Signed with our hands, each shall retain a scroll
As memorable witness of our league.

Now, Sigismund, if any Christian king
Encroach upon the confines of thy realm,
Send word, Orcanes of Natolia

Confirm'd this league beyond Danubius' stream,
And they will, trembling, sound a quick retreat;
So am I feared among all nations.

Sig. If any heathen potentate or king
Invade Natolia, Sigismund will send

A hundred thousand horse trained to the war,
And backed by stout lanciers of Germany,
The strength and sinews of the Imperial seat.

Orc. I thank thee, Sigismund; but, when I war,
All Asia Minor, Africa, and Greece,

Follow my standard and my thundering drums.
Come, let us go and banquet in our tents;
I will despatch chief of my army hence
To fair Natolia and to Trebison,

To stay my coming 'gainst proud Tamburlaine.
Friend Sigismund, and peers of Hungary,

Come, banquet and carouse with us a while,

And then depart we to our territories.

SCENE II.

150

160

[Exeunt.

CALLAPINE with ALMEDA, his Keeper, discovered.

Call. Sweet Almeda, pity the ruthful plight

1 So 4to.-8vo. "confirme."

Of Callapine, the son of Bajazeth,
Born to be monarch of the western world,
Yet here detained by cruel Tamburlaine.

Alm. My lord, I pity it, and with all my heart
Wish you release; but he whose wrath is death,
My sovereign lord, renowmèd Tamburlaine,
Forbids you farther liberty than this.

Call. Ah, were I now but half so eloquent
To paint in words what I'll perform in deeds,
I know thou would'st depart from hence with me.
Alm. Not for all Afric: therefore move me not.
Call. Yet hear me speak, my gentle Almeda.
Alm. No speech to that end, by your favour, sir.
Call. By Cairo1 runs-

Alm. No talk of running, I tell you, sir.

Call. A little farther, gentle Almeda.
Alm. Well, sir, what of this?

Call. By Cairo runs to Alexandria bay
Darote's streams, wherein at 2 anchor lies
A Turkish galley of my royal fleet,
Waiting my coming to the river side,

Hoping by some means I shall be released,
Which, when I come aboard, will hoist up sail,
And soon put forth into the Terrene sea,
Where, 'twixt the isles of Cyprus and of Crete,
We quickly may in Turkish seas arrive.

Then shalt thou see a hundred kings and more,
Upon their knees, all bid me welcome home.

1 Old copies, "Cario" (which I take to be a misprint, not a recognised form like Cairon in l. 47). 2 So 4to.-8vo. “an.”

Amongst so many crowns of burnished gold,
Choose which thou wilt, all are at thy command;
A thousand galleys, manned with Christian slaves,
I freely give thee, which shall cut the straits,
And bring armados from the coasts of Spain.
Fraughted with gold of rich America;
The Grecian virgins shall attend on thee,
Skilful in music and in amorous lays,
As fair as was Pygmalion's ivory girl
Or lovely Io metamorphosed.

With naked negroes shall thy coach be drawn,

And as thou rid'st in triumph through the streets
The pavement underneath thy chariot wheels
With Turkey carpets shall be covered,
And cloth of Arras hung about the walls,
Fit objects for thy princely eye to pierce.
A hundred bassoes, clothed in crimson silk,
Shall ride before thee on Barbarian steeds;
And when thou goest, a golden canopy

Enchased with precious stones, which shine as
bright

As that fair veil that covers all the world,
When Phoebus, leaping from the hemisphere,
Descendeth downward to the antipodes,-
And more than this-for all I cannot tell.
Alm. How far hence lies the galley, say you?
Call. Sweet Almeda, scarce half a league from

hence.

Alm. But need1 we not be spied going aboard?

1 I.e. can we escape being spied?

30

40

50

Call. Betwixt the hollow hanging of a hill,

And crooked bending of a craggy rock,

The sails wrapt up, the mast and tacklings down,

She lies so close that none can find her out.

60

Alm. I like that well: but tell me, my lord, if I should let you go, would you be as good as your word? Shall I be made a king for my labour?

Call. As I am Callapine the emperor,

And by the hand of Mahomet I swear

Thou shalt be crowned a king, and be my mate.
Alm. Then hear I swear, as I am Almeda
Your keeper under Tamburlaine the Great,
(For that's the style and title I have yet,)
Although he sent a thousand armèd men
To intercept this haughty enterprise,

Yet would I venture to conduct your grace,

And die before I brought you back again.

Call. Thanks, gentle Almeda; then let us haste,
Lest time be past, and lingering let us both.
Alm. When you will, my lord; I am ready.

70

Call. Even straight; and farewell, cursèd Tamburlaine. Now go I to revenge my father's death.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Enter TAMBURLAINE, with ZENOCRATE and his three Sons, CALYPHAS, AMYRAS, and CELEBINUS, with drums and trumpets.

Tamb. Now, bright Zenocrate, the world's fair eye,

Whose beams illuminate the lamps of heaven,
Whose cheerful looks do clear the cloudy air,
And clothe it in a crystal livery;

Now rest thee here on fair Larissa plains,
Where Egypt and the Turkish empire part
Between thy sons, that shall be emperors,
And every one commander of a world.

Zeno. Sweet Tamburlaine, when wilt thou leave these

arms,

And save thy sacred person free from scathe,

And dangerous chances of the wrathful war?

ΙΟ

Tamb. When heaven shall cease to move on both the

poles,

And when the ground, whereon my soldiers march,

Shall rise aloft and touch the hornèd moon,

And not before, my sweet Zenocrate.

Sit up, and rest thee like a lovely queen;

So, now she sits in pomp and majesty,

When these, my sons, more precious in mine eyes,
Than all the wealthy kingdoms I subdued,
Placed by her side, look on their mother's face:
But yet methinks their looks are amorous,1
Not martial as the sons of Tamburlaine :
Water and air, being symbolised in one,
Argue their want of courage and of wit;
Their hair as white as milk and soft as down,
(Which should be like the quills of porcupines
As black as jet and hard as iron or steel)

1 Effeminate.

20