ROLLA AND ALONZO.

[Enter Rolla disguised as a monk.]

Rolla. Inform me, friend, is Alonzo, the Peruvian, confined in

Rolla. (Advancing towards the door.) Soldier-I must speak with him.

Sent. (Pushing him back with his gun.) Back! back! it is impossible.

Rolla. I do intreat you but for one moment.

Sent. You intreat in vain - my orders are most strict.

Rolla. Look on this wedge of massy gold! Look on these precious gems. In thy land they will be wealth for thee and thine, beyond thy hope or wish. Take them, they are thine, let me but pass one moment with Alonzo.

Sent. Away! Wouldst thou corrupt me? Me, an old Castilian! I know my duty better.

Rolla. Soldier! hast thou a wife?

Sent. I have.

Rolla. Hast thou children?

Sent. Four, honest, lovely boys.

Rolla. Where didst thou leave them?

Sent. In my native village, in the very cot where I was born.

Rolla. Dost thou love thy wife and children?

Sent. Do I love them! God knows my heart,—I do.

Rolla. Soldier! Imagine that thou wert doomed to die a cruel death in a strange land- What would be thy last request ?

Sent. That some of my comrades should carry my dying blessing to my wife and children.

Rolla What if that comrade was at thy prison door, and should there be told, thy fellow soldier dies at sunrise, yet thou shalt not for a moment see him, nor shalt thou bear his dying blessing to his poor children, or his wretched wife-what wouldst thou think of him who could thus drive thy comrade from the door?

Sent. How!

Rolla. Alonzo has a wife and child; and I am come but to receive for her, and for her poor babe, the last blessing of my friend. Sent. Go in. (Exit sentinel.)

Rolla. (Calls.) Alonzo! Alonzo !

[Enter Alonzo, speaking as he comes in.]

Alonzo. How! is my hour elapsed? Well, I am ready.

Alon. Rolla! Heavens! how didst thou pass the guard?

Rolla. There is not a moment to be lost in words. This disguise I tore from the dead body of a friar, as I passed our field of battle. It has gained me entrance to thy dungeon; now take it thou, and fly. Alon. And Rolla

Rolla. Will remain here in thy place.

Alon. And die for me! No!

Rather eternal tortures rack me.

It is thy life Pizarro seeks, not

Rolla. I shall not die, Alonzo. Rolla's; and thy arm may soon deliver me from prison. Or, should it be otherwise, I am as a blighted tree in the desert; nothing lives beneath my shelter. Thou art a husband and a father; the being of a lovely wife and helpless infant depend upon thy life. Go! go! Alonzo, not to save thyself, but Cora, and thy child.

Alon. Urge me not thus, my friend-I am prepared to die in peace. Rolla. To die in peace! devoting her you have sworn to live for, to madness, misery, and death!

Alon. Merciful heavens !

Rolla. If thou art yet irresolute, Alonzo now mark me well. Thou knowest that Rolla never pledged his word and shrunk from

its fulfilment. And here I swear if thou art proudly obstinate, thou shalt have the desperate triumph of seeing Rolla perish by thy side.

Alon. O Rolla! you distract me! Wear you the robe, and though dreadful the necessity, we will strike down the guard, and force our passage.

Rolla. What, the soldier on duty here ?

Alon. Yes, else seeing two, the alarm will be instant death.

Rolla. For my nation's safety I would not harm him. That soldier, mark me, is a man! All are not men that wear the human form. He refused my prayers, refused my gold, denying to admit till his own feelings bribed him. I will not risk a hair of that man's head, to save my heart strings from consuming fire. But haste! a moment's further pause and all is lost.

Alon. Rolla, I fear thy friendship drives me from honor and from right.

Rolla. Did Rolla ever counsel dishonor to his friend? (Throwing the friar's garment over his shoulders.) There! conceal thy face Now God be with thee.

GLENALVON AND NORVAL.

Glenalvon. His port I love: he's in a proper mood

To chide the thunder if at him it roared.

Has Norval seen the troops?

Norval. The setting sun

With yellow radiance lightened all the vale,
And as the warriors moved, each polished helm,
Corslet, or spear, glanced back his gilded beams.
The hill they climbed, and, halting at its top,
Of more than mortal size, towering they seemed
A host angelic, clad in burning arms.

Glen. Thou talkest it well: no leader of our host
In sounds more lofty talks of glorious war.

SHERIDAN.

Norv. If I should e'er acquire a leader's name,
My speech will be less ardent. Novelty

Now prompts my tongue, and youthful admiration
Vents itself freely; since no part is mine

Of praise pertaining to the great in arms.

Glen. You wrong yourself, brave sir; your martial deeds Have ranked you with the great. But mark me, Norval; Lord Randolph's favor now exalts your youth

Above his veterans of famous service.

Let me, who know these soldiers, counsel you.
Give them all honor: seem not to command,
Else they will hardly brook your late-sprung power,
Which nor alliance props nor birth adorns.

Norv. Sir, I have been accustomed all my days
To hear and speak the plain and simple truth;
And though I have been told that there are men
Who borrow friendship's tongue to speak their scorn,
Yet in such language I am little skilled:
Therefore I thank Glenalvon for his counsel,
Although it sounded harshly. Why remind
Me of my birth obscure? Why slur my power
With such contemptuous terms?

Glen. I did not mean

To gall your pride, which now I see is great.
Norv. My pride!

Glen. Suppress it, as you wish to prosper.
Your pride's excessive. Yet, for Randolph's sake,
I will not leave you to its rash direction.

If thus you swell, and frown at high-born men,
Will high-born men endure a shepherd's scorn?
Norv. A shepherd's scorn!

Glen. Yes, if you presume

To bend on soldiers these disdainful eyes,
As if you took the measure of their minds,
And said in secret, you're no match for me,
What will become of you?

Norv. Hast thou no fears for thy presumptuous self?

Glen. Ha dost thou threaten me?

Norv. Didst thou not hear?

Glen. Unwillingly I did; a nobler foe

Had not been questioned thus; but such as thee
Norv. Whom dost thou think me?

Glen. Norval.

Norv. So I am

And who is Norval in Glenalvon's eyes?

Glen. A peasant's son, a wandering beggar boy;

At best no more, even if he speaks the truth.

:

Norv. False as thou art, dost thou suspect my truth?
Glen. Thy truth! thou'rt all a lie and false as hell
Is the vainglorious tale thou toldest to Randolph.
Norv. If I were chained, unarmed, or bedrid old,
Perhaps I should revile; but as I am,

I have no tongue to rail. The humble Norval
Is of a race who strive not but with deeds.

Did I not fear to freeze thy shallow valor,

And make thee sink too soon beneath my sword,

I'd tell thee what thou art. I know thee well.

Glen. Dost thou not know Glenalvon, born to command Ten thousand slaves like thee?

Norv. Villain, no more!

Draw and defend thy life. I did design

To have defied thee in another cause;

But Heaven accelerates its vengeance on thee.

Now for my own and Lady Randolph's wrongs.

Lord Randolph. (Enters.) Hold, I command you both.

The man that stirs makes me his foe.

Norv. Another voice than thine

That threat had vainly sounded, noble Randolph.

Glen. Hear him, my lord; he's wondrous condescendimg!

Mark the humility of shepherd Norval!

Norv. Now you may scoff in safety.

Lord Ran. Speak not thus,