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Thou shalt partake. Since fates no more afford;

I can but die with thee, to keep my word. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Opening, shews the Prison. Enter GONSALEZ disguised like a Mute, with a Dagger.

Gons. Nor centinel, nor guard! the doors unbarr'd! And all as still, as at the noon of night!

Sure death already has been busy here.

There lies my way; that door too is unlock'd.

[Looking in. Ha! sure he sleeps-all's dark within, save what A lamp, that feebly lifts a sickly flame,

By fits reveals-his face seems turn'd, to favour 140
Th' attempt: I'll steal and do it unperceiv'd.

What noise! somebody coming? i'st Alonzo?
Nobody. Sure he'll wait without

I would

'Twere done-I'll crawl, and sting him to the heart, Then cast my skin, and leave it there to answer it. [Goes in.

Enter GARCIA and ALONZO.

Gar. Where, where, Alonzo, where's my father? where

The king? Confusion! all is on the rout!

All's lost, all ruin'd by surprize and treachery. Where, where is he! Why dost thou mislead me? Alon. My lord, he enter'd but a moment since,

And could not pass me unperceiv'd-What hoa!
My lord, my lord! What hoa! my lord Gonsalez!

Enter GONSALEZ bloody.

Gons. Perdition choak your clamours-whence this rudeness?

Garcia !

Gar. Perdition, slavery, and death,

Are entering now our doors. Where is the king? What means this blood; and why this face of horror? Gons. No matter-give me first to know the cause Of these your rash, and ill-tim'd exclamations.

Gar. The eastern gate is to the foe betray'd,
Who, but for heaps of slain that choak the passage,
Had enter'd long ere now, and borne down all
Before 'em, to the palace walls. Unless
The king in person animate our men,
Granada's lost; and to confirm this fear,

The traitor Perez, and the captive Moor,
Are through a postern fled, and join'd the foe.
Gons. Would all were false as that; for whom you

call

The Moor, is dead. That Osmyn was Alphonso; In whose heart's blood this poignard yet is warm. Gar. Impossible; for Osmyn was, while flying, Pronounc'd aloud by Perez for Alphonso.

Gons. Enter that chamber, and convince your eyes, How much report has wrong'd your easy faith. [Garcia goes in. Alon. My lord, for certain truth, Perez is fled;

H

And has declar'd, the cause of his revolt

Was to revenge a blow the king had given him.

Gar. [Returning.] Ruin and horror! Oh, heartwounding sight!

Gons. What says my son? What ruin? Ha! what horror?

Gar. Blasted my eyes, and speechless be my tongue, Rather than or to see, or to relate

This deed-Oh, dire mistake! Oh, fatal blow!
The king-

Gons. Alon. The king!

Gar. Dead, welt'ring, drown'd in blood. See, see, attir'd like Osmyn, where he lies.

[They look in. Oh, whence, or how, or wherefore was this done?

But what imports the manner or the cause?
Nothing remains to do, or to require,

But that we all should turn our swords against
Ourselves, and expiate with our own, his blood.
Gons. Oh, wretch! Oh, cursed rash deluded fool!
On me, on me turn your avenging swords.
I, who have spilt my royal master's blood,
Should make atonement by a death as horrid,
And fall beneath the hand of my own son.

Gar. Ha! what! atone this murder with a greater! The horror of that thought has damp'd my rage. "The earth already groans to bear this deed; "Oppress her not, nor think to stain her face "With more unnatural blood. Murder my father! "Better with this to rip up my own bowels,

"And bathe it to the hilt, in far less damnable

"Self-murder."

Gons. Oh, my son! from the blind dotage Of a father's fondness these ills arose.

For thee I've been ambitious, base, and bloody:
For thee I've plung❜d into this sea of sin;
Stemming the tide with only one weak hand,
While t'other bore the crown (to wreathe thy brow)
Whose weight has sunk me, ere I reach'd the shore.
Gar. Fatal ambition! Hark! the foe is enter'd:

[Shout. The shrillness of that shout speaks them at hand. "We have no time to search into the cause

"Of this surprising and most fatal error.

"What's to be done? the king's death known, would strike

"The few remaining soldiers with despair,

"And make them yield to mercy of the conqueror." Alon. My lord, I've thought how to conceal the

body.

Require me not to tell the means, till done,

Lest

you forbid what you may then approve.

[Goes in.

Shout.

Gons. They shout again! Whate'er he means to do,

'Twere fit the soldiers were amus'd with hopes; And in the mean time fed with expectation

To see the king in person at their head.

Gar. Were it a truth, I fear 'tis now too late.

But I'll omit no care, nor haste! and try,

Or to repel their force, or bravely die. [Exit Garcia.

Re-enter ALONZO.

Gons. What hast thou done, Alonzo ?

Alon. Such a deed,

As but an hour ago I'd not have done,

Though for the crown of universal empire.
But what are kings reduc'd to common clay?

Or who can wound the dead?—I've from the body
Sever'd the head, and in an obscure corner
Dispos'd it, muffled in the mute's attire,
Leaving to view of them who enter next,
Alone the undistinguishable trunk:
Which may be still mistaken by the guards
For Osmyn, if in seeking for the king,
They chance to find it.

Gons. 'Twas an act of horror;

And of a piece with this day's dire misdeeds.

But 'tis no time to ponder or repent.

Haste thee, Alonzo, haste thee hence with speed,
To aid my son. I'll follow with the last
Reserve, to reinforce his arms: at least,
I shall make good and shelter his retreat.

[Exeunt severally.

Enter ZARA, followed by SELIM, and two Mutes bearing the bowls.

Zar. Silence and solitude are every where.
Through all the gloomy ways and iron doors
That hither lead, nor human face nor voice
"A dreadful din was wont

Is seen or heard.

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