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 am struck already.
Zan. Half of my work is done. I must secure Don Carlos, ere Alonzo speak with him.
[He gives a message to Manuel, who enters;
and exit Manuel.
Proud, hated Spain, oft drench'd in Moorish blood!
Dost thou not feel a deadly foe within thee?
Shake not thy towers where'er I pass along,
Conscious of ruin, and their great destroyer?
Shake to the centre if Alonzo's dear.
Look down, O holy prophet; see me torture
This Christian dog, this infidel, which 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
But see, the melancholy lover comes.
Car. O cruel heaven! and is it not enough That I must never, never see her more? 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. (Aside.)
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. O torment? whither shall I turn?
Zan. To peace.
Car. Which is the way?
Zan. His happiness is yours—
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.
Zan. You have convinc'd me 'tis a dreadful task.
I found Alonzo's quitting her this morning
For Carlos' sake, in tenderness to you,
Betray'd me to believe it less severe
Car. Hope, thou hast told me lies from day to Than I perceive it is.
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:
Even joys are pains, because they cannot last.
How many lift the head, look gay, and smile
Against their conscience? And this we know,
Yet knowing, disbelieve, and try again
What we have tried, and struggled with conviction.
Each new experience gives the former credit;
And reverend 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 mado 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.
Can. What can'st 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 flx'd, 'tis past, 'tis absolute despair.
Car. Thou dost upbraid me.
Zan. No, my good lord, but since you can t com"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?
O, which side shall I take! Be stabb'd, or-stab?
"Tis equal death! a choice of agonies!
Go, Zanga, go, defer the dreadful trial,
Though but a day, something, perchance, may
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 youIf I not bring him, may Alonzo prosper!
(Aside and exit. Car. What is this world? Thy school, O misery! Our only lesson is to learn to suffer!
| And he who knows not that, was born for nothing. Though deep my pangs, and heavy at my heart, My comfort is, each moment takes away
A grain, at least, from the dead load that's on me,
And gives a nearer prospect of the grave.
But put it most severely should I live-
Live long-Alas! there is no length in time!
Not in thy time, O 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 every moment is on age of pain
Enter ZANGA and DON ALONZO. Zan. (Stops Don Carlos.) Is this Don Carlos, this the boasted friend!
How can you turn your back upon his sadness?
I ook on him, and then leave him if you can.
Whose sorrows thus depress him? Not his own:
This moment he could wed without your leave.
Car. I cannot yield: nor can I bear his griefs.
Alouzo!
(Going to him, and taking his hand.)
Alon. O, 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, O, Ilov'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;
Who plac'd thee there, where only thou couldst fall.
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.
Car. Pardon for him who but this morning threw
Fair Leonora from his heart, all bath'd
in ceaseless tears, and blushing for her love!
Yes, 'twas in thee, through fondness for thy friend,
To shut thy boson against ecstacies;
For which, while this pulse beats, it beats to thee; While this blood flows, it flows for my Alonzo, And every wish is levell'd at thy joy.
Alon. (To Alonzo.) My lord, my lord, this is your time to speak.
Alon. (To Zanga.) Because he's kind? It therefore is the worst;
Do I not see him quite possess'd with anguish,
And shall I pour in new? No, fond desire!
No, love! one pang at parting, and farewell.
I have no other love but Carlos now. (Runs to Car.)
Car. Alas! my friend, why with such eager grasp
Dost press my hand?
Alo. If, after death, our forms Shall be transparent, naked every thought, [hearts, And friends ineet friends, and read each other's Thou'lt know one day, that thou wast held most dear.
Car. Alonzo, stay-he cannot speak, (holds him) Iest it should grieve me. Shall I be outdone, And lose in glory, as I lose in love? (Aside.) I take it much unkindly, my Alonzo, You think so meanly of me, not to speak, When well I know your heart is near to bursting. Have you forgot how you have bound me to you? Your smallest friendship's liberty and life.
Alon. There, there it is, my friend; it cuts me How dreadful is it to a generous mind To ask, when sure he cannot be denied! Cur. How greatly thought! In all he towers above me. (Aside.)
Then you confess you would ask something of me? Alon. No, on my soul.
Zan. (To Alonzo.) Then lose her.
Car. Glorious spirit!
Why, what a pang has he ran through for this!
By heaven! I envy him his agonies.
Why was not mine the most illustrious lot,
Of starting at one action from below,
And flaming up into consummate greatness?
Ha; Angels strengthen me!-It shall be so.
My Alonzo!
Since thy great soul disdains to make request,
Receive with favour that I make to thee.
Alon. What means iny Carlos?
Cur. Pray, observe me well.
Fate and Alvarez tore her from my heart,
And, plucking up my love, they had well nigh
Pluck'd my life too; for they were twin'd together.
Of that no more: What now does reason bid?
I cannot wed-Farewell, my happiness!
ut. O my soul, with care provide for hers!
In life how weak, how helpless, sure, is woman!
So properly the object of affliction,
That heaven is pleased to make distress become her,
And dresses her most amiably in tears.
Take, then, my heart in dowry with the fair,
Be thou her guardian and thou must be mine:
Shut out the thousand pressing ills of life
With thy surrounding arms: do this, and then
Set down the liberty and life thou gav'st me,
As little things, as essays of thy goodness,
And rudiments of friendship so divine.
Alon. There is a grandeur in thy goodness to me, Which, with thy foes, would render thee ador'd. And canst thou, canst thou part with Leonora;
Car. I do not part with her; I give her thee.
Alon. Carlos!-
But think not words were ever made
For such occasion. Silence, tears, embraces,
Are languid eloquence: I'll seek relief
In absence, from the pain of so much goodness,
There thank the blest above, thy sole superiors,
Adore, and raise my thoughts of them by thee.
Zan. Thus far success has crown'd my boldest My next care is to hasten these new nuptials, [hope. And then my master-works begin to play.
[Aside, and exit. Car. Too soon thou praisest me. He's gone, and I must unsluice my overburden'd heart, And let it flow. I would not grieve my friend With tears; nor interrupt my great design; Great, sure, as ever human breast durst think of. But now my sorrows, long with pain suppress'd, Burst their confinement with impetuous sway, O'erswell all bounds, and bear e'en life away: So, till the day was won, the Greek renown'd, With anguish wore the arrow in his wound, Then drew the shaft from out his tortur'd side, Let gush the torrent of his blood, and died.
SCENE I-Another Apartment in the Palace.
Enter ZANGA and ISABELLA.
Zan. O joy, thou welcome stranger! twice three I have not felt thy vital beam; but now [years It warms my veins, and plays around my heart. My Isabella!
Isa. What commands my Moor?
Zan. My fair ally, my lovely minister!
'Twas well Alvarez, by my arts impell'd,
(To plunge Don Carlos in the last despair,
And so prevent all future molestation,)
Finish'd the nuptials soon as he resolv'd them;
This conduct ripen'd all for me, and ruin.
Scarce had the priest the holy rite perform'd,
When I, by sacred inspiration forg'd
That letter which I trusted to thy hand;
That letter, which in glowing terms conveys,
From happy Carlos to fair Leonora,
The most profound acknowledgment of heart,
For wond'rous transports, which he never kucw.
That is a good, subservient artifice,
To aid the nobler workings of my brain.
Isa. I quickly dropp'd it in the bride's apartme As you commanded.
Zan. What a lucky hand;
For soon Alonzo found it; I observ'd him
From out my secret stand. He took it up;
But scarce was it unfolded to his sight,
When he, as if an arrow pierced his eye,
Started, and trembling, dropp'd it on the ground.
Pale and aghast awhile my victim stood,
Disguis'd a sigh or two, and puff'd them from him:
Then rubb'd his brow, and took it up again.
At first he look'd as if he meant to read it;
But, check'd by rising fears, he crush'd it thus,
And thrust it, like an adder, in his bosom.
Isa. But if he read it not, it cannot sting him;
At least, not mortally.
Zan. At first I thought so;
But farther thought informs me otherwise,
And turns this disappointment to account.
He more shall credit it, because unseen,
(If 'tis unseen,) as thou anon may'st find.
Isa. That would indeed commend my Zanga's
Zan. This Isabella, is Don Carlos' picture!
Take it, and so dispose of it, that, found,
It may rise up a witness of her love;
Under her pillow, in her cabinet,
Or elsewhere, as shall best promote our end.
Isa. I'll weigh it as its consequer ce requires.
Then do my utmost to deserve your smile.
Zan. Is that Alonzo prostrate on the ground?
Now he starts up like flame from sleeping embers,
And wild distraction glares from either eye.
If thus a slight surmise can work his soul,
How will the fulness of the tempest tear him!
Enter DON ALONZO.
Alon. And yet it cannot be-I am deceiv'd-
I injure her, she wears the face of heaven.
Zan. He doubts.
Alon. I dare not look on this again.
If the first glance, which gave suspicion only,
Had such effect, so smote my heart and brain,
The certainty would dash me all in pieces.
It cannot-Ha! it must, it must be true. (Starts.)
Zan. Hold there, and we succeed. He has des-
cried me.
I'll seem to go, to make my stay more sure. (Aside.)
Alon. Hold, Zanga, turn.
Zan. My lord!
Alon. Shut close the doors,
That not a spirit find an entrance here.
Zan. My lord's obey'd.
Alon. I see that thou art frighted.
If thou dost love me, I shall fill thy heart
With scorpions' stings.
Zan. If I do love, my lord?
Draw forth your sword, and find the secret here.
For whose sake is it, think you, I conceal it?
Wherefore this rage? Because I seek your peace,
I have no interest in suppressing it,
But what good-natured tenderness for you
Obliges me to have. Not mine the heart
That will be rent in two. Not mine the fame
That will be damn'd though all the world should
know it.
[past.
Alon. Then my worst fears are true, and life is
Zan. What has the rashness of my passion
I know not what-but grant I did confess,
What is a letter? letters may be forg'd.
For heaven's sweet sake, iny lord, lift up your heart.
Some foe to your repose-
Alon. So heaven look on me,
As I can't find the man I have offended.
Zan. Indeed! (Aside.) Our innocence is not our
They take offence, who have not been offended;
They seek our ruin, too, who speak us fair,
And death is often ambush'd in their smiles.
We know not whom we have to fear. "Tis certain
A letter may be forg'd; and, in a point
Of such a dreadful consequence as this,
One would rely on nought that might be false.
Think, have you any other cause to doubt her?
Away, you can find none. Resume your spirit!
All's well again.
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Alon. Come near me, let me rest upon thy bosom, With some degree of pain.
(What pillow like the bosom of a friend!)
For I am sick at heart.
Zan. Speak, sir; O, speak,
And take me from the rack.
Alon. I am most happy: mine is victory,
Mine the king's favour, mine the nation's shout,
And great men make their fortunes of my smiles.
O curse of curses! in the lap of blessing
To be most curst!-My Leonora's false!
Zan. Save me, my lord!
Alon. My Leonora's false! (Gives him the letter.)
Zan. Then heaven has lost its image here on
earth.
Alon. Good-natured man! he makes my pains
I durst not read it; but I read it now his own.
In thy concern.
Zan. Did you read it, then?
[no more.
Alon. Mine eye just touch'd it, and could bear
Zan. Thus perish all that gives Alonzo pain!
(Tears the letter.)
Alon. Why didst thou tear it?
Zan. Think of it no more.
Twas your mistake, and groundless are your fears.
Alon. And didst thou tremble, then, for my
Or give the whole contents; or, by the pangs
That feed upon my heart, thy life's in danger.
Zan. Is this Alonzo's language to his Zanga?
Zan. Come, you must bear to hear your faults
Had you not sent Don Carlos to the court
The night before the battle, that foul slave.
Who forg'd the senseless scroll which gives you
Had wanted footing for his villany.
Zan. Not send him!-Ha!-That strikes me.
I thought he came on message to the king.
Is there another cause could justify
His shunning danger, and the promis'd fight?
But I, perhaps, may think too rigidly;
So long is absence, and impatient love-
Alon. In my confusion, that had quite escap'd me.
'Tis clear as day-for Carlos is so brave,
He lives not but on fame, he hunts for danger,
And is enamour'd of the face of death.
How then could he decline the next day's battle,
But for the transports-Oh, it must be so!
Inhuman! by the loss of his own honour,
To buy the ruin of his friend!
Zan. You wrong him;
He knew not of your love.
Alon. Ha!-
Zan. That stings home. (Aside.)
Alon. Indeed, he knew not of my treacherous Proofs rise on proofs, and still the last the strongest. Th' eternal law of things declares it true,
Which calls for judgment on Listinguish'd guilt,
And loves to make our crime our punishment.
Love is my torture, love was first my crime;
For she was his, my friend's, and he (O, horror!)
Confided all in me. O, sacred faith!
How dearly I abide thy violation!
Zan. Were, then, their loves far gone?
Alon. The father's will
There bore a total sway; and he, as soon
As news arriv'd that Carlos' fleet was seen
From off our coast, fir'd with the love of gold,
Determin'd that the very sun which saw
Carlos' return, should see his daughter wed.
Zan. Indeed, my lord? then you must pardon
If I presume to mitigate the crime.
Consider, strong allurements soften guilt;
Long was his absence, ardent was his love,
At midnight his return, the next day destin'd,
For his espousals-'twas a strong temptation.
Alon. Temptation!
Zan. 'Twas but gaining of one night!
Alon. One night!
Zan. That crime could ne'er return again.
Alon. Again! by heaven thou dust insult thy
lord.
[death!
Temptation! One night gain'd! O stings and
And am I then undone? Alas! my Zanga!
And dost thou own it, too? Deny it still,
And rescue me one moment from distraction.
Zan. My lord, I hope the best.
Alon. False, foolish hope,
And insolent to me! thou know'st it false;
It is as glaring as the noontide sun.
Devil! This morning, after three years' coldness,
To rush at once into a passion for me!
Twas time to feign, 'twas time to get another,
When her first fool was sated with her beauties.
Zan. What says my lord? Did Leonora, then,
Never before disclose her passion for you?
Alon. Never.
Zan. Throughout the whole three years?
Alon. O, never! never!
Why, Zanga, shouldst thou strive? 'Tis all in vain:
Though thy soul labours, it can find no reed
For hope to catch at. Ah! I'm plunging down
Ten thousand thousand fathonis in despair.
Zan. Hold, sir, I'll break your fall --Waive ev'ry And be a man again-Had be enjoy'd her, Be most assur'd, he had resign'd her to you With less reluctance.
Alon. Ha! Resign her to me!
Resign her!- Who resign'd her?-Double death! How could I doubt so long? My heart is broke. First love her to distraction! then resign her! Zan. But was it not with utmost agony?
Alon. Grant that; he still resigns her; that's enough.
Would he pluck out his eye to give it me?
Tear out his heart? She was his heart no more;
Nor was it with reluctance he resign'd her:
By heaven! he ask'd, he courted me to wed.
I thought it strange; 'tis now no longer so.
Zan. Was't his request? Are you right sure of
I fear the letter was not all a tale.
[that?
Alon. A tale! There's proof equivalent to sight.
Zan. I should distrust my sight on this occasion.
Alon. And so should I; by heaven: I think I
should.
What! Leonora, the divine, by whom
We guess'd at angels! Oh! I'm all confusion!
Zan. You now are too much ruffled to think
clearly.
Since bliss and horror, life and death hang on it,
Go to your chamber, there maturely weigh
Each circumstance; consider, above all,
That it is jealousy's peculiar nature
To swell small things to great; nay, out of nought
To conjure much, and then to lose its reason
Amid the hideous phantoms it has form'd.
Alon. Had I ten thousand lives, I'd give them all
To be deceiv'd. I fear 'tis doomsday with me.
But yet she seem'd so pure, that I thought heaven
Borrow'd her form for Virtue's self to wear,
To gain her lovers with the sons of men.
O Leonora! Leonora!
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There, Isabella, I outdid myself.
For, tearing it, I not secure it only
In its first force, but superadd a new.
For after tearing it, as loath to shew
The foul contents, if I should swear it now
A forgery, my lord would disbelieve me;
Nay, more, would disbelieve the more I swore.
But is the picture happily dispos'd of?
Isa. It is.
Zan. That's well! [Exit Isabella.] Ah! what is well? O pang to think!
O dire necessity; is this my province ?
Whither, my soul! ah! whither art thou sunk
Beneath thy sphere?
Does this become a soldier? This become
Whom armies follow'd, and a people lov'd?
My martial glory withers at the thought.
But great my end, and since there are no other, These means are just, they shine with borrow'd light,
Illustrious from the purpose they pursue.
And greater, sure, my merit, who, to gain
A point sublime, can such a task sustain:
To wade through ways obscene, my honour bend,
And shock my nature, to attain my end,
Late time shall wonder; that my joys will raise,
For wonder is involuntary praise.
SCENE I.-Another Apartment in the Palace.
Enter DON ALONZO and ZANGA.
Alon. Oh! what a pain to think, when every
thought,
Perplexing thought, in intricacies runs,
And reason knits th' inextricable toil,
In which herself is taken!
No more I'll bear this battle of the mind,
This inward anarchy; but find my wife,
And to her trembling heart presenting death,
Force all the secret from her,
You totter on the very brink of ruin.
Alon. What dost thou mean?
Zan. That will discover all,
And kill my hopes, What can I think or do?
(Asid`)
Alon. What dost thou murmur?
Zan. Force the secret from her?
What's perjury to such a crime as this?
Will she confess it, then? O, groundless hope!
But rest assur'd, she'll make this accusation,
Or false or true, your ruin with the king;
Such is her father's power.
Alon. No more, I care not;
Rather than groan beneath this load, I'll die.
Zan. But for what better will you change this, load?
Grant you should know it, would not that be worse?
Alon. No; it would cure me of my mortal pangs:
By hatred and contempt I should despise her,
But all my love-bred agonies would vanish.
Zan. Ah! were I sure of that, my lord-
Alon. What then?
[secret. Zan. You should not hazard life to gain the Alon. What dost thou mean? Thou know'st I'm on the rack.
I'll not be play'd with: speak, if thou hast aught,
Or I this instant fly to Leonora.
Zan. That is, to death. My lord, I am not yet
Quite so far gone in guilt, to suffer it,
Tho' gone too far, heaven knows. 'Tis I am guilty-
I have ta'en pains, as you, I know, observ'd,
To hinder you from diving in the secret,
And turn'd aside your thoughts from the detection,
Alon. Thou dost confound me.
And frankly own it, though to my shame I own it:
Nought but your life in danger could have torn
The secret out, and made me own my crime.
Alon. Speak quickly; Zanga, speak.
Zan. Not yet, dread sir:
First, I must be convinc'd, that, if you find
The fair one guilty, scorn, as you assur'd me,
Shall conquer love and rage, and heal your soul.
Alon. O'twill, by heaven!
Zan. Alas! I fear it much,
And scarce can hope so far; but I of this
Exact your solemn oath, that you'll abstain
From all self-violence, and save my lord.
Zan. I trebly swear.
Zan. You'll bear it like a man? Alon. A god.
Zan. Such have you been to me; these tears And pour'd forth miracles of kindness on me: And what amends is now within my power, But to confess, expose myself to justice, And, as a blessing, claim my punishment ? Know, then, Don Carlos
Alon. Go on, I'll have it, though it blast mankind; I'll have it all, and instantly. Go on.
Zan. Don Carlos did return at dead of nightEnter LEONORA.
Leon. My lord Alonzo, you are absent from us,
And quite undo our joy.
Alon. I'll come, my love:
Be not our friends deserted by us both;
I'll follow you this moment.
Leon. My good lord,
I do observe severity of thought
Alon. The villain lied! Zan. My lord,
I pray, forbear. Transported at his sight,
After so long a bondage, and your friend,
(Who could suspect him of an artifice?)
No farther I inquir'd, but let him pass,
False to my trust, at least imprudent in it.
Our watch reliev'd, I went into the garden,
As is my custom when the night's serene,
And took a moonlight walk; when soon I heard
A rustling in an arbour that was near me.
I saw two lovers in each other's arms,
Embracing and embrac'd. Anon the man
Arose, and, falling back some paces from her,
Gaz'd ardently awhile, then rush'd at once,
And throwing all himself into her bosom,
There softly sighed, "O, night of ecstacy!
When shall we meet again ?"-Don Carlos then
Led Leonora forth.
Alon. Oh! Oh! my heart! (He sinks into a chair.) Zan. Groan on, and with the sound refresh my soul! (Aside.) 'Tis through his brain; his eyeballs roll in anguish. My lord, my lord, why will you rack me thus? Speak to me, let me know that you still live. I'm your own Zanga,
So lov'd, so cherish'd, and so faithful to you.-
Rise, sir, for honour's sake. Why should the Moors,
Why should the vanquish'd triumph?
My fame, my friendship, and my love of arms,
All stoop'd to her; my blood was her possession.
Deep in the secret foldings of my heart
She liv'd with life, and far the dearer she.
To think on't is the torment of the damu'd;
And not to think on't is impossible.
How fair the cheek, that first alarm'd my soul!
How bright the eye that set it in a flame!
How soft the breast, on which I laid my peace
For years to slumber, unawak'd by care!
How fierce the transport! how sublime the bliss!
How deep, how black, the horror and despair!
Zan. You said you'd bear it like a man.
Alon. I do.
Am I not most distracted?
Zan. Pray, be calm.
Alon. As hurricanes:-be thou assur'd of that.
Zan. Is this the wise Alonzo?
Alon. Villain, no!
Upon your brow. Aught hear you from the Moors? He died in the arbour; he was murder'd there! Alon. No, my delight.
Leon. What then employ'd your mind?
Alon. Thou, love, and only thou; so heaven befriend me!
As other thought can find no entrance here.
Leon. How good in you, my lord, whom nations
Solicit, and a world in arms obeys,
To drop one thought on me!
Alon. Know, then, to thy comfort,
Thou hast me all, my throbbing heart is full
With thee alone; I've thought of nothing else;
Nor shall, I from my soul believe, till death.
My life, our friends expect thee.
Alon. Is that the face of curs'd hypocrisy? If she is guilty, stars are made of darkness, And beauty shall no more belong to heaven.
I am his demon though-My wife! my wife!
Zan. He weeps-he weeps! (Aside.)
Alon. O villain, villain, most accurs'd!
If thou didst know it, why didst let me wed?
Zan. Hear me, my lord, your anger will abate.
I knew it not:-I saw them in the garden;
But saw no more than you might well expect
To see in lovers destin'd for each other.
Who could suspect fair Leonora's virtue,
Till after proofs conspired to blacken it?
Sad proofs, which came too late, which broke not
(Eternal curses on Alvarez' haste!)
Till holy rites had made the wanton yours;
And then, I own, I labour'd to conceal it,
In duty and compassion to your peace.
Alon. Live now, be damn'd hereafter-for I want "Onight of ecstacy!"-Ha! was't not so?
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