Perhaps, enamoured of resembling virtue,
With gentle hand restrained the streams of life,
And snatched her timely from her country's fate,
Dem. From those bright regions of eternal
day,

Where now thou shin'st among thy fellow saints,
Arrayed in purer light, look down on me!
In pleasing visions, and assuasive dreams,

O! soothe my soul, and teach me how to lose thee!

Leon. Enough of unavailing tears, Demetrius: I came obedient to thy friendly summons, And hoped to share thy counsels, not thy sor

rows:

While thus we mourn the fortune of Aspasia, To what are we reserved?

Dem. To what I know not;

But hope, yet hope, to happiness and honour-
If happiness can be without Aspasia.

Leon. But whence this new-sprung hope?
Dem. From Cali Bassa;

The chief, whose wisdom guides the Turkish counsels.

He, tired of slavery, though the highest slave, Projects at once our freedom and his own; And bids us, thus disguised, await him here.

Leon. Can he restore the state he could not save?

In vain, when Turkey's troops assailed our walls, His kind intelligence betrayed their measures; Their arms prevailed, though Cali was our friend. Dam. When the tenth sun had set upon our

sorrows,

At midnight's private hour, a voice unknown Sounds in my sleeping year, Awake, Demetrius!

· Awake, and follow me to better fortunes.' Surprised, I start, and bless the happy dream; Then, rousing, know the fiery chief Abdallah, Whose quick impatience seized my doubtful hand,

And led me to the shore where Cali stood,
Pensive, and listening to the beating surge.
There, in soft hints, and in ambiguous phrase,
With all the diffidence of long experience,
That oft had practised fraud, and oft detected,
The veteran courtier half revealed his project.
By his command, equipped for speedy flight,
Deep in a winding creek a galley lies,
Manned with the bravest of our fellow captives,
Selected by my care, a hardy band,
That long to hail thee chief.

Leon. But what avails

So small a force? Or why should Cali fly?
Or how can Cali's flight restore our country?
Dem. Reserve these questions for a safer hour,
Or hear himself; for see, the Bassa comes.

Enter CALI BASSA.

Cali. Now summon all thy soul, illustrious
Christian !

Awake each faculty that sleeps within thee,
The courtier's policy, the sage's firmness,
The warrior's ardour, and the patriot's zeal;
If, chasing past events with vain pursuit,

Or wandering in the wilds of future being,
A single thought now rove, recall it home.
But can thy friend sustain the glorious cause,
The cause of liberty, the cause of nations?
Dem. Observe him closely with a statesman's

eye,

Thou, that hast long perused the draughts of nature,

And know'st the characters of vice and virtue, Left by the hand of heaven on human clay.

Cali. His mien is lofty, his demeanour great; Nor sprightly folly wantons in his air, Nor dull serenity becalms his eye. Such had I trusted once as soon as seen; But cautious age suspects the flattering form, And only credits what experience tells. Has silence pressed her seal upon his lips? Does adamantine faith invest his heart? Will he not bend beneath a tyrant's frown? Will he not melt before ambition's fire? Will he not soften in a friend's embrace, Or flow dissolving in a woman's tears?

Dem. Sooner these trembling leaves shall find

a voice,

And tell the secrets of their conscious walks;
Sooner the breeze shall catch the flying sounds,
And shock the tyrant with a tale of treason.
Your slaughtered multitudes, that swell the shore
With monuments of death, proclaim his courage;
Virtue and liberty engross his soul,
And leave no place for perfidy or fear.

Leon. I scorn a trust unwillingly reposed. Demetrius will not lead me to dishonour; Consult in private; call me when your scheme Is ripe for action, and demands the sword.

[Going.

Dem. Leontius, stay.
Cali. Forgive an old man's weakness,
And share the deepest secrets of my soul,
My wrongs, my fears, my motives, my designs.—
When unsuccessful wars, and civil factions,
Embroiled the Turkish state, our sultan's fa-
ther,

Great Amurath, at my request, forsook
The cloister's ease, resumed the tottering throne,
And snatched the reins of abdicated power
From giddy Mahomet's unskilful hand.
This fired the youthful king's ambitious breast;
He murmurs vengeance at the name of Cali,
And dooms my rash fidelity to ruin.

Dem. Unhappy lot of all that shine in courts! For forced compliance, or for zealous virtue, Still odious to the monarch or the people.

Cali. Such are the woes, when arbitrary power,
And lawless passion, hold the sword of justice.
If there be any land, as fame reports,
Where common laws restrain the prince and
subject,

A happy land, where circulating power
Flows through each member of the embodied

state;

Sure, not unconscious of the mighty blessing,
Her grateful sons shine bright with every virtue;
Untainted with the lust of innovation,
Sure all unite to hold her league of rule

Unbroken as the sacred chain of nature,
That links the jarring elements in peace.
Leon. But say, great Bassa, why the Sultan's

anger,

Burning in vain, delays the stroke of death? Cali. Young, and unsettled in his father's kingdoms,

Fierce as he was, he dreaded to destroy
The empire's darling, and the soldier's boast;
But now confirmed, and swelling with his con-
quests,

Secure he tramples my declining fame,

At length rekindled his accustomed fury, And changed the endearing smile and amorous whisper

To threats of torture, death, and violation.

Dem. These tedious narratives of frozen age Distract my soul! dispatch thy lingering tale; Say, did a voice from Heaven restrain the tyrant? Did interposing angels guard her from him?

Cali. Just in the moment of impending fate, Another plunderer brought the bright Irene; Of equal beauty, but of softer mien, Fear in her eye, submission on her tongue,

eyes.

Dem. What can reverse thy doom?
Cali. The tyrant's death.

Dem. But Greece is still forgot.
Cali. On Asia's coast,

Which lately blessed my gentle government,
Soon as the sultan's unexpected fate
Fills all the astonished empire with confusion,
My policy shall raise an easy throne;

The Turkish powers from Europe shall retreat,
And harass Greece no more with wasteful war.
A galley manned with Greeks,-thy charge, Le-
ontius,-

Attends to waft us to repose and safety.

Dem. That vessel, if observed, alarms the

court,

And gives a thousand fatal questions birth;
Why stored for flight? and why prepared by
Cali?

Cali. This hour I'll beg, with unsuspecting face,

Leave to perform my pilgrimage to Mecca ; Which, granted, hides my purpose from the world,

And, though refused, conceals it from the sultan. Leon. How can a single hand attempt a life, Which armies guard, and citadels inclose?

Cali. Forgetful of command, with captive beauties,

Far from his troops, he toys his hours away.
A roving soldier seized in Sophia's temple
A virgin, shining with distinguished charms,
And brought his beauteous plunder to the sultan.
Dem. In Sophia's temple!-What alarmı !—
Proceed.

Cali. The sultan gazed, he wondered, and he loved;

In passion lost, he bade the conquering fair
Renounce her faith, and be the queen of Turkey;
The pious maid, with modest indignation,
Threw back the glittering bribe.
Dem. Celestial goodness!

It must, it must be she!-Her name?
Cali. Aspasia.

Dem. What hopes, what terrors rush upon my soul!

O lead me quickly to the scene of fate;
Break through the politician's tedious forms!
Aspasia calls me, let me fly to save her.
Leon. Did Mahomet reproach or praise her
virtue?

Cali. His offers oft repeated, still refused,

Disarmed his rage, and in repeated visits
Gained all his heart; at length his eager love
To her transferred the offer of a crown.

Leon. Nor found again the bright temptation
fail?

Cali. Trembling to grant, nor daring to refuse
While Heaven and Mahomet divide her fears,
With coy caresses and with pleasing wiles
She feeds his hopes, and soothes him to delay.
For her, repose is banished from the night,
And business from the day. In her apartments
He lives-

Leon. And there must fall.
Cali. But yet the attempt

Is hazardous.

Leon. Forbear to speak of hazards! What has the wretch that has survived his country,

His friends, his liberty, to hazard?

Cali. Life.

Dem. The inestimable privilege of breathing! Important hazard! What's that airy bubble, When weighed with Greece, with virtue, with Aspasia?

A floating atom, dust that falls unheeded
Into the adverse scale, nor shakes the balance.
Cali. At least this day be calm-If we suc-
ceed,

Aspasia's thine, and all thy life is rapture—
See! Mustapha, the tyrant's minion comes.
Invest Leontius with his new command;
And wait Abdalla's unsuspected visits:
Remember freedom, glory, Greece, and love.
[Exeunt DEM. and LEON.
Enter MUSTAPHA.
Mus. By what enchantment does this lovely
Greek

Hold in her chains the captivated sultan ?
He tires his favourites with Irene's praise,
And seeks the shades to muse upon Irene ;
Irene steals unheeded from his tongue,
And mingles unperceived with every thought.
Cali. Why should the sultan shun the joys of
beauty,

Or arm his breast against the force of love?
Love, that with sweet vicissitude relieves
The warrior's labours, and the monarch's cares.
But will she yet receive the faith of Mecca?

Mus. Those powerful tyrants of the female
breast,

Fear and ambition, urge her to compliance;

Dressed in each charm of gay magnificence, Alluring grandeur courts her to his arms; Religion calls her from the wished embrace, Paints future joys, and points to distant glories. Cali. Soon will the unequal contest be decided;

Prospects obscured by distance faintly strike, Each pleasure brightens at its near approach, And every danger shocks with double horror. Must. How shall I scorn the beautiful apostate!

How will the bright Aspasia shine above her! Cali. Should she, for proselytes are always zealous,

With pious warmth receive our prophet's lawMust. Heaven will contemn the mercenary fervour,

Which love of greatness, not of truth, inflames. Cali. Cease, cease thy censures; for the sultan

comes

Alone, with amorous haste, to seek his love.

Enter MAHOMET.

Hail, terror of the monarchs of the world! Unshaken be thy throne, as earth's firm base, Live till the sun forgets to dart his beams, And weary planets loiter in their courses

!

Mah. But, Cali, let Irene share thy prayers; For what is length of days without Irene? I come from empty noise, and tasteless pomp, From crowds, that hide a monarch from himself, To prove the sweets of privacy and friendship, And dwell upon the beauties of Irene.

Cali. O may her beauties last, unchanged by time,

As those that bless the mansions of the good! Mah. Each realm, where beauty turns the graceful shape,

Swells the fair breast, or animates the glance,
Adorns my palace with its brightest virgins;
Yet, unacquainted with these soft emotions,
I walked superior, through the blaze of charms,
Praised without rapture, left without regret.
Why rove I now, when absent from my fair,
From solitude to crowds, from crowds to soli-
tude,

Still restless, till I clasp the lovely maid,
And ease my loaded soul upon her bosom?
Mus. Forgive, great sultan, that intrusive duty
Inquires the final doom of Menodorus,
The Grecian counsellor.

Mah. Go, see him die :

His martial rhetoric taught the Greeks resistance; Had they prevailed, I ne'er had known Irene. [Exit Mus.

Remote from tumult, in the adjoining palace, Thy care shall guard this treasure of my soul; There let Aspasia, since my fair entreats it, With converse chase the melancholy moments. Sure, chilled with sixty wintry camps, thy blood, At sight of female charms, will glow no more.

Cali. These years, unconquered Mahomet, de-
mand

Desires more pure, and other cares than love.
Long have I wished, before our prophet's tomb,
To pour my prayers for thy successful reign,
To quit the tumults of the noisy camp,
And sink into the silent grave in peace.

Mah. What! Think of peace while haughty
Scanderbeg,

Elate with conquest, in his native mountains, Prowls o'er the wealthy spoils of bleeding Turkey?

While fair Hungaria's unexhausted vallies
Pour forth their legions, and the roaring Danube
Rolls half his floods, unheard, through shouting
camps?

Nor couldst thou more support a life of sloth,
Than Amurath-

Our warlike prophet loves an active faith.
The holy flame of enterprising virtue
Mocks the dull vows of solitude and penance,
And scorns the lazy hermit's cheap devotion;
Shine thou, distinguished by superior merit,
With wonted zeal pursue the task of war,
Till every nation reverence the Koran,
And every suppliant lift his eyes to Mecca.

Cali. This regal confidence, this pious ardour,
Let prudence moderate, though not suppress.
Is not each realm, that smiles with kinder suns,
Or boasts a happier soil, already thine?
Extended empire, like expanded gold,
Exchanges solid strength for feeble splendour.

Mah. Preach thy dull politics to vulgar kings! Thou know'st not yet thy master's future great

SCENE I.

Enter ASPASIA and IRENE.

Irene. Aspasia, yet pursue the sacred theme; Exhaust the stores of pious eloquence, And teach me to repel the sultan's passion. Still, at Aspasia's voice, a sudden rapture Exalts my soul, and fortifies my heart. The glittering vanities of empty greatness, The hopes and fears, the joys and pains, of life, Dissolve in air, and vanish into nothing.

Asp. Let nobler hopes, and juster fears, succeed,

And bar the passes of Irene's mind
Against returning guilt.

Irene. When thou art absent,

Death rises to my view, with all his terrors;
Then visions, horrid as a murderer's dream,
Chill my resolves, and blast my blooming virtue;
Stern torture shakes his bloody scourge before

of fate;

Thy soul, by nature great, enlarged by knowledge,
Soars unencumbered with our idle cares,
And all Aspasia, but her beauty, is man.

Asp. Each generous sentiment is thine, Demetrius,

Whose soul, perhaps, yet mindful of Aspasia,
Now hovers o'er this melancholy shade,
Well pleased to find thy precepts not forgotten.
O! could the grave restore the pious hero,
Soon would his art or valour set us free,
And bear us far from servitude and crimes!
Irene. He yet may
live.

Asp. Alas! delusive dream!

Too well I know him; his immoderate courage,
The impetuous sallies of excessive virtue,
Too strong for love, have hurried him on death,

Enter CALI and ABDALLA.

Cali. [To ABDALLA, as they advance.] Behold our future sultaness, Abdalla;

Let artful flattery now, to lull suspicion,
Glide through Irene to the sultan's ear.
Wouldst thou subdue the obdurate cannibal
To tender friendship, praise him to his mistress.
[To IRENE.

Well may those eyes, that view these heavenly

charms,

Reject the daughters of contending kings;
For what are pompous titles, proud alliance,
Empire or wealth, to excellence like thine?

Abd. Receive the impatient sultan to thy arms;
And may a long posterity of monarchs,
The pride and terror of succeeding days,
Rise from the happy bed; and future queens
Diffuse Irene's beauty through the world!

Irene. Can Mahomet's imperial hand descend To clasp a slave? or, can a soul like mine, Unused to power, and formed for humbler scenes, Support the splendid miseries of greatness?

Cali. No regal pageant, decked with casual

honours,

Scorned by his subjects, trampled by his foes;
No feeble tyrant of a petty state

Courts thee to shake on a dependent throne;
Born to command, as thou to charm mankind,
The sultan from himself derives his greatness.
Observe, bright maid, as his resistless voice
Drives on the tempest of destructive war,
How nation after nation falls before him.

Abd. At his dread name the distant mountains
shake

Their cloudy summits, and the sons of fierceness,
That range uncivilized from rock to rock,
Distrust the eternal fortresses of nature,
And wish their gloomy caverns more obscure.
Asp. Forbear this lavish pomp of dreadful
praise;

The horrid images of war and slaughter
Renew our sorrows, and awake our fears.

Abd. Cali, methinks yon waving trees afford A doubtful glimpse of our approaching friends; Just as I marked them, they forsook the shore, And turned their hasty steps towards the garden. Cali. Conduct these queens, Abdalla, to the

palace:

Such heavenly beauty, formed for adoration,
The pride of monarchs, the reward of conquest-
Such beauty must not shine to vulgar eyes.
[Exeunt ABD. and ASP.
How Heaven, in scorn of human arrogance,
Commits to trivial chance, the fate of nations!
While, with incessant thought, laborious man
Extends his mighty schemes of wealth and power,
And towers and triumphs in ideal greatness,
Some accidental gust of opposition
Blasts all the beauties of his new creation,