Don Ferd. Peace, fool! don't mention sleep to me. Lop. No, no, sir, I don't mention your low-bred, vulgar, sound sleep; but I can't help thinking that a gentle slumber, or half an hour's dozing, if it were only for the novelty of the thing Don Ferd. Peace, booby, I say !-Oh Clara, dear, cruel disturber of my rest! Lop. And of mine too. [Aside Don Ferd. 'Sdeath, to trifle with me at such a juncture as this !—now to stand on punctilios !-Love me! I don't believe she ever did. Lop. Nor I either. [Aside Don Ferd. Or is it, that her sex never know their desires for an hour together? Lop. Ah, they know them oftener than they 'll own them. [Aside Don Ferd. Is there, in the world, so inconstant a creature as Clara ? Lop. I could name one. [Aside Don Ferd. Yes; the tame fool who submits to her caprice. Lop. I thought he couldn't miss it. [Aside Don Ferd. Is she not capricious, teasing, tyrannical, obstinate, perverse, absurd ? ay, a wilderness of faults and follies; her looks are scorn, and her very smiles-'Sdeath! I wish I hadn't mentioned her smiles; for she does smile such beaming loveliness, such fascinating brightness-Oh, death and madness! I shall die if I lose her. Lop. Oh, those damned smiles have undone all! [Aside AIR.-Don Ferd Could I her faults remember, Each failing of her mind, Love still suggests each beauty, And sees while reason's blind. Lop. Here comes Don Antonio, sir. Don Ferd. Well, go you home--I shall be there presently. Lop. Ah, those cursed smiles! [Exit Enter DON ANTONIO Don Ferd. Antonio, Lopez tells me he left you chanting before our door-was my father waked ? Don Ant. Yes, yes; he has a singular affection for music, so I left him roaring at his barred window, like the print of Bajazet in the cage. And what brings you out so early? Don Ferd. I believe I told you, that to-morrow was the day fixed by Don Pedro and Clara's unnatural stepmother, for her to enter a convent, in order that her brat might possess her fortune: made desperate by this, I procured a key to the door, and bribed Clara's maid to leave it unbolted; at two this morning, I entered, unperceived, and stole to her chamber-I found her waking and weeping. Don Ant. Happy Ferdinand ! Don Ferd. 'Sdeath! hear the conclusion.-I was rated as the most confident ruffian, for daring to approach her room at that hour of night. Don Ant. Ay, ay, this was at first. Don Ferd. No such thing! she would not hear a word from me, but threatened to raise her mother, if I did not instantly leave her. Don Ant. Well, but at last ? Don Ferd. At last! why I was forced to leave the house as I came in. Don Ant. And did you do nothing to offend her? Don Ferd. Nothing, as I hope to be saved !—I believe, I might snatch a dozen or two of kisses. Don Ant. Was that all? such assurance! well, I think, I never heard of Don Ferd. Zounds! I tell you I behaved with the utmost respect. Don Ant. O Lord! I don't mean you, but in her. But, hark ye, Ferdinand, did you leave your key with them? Don Ferd. Yes; the maid, who saw me out, took it from the door. Don Ant. Then, my life for it, her mistress elopes after you. Don Ferd. Ay, to bless my rival, perhaps. I am in a humour to suspect everybody.-You loved her once, and thought her an angel, as I do now. Don Ant. Yes, I loved her, till I found she wouldn't love me, and then I discovered that she hadn't a good feature in her face. AIR I ne'er could any lustre see In eyes that would not look on me; But where my own did hope to sip. Is her hand so soft and pure? That heaving bosom sigh for me. Besides, Ferdinand, you have full security in my love for your sister; help me there, and I can never disturb you with Clara. Don Ferd. As far as I can, consistently with the honour of our family, you know I will; but there must be no eloping. Don. Ant. And yet, now, you would carry off Clara ? Don Ferd. Ay, that's a different case -we never mean that others should act to our sisters and wives as we do to others.-But, to-morrow, Clara is to be forced into a convent. Don Ant. Well, and am not I so unfortunately circumstanced? To-morrow, your father forces Louisa to marry Isaac, the Portuguese-but come with me, and we 'll devise something, I warrant. Don Ferd. I must go home. Don Ant. Well, adieu! Don Ferd. But, Antonio, if you did not love my sister, you have too much honour and friendship to supplant me with Clara ? AIR.-Don Ant Friendship is the bond of reason; The faith which to my friend I swore As a civil oath I view; But to the charms which I adore, "Tis religion to be true. [Exit Don Ferd. There is always a levity in Antonio's manner of replying to me on this subject that is very alarming.— 'Sdeath if Clara should love him after all! SONG Though cause for suspicion appears, Yet proofs of her love, too, are strong; And unworthy of bliss if I'm wrong. What heart-breaking torments from jealousy flow, When blest with the smiles of my fair, I know not how much I adore: Those smiles let another but share, And I wonder I prized them no more! Then whence can I hope a relief from my woe, When the falser she seems, still the fonder I grow ! [Exit SCENE III.-A Room in DON JEROME'S House Enter DONNA LOUISA and DUENNA Don. Louisa. But, my dear Margaret, my charming Duenna, do you think we shall succeed? Duen. I tell you again, I have no doubt on't; but it must be instantly put to the trial. Everything is prepared in your room, and for the rest we must trust to fortune. Don. Louisa. My father's oath was, never to see me till I had consented to Duen. 'Twas thus I overheard him say to his friend, Don Guzman, I will demand of her to-morrow, once for all, whether she will consent to marry Isaac Mendoza; if she hesitates, I will make a solemn oath never to see or speak to her till she returns to her duty.-These were his words. Don. Louisa. And on his known obstinate adherence to what he has once said, you have formed this plan for my escape. interest ? -But have you secured my maid in our Duen. She is a party in the whole; but remember, if we succeed, you resign all right and title in little Isaac, the Jew, over to me. Don. Louisa. That I do with all my soul; get him, if you 'can, and I shall wish you joy, most heartily. He is twenty times as rich as my poor Antonio. AIR Thou canst not boast of fortune's store, But when his worth my hand shall gain, Yet still his grateful heart shall own I loved him for himself alone. Duen. I hear Don Jerome coming.-Quick, give me the last letter I brought you from Antonio-you know that is to be the ground of my dismission-I must slip out to seal it up, as undelivered. Enter DON JEROME and DON FERDINAND [Exit Don Jer. What, I suppose you have been serenading too! Eh, disturbing some peaceable neighbourhood with villainous catgut and lascivious piping! Out on't! you sci your sister, here, a vile example; but I come to tell you, madam, that I'll suffer no more of these midnight incantations-these amorous orgies, that steal the senses in the hearing; as, they say, Egyptian embalmers serve mummies, extracting the brain through the ears. However, there's an end of your frolics-Isaac Mendoza will be here presently, and to-morrow you shall marry him. Don. Louisa. Never, while I have life! Don Ferd. Indeed, sir, I wonder how you can think of such a man for a son-in-law. Don Jer. Sir, you are very kind to favour me with your sentiments and pray, what is your objection to him? Don Ferd. He is a Portuguese, in the first place. Don Jer. No such thing, boy; he has forsworn his country. |