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SCENE I-Continues.

Enter Don MANUEL and ZANGA.

ACT II.

Zan. If this be true, I cannot blame your pain For wretched Carlos; 'tis but human in you. But when arrived your dismal news?

Man. This hour.

Zan. What, not a vessel saved?

Man. All, all the storm

Devoured; and now o'er his late envied fortune The dolphins bound, and watery mountains roar, Triumphant in his ruin.

Zan. Is Alvarez

Determined to deny his daughter to him?

That treasure was on shore; must that too join The common wreck?

Man. Alvarez pleads, indeed, That Leonora's heart is disinclined,

And pleads that only; so it was this morning, When he concurred: the tempest broke the

match,

And sunk his favour, when it sunk the gold.
The love of gold is double in his heart,
The vice of age, and of Alvarez too.

Zan. How does Don Carlos bear it?
Man. Like a man,

Whose heart feels most a human heart can feel,
And reasons best a human heart can reason.

Zan. But is he then in absolute despair? Man. Never to see his Leonora more. And, quite to quench all future hope, Alvarez Urges Alonzo to espouse his daughter This very day; for he has learnt their loves.

Zan. Ha! was not that received with ecstacy By Don Alonzo?

Man. Yes, at first; but soon

A damp came o'er him, it would kill his friend. Zan. Not if his friend consented: and since

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She stalks in view, and fires me with her charms.
When, Isabella, arrived Don Carlos here?
Isa. Two nights ago.

Zan. That was the very night
Before the battle-Memory, set down that;
It has the essence of the crocodile,
Though yet but in the shell-I'll give it birth-
What time did he return?

Isa. At midnight.

Zan. So

Say, did he see that night his Leonora ?
Isa. No, my good lord.

Zan. No matter-tell me, woman,

Is not Alonzo rather brave than cautious,
Honest than subtle, above fraud himself,
Slow, therefore, to suspect it in another?
Isa. You best can judge; but so the world
thinks of him.

Zan. Why, that was well-go, fetch my tablets
hither.
[Exit Isa.

Two nights ago my father's sacred shade
Thrice stalked around my bed, and smiled upon

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The father's fixed-Don Carlos cannot wed-
Alonzo may--but that will hurt his friend-
Nor can he ask his leave-or, if he did,
He might not gain it-It is hard to give
Our own consent to ills, though we must bear
them.

Were it not then a master-piece, worth all
The wisdom I can boast, first to persuade
Alonzo to request it of his friend,

His friend to grant-then from that very grant,
The strongest proof of friendship man can give,
(And other motives) to work out a cause
Of jealousy, to rack Alonzo's peace ?—

I have turned o'er the catalogue of human woes,
Which sting the heart of man, and find none e-

qual.

It is the Hydra of calamities,

The seven-fold death; the jealous are the damned.
Oh, jealousy, each other passion's calm

To thee, thou conflagration of the soul !
Thou king of torments, thou grand counterpoise
For all the transports beauty can inspire!
Isa. Alonzo comes this way.
Zan. Most opportunely.

Withdraw-Ye subtle dæmons, which reside
[Exit Isa.
In courts, and do your work with bows and

smiles,

That little enginery, more mischievous

Than fleets and armies, and the cannon's murder,
Teach me to look a lie; give me your maze
Of gloomy thought and intricate design,

To catch the man I hate, and then devour.

Enter Don ALONZO.

My lord, I give you joy.

Alon. Of what, good Zanga?

Zan. Is not the lovely Leonora yours?
Alon. What will become of Carlos?

Zan. He's your friend ;

And since he can't espouse the fair himself,
Will take some comfort from Alonzo's fortune.
Alon. Alas, thou little know'st the force of
love!

Love reigns a sultan with unrivalled sway;
Puts all relations, friendship's self to death,
If once he's jealous of it. I love Carlos;
Yet well I know what pangs I felt this morning
At his intended nuptials. For myself
I then felt pains, which now for him I feel.
Zan. You will not wed her then?
Alon. Not instantly.

Insult his broken heart the very moment!

Zan. I understand you: but you'll wed hereafter,

When your friend's gone, and his first pain assuaged.

Alon. Am I to blame in that?
Zan. My lord, I love

Your very errors; they are born from virtue.
Your friendship (and what nobler passion claims
The heart?) does lead you blindfold to your ruin.
Consider, wherefore did Alvarez break
Don Carlos' match, and wherefore urge Alonzo's?
'Twas the same cause, the love of wealth. To-

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| Is Leonora worth one pang or not?
It hurts not me, my lord, but as I love you:
Warmly as you I wish Don Carlos well;
But I am likewise Don Alonzo's friend:
There all the difference lies between us two.
In me, my lord, you hear another self;
And, give me leave to add, a better too,
Cleared from those errors, which, though caused
by virtue,

Are such as may hereafter give you pain-
Don Lopez of Castile would not demur thus.
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 shunned it, as too terrible to bear.
How shall I bear it now? I'm struck already.
[Exit.
Zan. Half of my work is done. I must secure
Don Carlos, ere Alonzo speak with him.

[He gives a message to a servant, then returns. Proud hated Spain, oft drenched 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, oh, holy prophet! sce me torture
This Christian dog, this infidel, who 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
charms!

But see, the melancholy lover comes.
Enter Don CARLOS.

Car. Hope, thou hast told me lics from day to day,

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.
[Sighs.

Yet much is talked of bliss; it is the art
Of such as have the world in their possession,
To give it a good name, that fools may envy;
For envy to small minds is flattery.
How many lift the head, look gay, and smile
Against their consciences! and this we know,
Yet, knowing, disbelieve, and try again
What we have tried, and struggle with conviction.
Each new experience gives the former credit;
And reverend grey threescore is but a voucher,
That thirty told us true,

Zan. My noble lord,

I mourn your fate; But are no hopes surviving?

Car. No hopes. Alvarez has a heart of steel. 'Tis fixed-'tis past-'tis absolute despair!

Zan. You wanted not to have your heart made 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.

Car. What canst 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 urged 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.

Cur. 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 fixed, 'tis past, 'tis absolute despair.

Car. Oh, cruel Heaven! and is it not enough That I must never, never see him more? Say, is it not enough that I must die; But I must be tormented in the grave?— 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?
Zun. 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. Oh, 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 convinced me 'tis a dreadful
task.

I find Alonzo's quitting her this morning
For Carlos' sake, in tenderness to you,
Betrayed me to believe it less severe
Than I perceive it is.

Car. Thou dost upbraid me.

Zan. No, my good lord; but since you cant comply,

'Tis my misfortune that I mentioned 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?
Oh, which side shall I take? Be stabbed, or-
stab?

'Tis equal death! a choice of agonies?-
Ah, no! all other agonies are ease
To one- -Oh, Leonora! never, never!
Go, Zanga, go, defer the dreadful trial,
Though but a day; something, perchance, may
happen

To soften all to friendship and to love.
Go, stop my friend, let me not see him now;
But save us from au interview of death.

Zan. My lord, I am bound in duty to obey

you

If I not bring him, may Alonzo prosper! [Erit. Car. What is this world? Thy school, Oh mi

sery!

Our only lesson is to learn to suffer;

And he, who knows not that, was born for no

thing.

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, Oh man!--What's fourscore

years?

Nay, what, indeed, the age of time itself,
Since cut from out eternity's wide round?
Away, then!To a mind resolved and wise,
There is an impotence in misery,
Which makes me smile, when all its shafts are
in me.

Yet Leonora she can make time long,
Its nature alter, as she altered mine.
While in the lustre of her charms I lay,
Whole summer suns rolled unperceived away;
I years for days, and days for moments told,
And was surprised to hear that I grew old.
Now fate does rigidly its dues regain,
And every moment is an age of pain.

As he is going out, enter ZANGA and Don Aloxzo. ZANGA stops Don CARLOS.

Zan. Is this Don Carlos? this the boasted

friend?

How can you turn your back upon his sadness? Look 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. Alonzo! [Going to him, and taking his hand. Alon. Oh, Carlos!

Car. Pray, forbear.

Which, like a dæmon, writhes him to and fro;

Alon. Art thou undone, and shall Alonzo And shall I pour in new? No, fond desire!

smile?

Alonzo, who, perhaps, in some degree
Contributed to cause thy dreadful fate?
I was deputed guardian of thy love;

But, Oh, I loved 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; well I
know

The only cause of my severe affliction.
Alvarez, cursed Alvarez! So much anguish,
Felt for so small a failure, is one merit

Which faultless virtue wants. The crime was mine,

Who placed thee there, where only thou couldst fail;

Though well I knew that dreadful post of honour I gave thee to maintain. Ah! who could bear Those eyes unhurt? The wounds myself have felt, (Which wounds alone should cause me to condemn thee)

They plead in thy excuse; for I too strove
To shun those fires, and found 'twas not in man.
Alon. You cast in shades the failure of a
friend,

And soften all; but think not to 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 morn-
ing threw

Fair Leonora from his heart, all bathed
In ceaseless tears, and blushing for her love!
Who, like a rose-leaf wet with morning dew,
Would have stuck close, and clung for ever
there!

But 'twas in thee, through fondness for thy friend,
To shut thy bosom 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 levelled at thy joy.

Zan. [To Alonzo.] My lord, my lord, this is your time to speak.

Alon. [To Zan.] Because he's kind? It there-
fore is the worst ;

For 'tis his kindness which I fear to hurt.
Shall the same moment see him sink in woes,
And me providing for a flood of joys,
Rich in the plunder of his happiness?
No, I may die; but I can never speak.

Car. Now, now it comes! they are concert-
ing it!

The first word strikes me dead-Oh, Leonora ! And shall another taste her fragrant breath? Who knows what after-time may bring to pass? Fathers may change, and I may wed her still.

[Aside. Alon. [To Zan.] Do I not see him quite possessed with anguish,

No, love! one pang at parting, and farewell.
I have no other love but Carlos now.

Car. Alas! my friend, why with such eager

grasp

Dost press my hand, and weep upon my cheek? Alon. If, after death, our forms (as some believe)

Shall be transparent, naked every thought, And friends meet friends, and read each other's hearts,

Thou'lt know one day that thou wert held most dear.

Farewell.

Car. Alonzo, stay-he cannot speak

[Holds him. Lest 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 there.

How dreadful is it to a generous mind To ask, when sure he cannot be denied! Car. 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 Alon.] Then lose her.
Car. Glorious spirit!

Why what a pang has he run 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—
I cannot want strength. Great actions, once con-
ceived,

Strengthen like wine, and animate the soul,
And call themselves to being. [Aside.] My
Alonzo !

Since thy great soul disdains to make request,
Receive with favour that I make to thee.
Alon. What means my Carlos?
Car. Pray observe me well.

Fate and Alvarez tore her from my heart,
And, plucking up my love, they had well nigh
Plucked up life too, for they were twined to-

gether.

Of that no more-What now does reason bid?
I cannot wed-Farewell my happiness!
But, O my soul, with care provide for hers!
In life, how weak, how helpless is woman!
Soon hurt; in happiness itself unsafe,
And often wounded while she plucks the rose;
So properly the object of affliction,

That Heaven is pleased to make distress become | For such occasions. Silence, tears, embraces,

her,

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ACT III.

SCENE I.

Enter ZANGA.

Scarce had the pricst the holy rite performed,
When I, by sacred inspiration, forged
That letter, which I trusted to thy hand;

Zan. O Joy, thou welcome stranger! twice That letter, which, in glowing terms, conveys,

three years

I have not felt thy vital beam; but now

It warms my veins, and plays around my heart:
A fiery instinct lifts me from the ground,
And I could mount! The spirits numberless
Of my dear countrymen, which yesterday
Left their poor bleeding bodies on the field,
Are all assembled here, and o'er-inform me.-
O, bridegroom! great indeed thy present bliss;
Yet even by me unenvied; for be sure
It is thy last, last smile, that which now
Sits on thy cheek; enjoy it while thou mayest;
Anguish, and groans, and death bespeak to mor-

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From happy Carlos to fair Leonora,
The most profound acknowledgments of heart,
For wondrous transports which he never knew.
This is a good subservient artifice,

To aid the nobler workings of my brain.

Isa. I quickly dropt it in the bride's apartment, As you commanded.

Zan. With a lucky hand;

For soon Alonzo found it; I observed 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, dropt it on the ground.
Pale and aghast awhile my victim stood,
Disguised a sigh or two, and puffed them from
him;

Then rubbed his brow, and took it up again.
At first he looked as if he meant to read it;
But, checked by rising fears, he crushed 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,

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