Q. Mo. I thought my dear Fernando had been

dead,

And in my indignation murder'd her.

KING. I was not dead until you murder'd me, By killing fair Maria.

Q. Mo. Gentle son

KING. Ungentle mother, you a deed have done Of so much ruth, that no succeeding age

Can ever clear you of. Oh! my dear love!
Yet heavens can witness thou wert never mine.
Spain's wonder was Maria.

Q. Mo. Sweet, have done!

KING. Have done! for what? For shedding zea

lous tears

Over the tomb of virtuous chastity?

You

cry have done, now I am doing good;

But cry'd do on, when you were shedding blood. Have you done, mother? Yes, yes, you have done That which will undo your unhappy son.

ROD. These words become you not, my gracious lord. KING. These words become not me! no more it

did

Become you lords to be mute standers by,

When lustful fury ravish'd chastity:

It ill becomes me to lament her death;

But it became you well to stop her breath.

Had she been fair, and not so virtuous,

This deed had not been half so impious.

ALV. But she was fair in virtue, virtuous fair.

Oh, me !

KING. Oh, me! she was true honour's heir. Hence, beldams, from my presence! all fly hence; You are all murderers. Come poor innocent, Clasp thy cold hand in mine; for here I'll lie, And since I liv'd for her, for her I'll die.

SCENE III.

Enter ELEAZAR with a torch; his rapier drawn. ELEAZ. Bar up my castle gates! fire and confusion

Shall girt these Spanish curs. Was I for this
Sent to raise power against a fugitive?

To have my wife deflower'd? Zounds! where's my wife?

My slaves cry out she's dallying with the king:
Stand by where is your king? Eleazar's bed
Shall scorn to be an emperor's brothelry.

Q. Mo. Be patient, Eleazar; here's the king.
ELEAZ. Patience and I am foes; where's my
Maria ?

ALV. Here is her hapless corse, that was Maria. KING. Here lies Maria's body, here her grave; Her dead heart in my breast a tomb shall have. ELEAZ. Now, by the proud complexion of my cheeks,

Ta'en from the kisses of the amorous sun,

Were he ten thousand kings that slew my love,

Thus should my hand, plum'd with revenge's wings,

Requite mine own dishonour and her death.

[Stabs the King.

Q. Mo. Ah, me! my son.

ALL. The king is murder'd! lay hold on the

damn'd traitor.

ELEAZ. In his breast,

That dares but dart a finger at the Moor,

I'll bury this sharp steel, yet reeking warm

With the unchaste blood of that letcher king,
That threw my wife in an untimely grave.

ALV. She was my daughter, and her timeless

grave

Did swallow down my joys as deep as yours.
But thus-

ELEAZ. But what? Bear injuries that can,
I'll wear no forked crest.

ROD. Damn this black fiend! cry treason through the court,

The king is murder'd!

ELEAZ. He that first opes his lips, I'll drive his words

Down his wide throat upon my rapier's point.
The king is murder'd, and I'll answer it;
I am dishonour'd, and I will revenge it.

Bend not your dangerous weapons at my breast;
Think where you are; this castle is the Moor's;
You are environ'd with a wall of flint,

The gates are lock'd, portcullises let down;
If Eleazar spend one drop of blood,

[Zarack and Baltazar above with calivers". On those high turret tops my slaves stand arm'd,

⚫ Caliver, a musket.

And shall confound your souls with murd'ring shot:
Or if you murder me,-yet under ground,

A villain, that for me will dig to hell,
Stands with a burning linstock in his fist,
Who firing gunpowder, up in the air

Shail fling your torn and mangled carcases.

Q. Mo. Oh! sheath your weapons;-though my son be slain,

Yet save yourselves, choose a new sovereign.

ALL. Prince Philip is our sovereign, choose him king!

ELEAZ. Prince Philip shall not be my sovereign.
Philip's a bastard, and Fernando's dead;
Mendoza sweats to wear Spain's diadem;
Philip hath sworn confusion to this realm;
They both are up in arms, war's flames do shine
Like lightning in the air. Wherefore, my lords
Look well on Eleazar; value me,

Not by my sun-burnt cheeks, nor by my birth;
But by my loss of blood,

Which I have sacrificed in Spain's defence.
Then look on Philip and the cardinal;

Look on those gaping curs, whose wide throats
Stand stretch'd wide open like the gates of death,
To swallow you, your country, children, wives.
Philip cries fire and blood; the cardinal

Cries likewise fire and blood; I'll quench those flames.
The Moor cries blood and fire, and that shall burn
Till Castile, like proud Troy, to cinders turn.

ROD. Lay by these ambages; what seeks the Moor?

VOL. II.

17

ELEAZ. A kingdom, Castile's crown.

ALV. Peace, devil! for shame!

Q. Mo. Peace, doting lord, for shame! Oh,

misery,

When Indian slaves thirst after empery!

Princes and peers of Spain, we are beset

With horror on each side; you deny him,
Death stands at all our backs, we cannot fly him.
Crown Philip king, the crown upon his head
Will prove a fiery meteor; war and vengeance,
And desolation, will invade our land:
Besides, Prince Philip is a bastard born.

Oh! give me leave to blush at mine own shame;
But I, for love to you, love to fair Spain,
Choose rather to rip up a queen's disgrace,
Than by concealing it, to set the crown
Upon a bastard's head: wherefore, my lord,
By my consent, crown that proud blackamore:
Since Spain's bright glory must so soon grow dim,
Since it must end, let it end all in him.

ALL. Eleazar shall be king!

ALV. Oh, treachery!

Have you so soon ras'd out Fernando's love?
So soon forgot the duty of true peers?

So soon, so soon, buried a mother's name,

That you will crown him king, that slew your king?

ELEAZ. Will you hear him or me? who shall be

king?

ALL. Eleazar shall be Castile's sovereign!