, closer viewed, you will find they are unwise: Some flaw in their own conduct lies beneath, And 'tis the trick of fools, to save their credit, Which brought another language into use. Don Carlos is of ancient, noble blood, And then his wealth might mend a prince's for

tune.

For him the sun is labouring in the mines,
A faithful slave, and turning earth to gold.
His keels are freighted with that sacred power,
By which even kings and emperors are made.
Sir, you have my good wishes, and I hope

[To Carlos.
My daughter is not indisposed to hear you. [Exit,
Car. Oh, Leonora! why art thou in tears?
Because I am less wretched than I was?.
Before your father gave me leave to woo you,
Hushed was your bosom, and your eyes serene.
Will you for ever help me to new pains,
And keep reserves of torment in your hand,
To let them loose on every dawn of joy?

Leon. Think you my father too indulgent to

me,

That he claims, no dominion o'er my tears?
A daughter sure may be right dutiful,
Whose tears alone are free from a restraint.
Car. Ah, my torn heart!

Leon. Regard not me, my lord;

I shall obey my father.

Car. Disobey him,

Rather than come thus coldly, than come thus
With absent eyes, and alienated mien,
Suffering address, the victim of my love.
Oh, let me be undone the common way,
And have the common comfort to be pitied,
And not be ruined in the mask of bliss,
And so be envied, and be wretched too!
Love calls for love. Not all the pride of beauty,
Those eyes that tell us what the sun is made of,
Those lips, whose touch is to be bought with life,
Those hills of driven snow, which seen are felt;
All these, possessed, are nought, but as they are
The proof, the substance of an inward passion,
And the rich plunder of a taken heart.

Leon. Alas, my lord, we are too delicate:
And when we grasp the happiness we wished,
We call on wit to argue it away:

A plainer man would not feel half your pains:
But some have too much wisdom to be happy.
Car. Had I known this before, it had been
well:

I had not then solicited your father
To add to my distress; as you behave,
Your father's kindness stabs me to the heart.
Give me your hand-nay, give it, Leonora :
You give it not-nay, yet you give it not—
I ravish it.

Leon. I pray, my lord, no more.

Alon. Yes, much more-Don Carlos' friend. The conquest of the world would cost me dear, Should it beget one thought of distance in thee. I rise in virtues to come nearer to thee, conquer with Don Carlos in my eye, And thus I claim my victory's reward.

I

does shake me :

Sighs there, are tempests here.

I have heard, bad men would be unblest in Hea

ven :

As frighted passengers from off the strand,
When the tempestuous sea comes roaring on

them.

Alon. 'Twas Carlos conquered, 'twas his cruel chains

Inflamed me to a rage unknown before,
And threw my former actions far behind.

Car. I love fair Leonora. How I love her!
Yet still I find (I know not how it is)
Another heart, another soul for thee.
Thy friendship warms, it raises, it transports
Like music, pure the joy, without allay,
Whose very rapture is tranquillity:
But love, like wine, gives a tumultuous bliss,
Heightened, indeed, beyond all mortal pleasures,
But mingles pangs and madness in the bowl.

Enter ZANGA.

Zan. Manuel, my lord, returning from the port,

On business both of moment and of haste, Humbly begs leave to speak in private with you.

Car. In private! Ha! Alonzo, I will return;
No business can detain me long from thee. [Exit.
Zan. My lord Alonzo, I obeyed your orders.
Alon. Will the fair Leonora pass this way?
Zan. She will, my lord, and soon.
Alon. Come near me, Zanga;

| For I dare open all my heart to thee.
Never was such a day of triumph known!
There's not a wounded captive in my train,
That slowly followed my proud chariot wheels,
With half a life, and beggary, and chains,

But is a god to me: I am most wretched.
In his captivity thou know'st, Don Carlos,
My friend, (and never was a friend more dear)
Deputed me his advocate in love,
To talk to Leonora's heart, and make
A tender party in her thoughts for him.
What did I do? I loved myself. Indeed,
One thing there is might lessen my offence,
(If such offence admits of being lessened)

I thought him dead; for (by what fate I know not)

His letters never reached me.

Zan. Thanks to Zanga,

Who thence contrived that evil which has hap-
pened.
[Aside.
Alon. Yes, cursed of Heaven! I loved myself,
and now,

In a late action, rescued from the Moors,
I have brought home my rival in my friend.
Zan. We hear, my lord, that in that action too,
Your interposing arm preserved his life.

Alon. It did-with more than the expence of mine;

For, Oh, this day is mentioned for their nuptials. But see, she comes-I will take my leave, and die.

Zan. Hadst thou a thousand lives, thy death

would please me.

Unhappy fate! My country overcome!
My six years hope of vengeance quite expired!
Would nature were- -I will not fall alone:
But others' groans shall tell the world my death.
[Aside, and exit.

Enter LEONORA.

Alon. When nature ends with anguish like to this,

Sinners shall take their last leave of the sun,
And bid his light adicu.

Leon. The mighty conqueror

Dismayed! I thought you gave the foe your sor

rows.

Alon. Oh, cruel insult! Are those tears your

sport,

Which nothing but a love for you could draw? Afric I quelled, in hope by that to purchase Your leave to sigh unscorned; but I complain

not;

'Twas but a world, and you are-Leonora.
Leon. That passion, which you boast of, is your
guilt,

A treason to your friend. You think mean of me,
To plead your crimes as motives of my love.
Alon. You, madam, ought to thank those
crimes you blame;
'Tis they permit you to be thus inhuman,
Without the censure both of earth and heaven-
I fondly thought a last look might be kind.
Farewell for ever. This severe behaviour
Has, to my comfort, made it sweet to die.
Leon. Farewell for ever! Sweet to die! Oh,
Heaven!

3

[Aside.

Alonzo, stay; you must not thus escape me; But hear your guilt at large.

Alon. Oh, Leonora !

What could I do! In duty to my friend,

I saw you; and to see is to admire.
For Carlos did I plead, and most sincerely.
Witness the thousand agonies it cost me!
You know I did. I sought but your esteem;
If that is guilt, an angel had been guilty.
I often sighed, nay, wept, but could not help it:
And sure it is no crime to be in pain.

But grant my crime was great; I am greatly cursed;

What would you more? Am I not most undone? This usage is like stamping on the murdered, When life is fled; most barbarous and unjust. Leon. If from your guilt none suffered but yourself,

It might be so

-Farewell.

Alon. Who suffers with me?

[Going.

Leon. Enjoy your ignorance, and let me go. Alon. Alas! what is there I can fear to know, Since I already know your hate? Your actions Have long since told me that.

Leon. They flattered you.
Alon. How! flattered me!

Leon. Oh, search in fate no farther!

I hate thee-Oh, Alonzo, how I hate thee!
Alon. Indeed! and do you weep for hatred
too!

Oh, what a doubtful torment heaves my heart!
I hope it most, and yet I dread it more.
Should it be so-should her tears flow from
thence,

How would my soul blaze up in ecstacy!
Ah no! how sink into the depth of horrors!
Leon. Why would you force my stay?
Alon. What mean these tears?

Leon. I weep by chance; nor have my tears

Alon. Heavens! what is this? That excellence, for which

Desire was planted in the heart of man;
Virtue's supreme reward on this side Heaven;
The cordial of my soul-and this destroys me-
Indeed, I flattered me that thou didst hate.

Leon. Alonzo, pardon me the injury
Of loving you. I struggled with my passion,
And struggled long: let that be some excuse.

Alon. Unkind, you know I think your love a blessing

Beyond all human blessings! 'tis the price
Of sigh and groans, and a whole year of dying.
But Oh! the curse of curses!
-Oh, my
friend!-

Leon. Alas!

Alon. What says my love? Speak, Leonora. Leon. Was it for you, my lord, to be so quick

be mine?

For what else can you tremble? Not for that My father places in your power to alter.

Alon. What's in my power? Oh, yes; to stab my friend!

Leon. To stab your friend were barbarous indeed!

Spare him-and murder me. I own, Alonzo, You well may wonder at such words as these. I start at them myself; they fright my nature. Great is my fault; but blame me not alone: Give him a little blame who took such pains To make me guilty.

Alon. Torment! [After a pause, Leon. speaks.
Leon. Oh, my shame!

I sue, and sue in vain : it is most just,
When women sue, they sue to be denied.
You hate me, you despise me! you do well;
For what I've done I hate and scorn myself.
Oh, night, fall on me! I shall blush to death.
Alon. First perish all!

Leon. Say, what have you resolved? My father comes; what answer will you give him?

Alon. What answer! let me look upon. that face,

And read it there.-Devote thee to another!
Not to be borne! a second look undoes me.

Leon. And why undo you? Is it then, my lord,
So terrible to yield to your own wishes,
Because they happen to concur with mine?
Cruel! to take such pains to win a heart,
Which you was conscious you must break with
parting.

Alon. No, Leonora, I am thine for ever, [Runs and embraces her. In spite of Carlos-Ha! who's that? My friend? [Starts wide from her.

[Swoons. Alon. Heart of my heart, and essence of my joy!

Where art thou !-Oh, I'm thine, and thine for ever!

The groans of friendship shall be heard no more.
For whatsoever crime I can commit,
I've felt the pains already.

Leon. Hold, Alonzo,

And hear a maid whom doubly thou hast conquered.

I love thy virtue as I love thy person,
And I adore thee for the pains it gave me;
But as I felt the pains, I'll reap the fruit;
I'll shine out in my turn, and shew the world
Thy great example was not lost upon me.
Be it enough that I have once been guilty;
In sight of such a pattern, to persist,
Ill suits a person honoured with your love.
My other titles to that bliss are weak;
I must deserve it by refusing it.
Thus then I tear me from thy hopes for ever.
Shall I contribute to Alonzo's crimes?
No, though the life-blood gushes from my heart.
You shall not be ashamed of Leonora ;
Or that late time may put our names together.
Nay, never shrink; take back the bright example
You lately lent; Oh, take it while you may,
While I can give it you, and be immortal!

[Exit.

VOL. I.

SE

SCENE I.-Continues..

Enter Don MANUEL and ZANGA.

Zan. If this be true, I cannot blame your pain For wretched Carlos; 'tis but human in you. But when arrived your dismal news?

Man. This hour.

Zan. What, not a vessel saved?

Man. All, all the storm

Devoured; and now o'er his late envied fortune The dolphins bound, and watery mountains roar, Triumphant in his ruin.

Zan. Is Alvarez

Determined to deny his daughter to him?
That treasure was on shore; must that too join
The common wreck?

Man. Alvarez pleads, indeed,
That Leonora's heart is disinclined,

And pleads that only; so it was this morning, When he concurred: the tempest broke the match,

And sunk his favour, when it sunk the gold.
The love of gold is double in his heart,
The vice of age, and of Alvarez too.

Zan. How does Don Carlos bear it?
Man. Like a man,

Whose heart feels most a human heart can feel,
And reasons best a human heart can reason.

Zan. But is he then in absolute despair?
Man. Never to see his Leonora more.
And, quite to quench all future hope, Alvarez
Urges Alonzo to espouse his daughter
This very day; for he has learnt their loves.

Zan. Ha! was not that received with ecstacy By Don Alonzo?

Man. Yes, at first; but soon

A damp came o'er him, it would kill his friend. Zan. Not if his friend consented: and since

The father's fixed-Don Carlos cannot wed-
Alonzo may-
-but that will hurt his friend-
Nor can he ask his leave-or, if he did,
He might not gain it-It is hard to give
Our own consent to ills, though we must bear
them.

Were it not then a master-piece, worth all
The wisdom I can boast, first to persuade
Alonzo to request it of his friend,

His friend to grant-then from that very grant,
The strongest proof of friendship man can give,
(And other motives) to work out a cause
Of jealousy, to rack Alonzo's peace?-

I have turned o'er the catalogue of human woes, Which sting the heart of man, and find none equal.

It is the Hydra of calamities,

The seven-fold death; the jealous are the damned.
Oh, jealousy, each other passion's calm

To thee, thou conflagration of the soul!
Thou king of torments, thou grand counterpoise
For all the transports beauty can inspire!
Isa. Alonzo comes this way.
Zan. Most opportunely.

Withdraw-Ye subtle dæmons, which reside ́
[Exit Isa.
In courts, and do your work with bows and

smiles,

That little enginery, more mischievqus