es, I will look upon thee, and perhaps emeya, listen to me! nas owned its weakness: yet, thank he as'n, y sex's folly, still I bear ignity: I've not the pow'r he fatal passion in my breast, bury it: yes, yes, Hemeya, blood is noble, and Florinda er stoop before thee: from the world shall see the blushes where they hang!- my wretchedness!-Farewell, Hemeya! ven, if I may dare to lift to thee of earthly passion, touch his heart, ith holy light, and make him thine :wsoe'er thou shalt decide my doom, pour down thy blessings! [As she meya! goes out, she looks back for an instant. [Exit, R. She blest me as she parted; yet I feel fall on my heart! I am doomed to choose en despair and crime! my fate cries out, tched or be guilty; but, Florinda, ould I live without thee?-can I see orm, to which I stretched my desp❜rate arms wild dream of passion and despair, t to my bosom in assured reality, sh to clasp it here?—would the faint traveller, ong hath toiled through Afric's sultry sands, o'er the fount that mid the desert gushed, from the burning rock, and die with thirst, its clear freshness wooed him to be blest ?he would drink, though there were poison in it. [Exit, L. END OF ACT I. ACT II. SCENE I-The Exterior of the Inquisition. Mal. Renounce his people! Haly, I did not think, Hal. After long struggles of reluctant honour, He promised to abjure his nation's creed. To-day the public rite of abjuration Is to be solemnized. Mal. I have heard enough. Hal. But when you tell what you had come to teach him; And he has heard that on his brows shall shine The crown his fathers wore; when you have told him- He shall not wear a crown. A diadem My wonted power upon him; from its ashes That once burnt bright within him. Thou, meanwhile, That to their secret ears I may unfold The cause of my return. Renounce the faith [Exit Haly, That suffering had endeared, when twenty thousand When freedom's flame from yonder mountain tops But hold! he comes! there was a time, Hemeya, Enter HEMEɣa, r. I charge thee not to touch my garment's edge! Hem. Oh, Malec, this from thee! when I behold thee, After long months of absence, dost thou scorn me? Post thou not scorn thyself? I know it all; Wanton! y, a Spanish wanton ! t one of those same melting dames, e prophet's virgin votaries, men's eyes blaze on unveiled charms, themselves the wooers? 'tis for a wanton ose to be a villain. I permit you gainst myself; heap on my head aviest curse, your blackest reprobation: What should I fear? light boy! and speak not of thy father. I am guilty; I confess that I am guilty. Forbear, fond youth! my eyes are palled .lready thy wanton fancy; dost thou think am made to hear a lover's follies? I them to the moon, and howl with dogs! . We have no country! 7. Thou hast, indeed, no country? n. Are we not bound to earth? the lording Spaniard is on our heads! we groan beneath the yoke shaken, gores more deeply! tance will but ope new founts of blood To gush in foaming torrents. Dost thou forget Look on yon gloomy towers; e'en now we stand Mal. Art thou afraid? look at yon gloomy towers! Has thy fair union told thee to beware Of damps and rheums, caught in the dungeon's vapours ? Or has she said those dainty limbs of thine Were only made for love? Look on yon towers! Ay, I will look upon them; not to fear, But deeply curse them! There ye stand aloft, Frowning in all your black and dreary pride, Hem. By heavens ! Thy burning front, thy flaming eyes, proclaim it! Some glorious thought is lab'ring:-speak!—what mean'st thou? I feel thy spirit's mastery; my soul Fires in the glowing contact! Malec, speak! Tell me, what can we do? Mal. What can men do Who groan beneath the lash of tyranny, And feel the strength of madnes? Have we not cimeters? 'Twas not in vain I sought those rugged heights Nor vainly do I now again return; Amid the Alpuxerra's cragged cliffs, Are there not myriads of high-hearted Moors, That only need a leader to be free? e would be a trumpet in the moʻintains, a not understand me? Speak! can I free my people? can I rend Do not command me not to love; d death, with his uplifted dart, its entrance-speak! is there a way? And, were there not a way, ew one in the rock!-there is a way. [Crosses, L. My soul hangs in thy lips I fear thee still. I fear thy wav'ring nature. thy father's sacred memory thy people's wrongs-by Allah's name Enter FLORInda, r. r. [Interrupting him.] Hold! what is it that I seu! n. A wretch! 7. Swear! quickly swear, before a woman's art thee to that a woman's self should spurn. r. What should he swear? l. Forever to renounce thee! r. Ay! let him, if he will; let him renounce me. I not say that I am hardly used, load him with my love! I can bear all, pt to see him perish. al. Swear, Hemeya, never to be a Christian ! lor. Hold, for heaven's mercy! em. Bright angel, art thou come to save, or damn me? lor. I'm come to tell the perils that surround thee. el, unkind Hemeya! I perceive power that Malec holds upon thy soul. yesterday, e'en at the cloister's gates, u vowed you would renounce the world for me. Mal. Ay! what is worth much more than all the world ore than the crescent diadem that shines Selim's turbaned brow! more than the heaven |