The Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, Complete in One Volume ...

And thrilling hands, that made me weep and tremble-On such employment! With far other thoughts
Ah, coward dupe! to yield it to the miscreant,
Who spake pollution of thee! barter for Life

This farewell Pledge, which with impassion'd Vow

I left you.

ORDONIO (aside).

I had sworn that I would grasp―ev'n in my death-Ha! he has been tampering with her?

pang!

My Alvar loved sad music from a child.
Once he was lost; and after weary search
We found him in an open place in the wood,
To which spot he had follow'd a blind boy,
Who breathed into a pipe of sycamore
Some strangely moving notes: and these, he said,
Were taught him in a dream. Him we first saw
Stretch'd on the broad top of a sunny heath-bank:
And lower down poor Alvar, fast asleep,

His head upon the blind boy's dog. It pleased me
To mark how he had fasten'd round the pipe
A silver toy his grandam had late given him.
Methinks I see him now as he then look'd-
Even so!-He had outgrown his infant dress,
Yet still he wore it.

ALVAR.

My tears must not flow!

I must not clasp his knees. and cry, My father! Enter TERESA, and Attendants.

TERESA.

Lord Valdez, you have ask'd my presence here, And I submit; but (Heaven bear witness for me) My heart approves it not! 'tis mockery.

ORDONIO.

Believe you then no preternatural influence? Believe you not that spirits throng around us?

TERESA.

Say rather that I have imagined it
A possible thing: and it has soothed my soul
As other fancies have; but ne'er seduced me
To traffic with the black and frenzied hope
That the dead hear the voice of witch or wizard.
(TO ALVAR. Stranger, I mourn and blush to see you

here,

ALVAR.

O high-soul'd maiden! and more dear to me
Than suits the Stranger's name!-

I swear to thee
I will uncover all concealed guilt.
Doubt, but decide not! Stand ye from the altar.
[Here a strain of music is heard from behind he

scene.

ALVAR.

With no irreverent voice or uncouth charm I call up the Departed!

Soul of Alvar!

Hear our soft suit, and heed my milder spell:
may the Gates of Paradise, unbarr'd,
Cease thy swift toils! since haply thou art one
Of that innumerable company

Who in broad circle, lovelier than the rainbow,
Girdle this round earth in a dizzy motion,
With noise too vast and constant to be heard:
Fitliest unheard! For oh, ye numberless
And rapid travellers! What ear unstunn'd,
What sense unmadden'd, might bear up against
The rushing of your congregated wings?

[Music

Even now your living wheel turns o'er my head!
[Music expressive of the movements and images
that follow.

Ye, as ye pass, toss high the desert sands,
That roar and whiten, like a burst of waters,
A sweet appearance, but a dread illusion
To the parch'd caravan that roams by night!
And ye build upon the becalmed waves
That whirling pillar, which from Earth to Heaven
Stands vast, and moves in blackness! Ye too split
The ice mount! and with fragments many and huge
Tempest the new-thaw'd sea, whose sudden gulfs
Suck in, perchance, some Lapland wizard skiff!
Then round and round the whirlpool's marge ye
dance,

Till from the blue swoln Corse the Soul toils out
And joins your mighty Army.

[Here behind the scenes a voice sings the three
words, "Hear, sweet Spirit."

Soul of Alvar!
Hear the mild spell, and tempt no blacker Charm!
By sighs unquiet, and the sickly pang
Of a half dead, yet still undying Hope,
Pass visible before our mortal sense!

So shall the Church's cleansing rites be thine,
Her knells and masses that redeem the Dead!

Had pamper'd his swoln heart and made him proud?
And what if Pride had duped him into guilt?
Yet still he stalk'd a self-created God,

Not very bold, but exquisitely cunning;

And one that at his Mother's looking-glass

Would force his features to a frowning sternness ?

If he be dead, O come! and bring with thee
That which he grasp'd in death! but if he live,
Some token of his obscure perilous life.

[The whole Music clashes into a Chorus

CHORUS.

Wandering Demons, hear the spell!
Lest a blacker charm compel-

[The incense on the altar takes fire suddenly, and
an illuminated picture of ALVAR's assassina
tion is discovered, and having remained a
few seconds is then hidden by ascending
flames.

ORDONIO (starting in great agitation).
Duped! duped! duped!-the traitor Isidore!
[At this instant the doors are forced open, MON-
VIEDRO and the Familiars of the Inquisition,
Servants etc. enter and fill the stage.

MONVIEDro.

First seize the sorcerer! suffer him not to speak!
The holy judges of the Inquisition
Shall hear his first words.-Look you pale, Lord
Valdez?

Plain evidence have we here of most foul sorcery.
There is a dungeon underneath this castle,
And as you hope for mild interpretation,
Surrender instantly the keys and charge of it.

ORDONIO (recovering himself as from stupor, to
Servants.)

Why haste you not? Off with him to the dungeon!
[All rush out in tumult

SCENE II.

Interior of a Chapel, with painted Windows.

Enter TERESA.

TERESA.

When first I enter'd this pure spot, forebodings

Young Lord! I tell thee, that there are such Beings-Press'd heavy on my heart: but as I knelt,

Yea, and it gives fierce merriment to the damn'd,
To see these most proud men, that lothe mankind,
At every stir and buzz of coward conscience,
Trick, cant, and lie, most whining hypocrites!
Away, away! Now let me hear more music.

TERESA.

[Music again.

Tis strange, I tremble at my own conjectures!
But whatsoe'er it mean, I dare no longer
Be present at these lawless mysteries,
This dark provoking of the Hidden Powers!
Already I affront-if not high Heaven-
Yet Alvar's Memory!-Hark! I make appeal
Against the unholy rite, and hasten hence
To bend before a lawful shrine, and seek
That voice which whispers, when the still
listens,

Comfort and faithful Hope! Let us retire.
ALVAR (fo TERESA anxiously).

O full of faith and guileless love, thy Spirit

Such calm unwonted bliss possess'd my spirit,
A trance so cloudless, that those sounds, hard by,
Of trampling uproar fell upon mine ear

As alien and unnoticed as the rain-storm
Beats on the roof of some fair banquet-room,
While sweetest melodies are warbling-
Enter VALDEZ.

TERESA.

Torture me not! But Alvar-Oh of Alvar?

VALDEZ.

How often would he plead for these Morescoes!
The brood accurst! remorseless, coward murderers!
TERESA (wildly).

So? so?-I comprehend you-He is

VALDEZ (with averted countenance).

TERESA.

'Tis well, my son! But have you yet discover'd Where is Teresa? what those speeches meantPride, and Hypocrisy, and Guilt, and Cunning? He is no more! Then when the wizard fix'd his eye on you, And you, I know not why, look'd pale and trembled

O sorrow! that a father's voice should say this,
A father's heart believe it!

Disarm'd, o'erpower'd, despairing of defence,
At his bared breast he seem'd to grasp some relict
More dear than was his life-

TERESA (with a faint shriek).

O Heavens! my portrait!
And he did grasp it in his death-pang!
Off, false Demon,
That beat'st thy black wings close above my head!
[ORDONIO enters with the keys of the dungeon

in his hand.

Hush! who comes here? The wizard Moor's em-
ployer!

Moors were his murderers, you say? Saints shield us
From wicked thoughts-

[VALDEZ moves towards the back of the stage to
meet ORDONIO, and during the concluding
lines of TERESA's speech appears as eagerly
conversing with him.

Why-why, what ails you now?——

ORDONIO (confused).

Me? what ails me?

A pricking of the blood-It might have happen'd
At any other time.-Why scan you me?

I am most glad of this.

VALDEZ (confused).

True-Sorcery

Merits its doom; and this perchance may guide us
To the discovery of the murderers.

I have their statures and their several faces
So present to me, that but once to meet them
Would be to recognize.

ORDONIO.

Yes! yes! we recognize them I was benumb'd, and stagger'd up and down Through darkness without light-dark-dark-dark! My flesh crept chill, my limbs felt manacled,

As had a snake coil'd round them!-Now 't is sun-
shine,

And the blood dances freely through its channels!
[Turns off abruptly; then to himself

This is my virtuous, grateful Isidore!

[Then mimicking ISIDORE's manner and voice. "A common trick of gratitude, my Lord!" Oh Gratitude! a dagger would dissect His "own full heart"-'t were good to see its color

VALDEZ.

These magic sights! O that I ne'er had yielded,
To your entreaties! Neither had I yielded,
But that in spite of your own seeming faith
I held it for some innocent stratagem,

Which Love had prompted, to remove the doubts
Of wild Teresa--by fancies quelling fancies!

ORDONIO (in a slow voice, as reasoning to himself.) Love! Love! and then we hate! and what? and wherefore?

Hatred and Love! Fancies opposed by fancies!
What, if one reptile sting another reptile!
Where is the crime? The goodly face of Nature
Hath one disfeaturing stain the less upon it.
Are we not all predestined Transiency,
And cold Dishonor? Grant it, that this hand
Had given a morsel to the hungry worms
Somewhat too early-Where's the crime of this?
That this must needs bring on the idiocy
Of moist-eyed Penitence 't is like a dream!

Is Alvar dead? what then?
The nuptial rites and funeral shall be one!
Here's no abiding-place for thee, Teresa.-
Away! they see me not-Thou seest me, Alvar!
To thee I bend my course.-But first one question,
One question to Ordonio.-My limbs tremble-
There I may sit unmark'd-a moment will restore me.
[Retires out of sight.
ORDONIO (as he advances with VALDEZ).
These are the dungeon keys. Monviedro knew not Wild talk, my son' But thy excess of feeling-
That I too had received the wizard message,

VALDEZ.

[Averting himself

Almost, I fear, it hath unhinged his brain.
ORDONIO (now in soliloquy, and now addressing

ORDONIO.

Is it so?

his father and just after the speech has Yes! yes! even like a child, that, too abruptly
commenced, TERESA reappears and advances Roused by a glare of light from deepest sleep,
Starts up bewilder'd and talks idly.

slowly).

Say, I had laid a body in the sun!

Well! in a month there swarm forth from the corse
A thousand, nay, ten thousand sentient beings
In place of that one man.-Say, I had kill'd him!
[TERESA starts, and stops, listening.
Yet who shall tell me, that each one and all
Of these ten thousand lives is not as happy
As that one life, which being push'd aside,
Made room for these unnumber'd-

[TERESA moves hastily forwards, and places herself directly before ORDONIO.

(Then mysteriously.)

Father!
What if the Moors that made my brother's grave
Even now were digging ours? What if the bolt,
Though aim'd, I doubt not, at the son of Valdez,
Yet miss'd its true aim when it fell on Alvar ?

VALDEZ.

Alvar ne'er fought against the Moors,-say rather,
He was their advocate; but you had march'd
With fire and desolation through their villages.-
Yet he by chance was captured.

ORDONIO.

Unknown, perhaps ORDONIO (checking the feeling of surprise, and Captured, yet, as the son of Valdez, murder'd. forcing his tones into an expression of Leave all to me. Nay, whither, gentle Lady?

playful courtesy).

Teresa? or the Phantom of Teresa?

TERESA.

Alas! the Phantom only, if in truth

The substance of her Being, her Life's life,
Have ta'en its flight through Alvar's death-wound-
(A pause.)
Where-
(Even coward Murder grants the dead a grave)
O tell me, Valdez !-answer me, Ordonio!
Where lies the corse of my betrothed husband?

ORDONIO.

There, where Ordonio likewise would fain lie!

VALDEZ.

What seek you now?

TERESA.

A better, surer light

To guide me

Both VALDEZ and ORDONIO.
Whither?

TERESA.

To the only place Where life yet dwells for me, and ease of heart These walls seem threatening to fall in upon me! Detain me not! a dim Power drives me hence,

In the sleep-compelling earth, in unpierced dark- And that will be my guide.

Over his rocky grave the Fir-grove sighs
A lulling ceaseless dirge! "T is well with HIM.
[Strides off in agitation towards the altar, but Hopeless, I fear no human being's rage.

Dead! dead already! what care we for the dead? Glares in the red flame of his hunter's torch!

VALDEZ (to TERESA).

Pity him! soothe him! disenchant his spirit!
These supernatural shows, this strange disclosure,
And this too fond affection, which still broods
O'er Alvar's fate, and still burns to avenge it-
These, struggling with his hopeless love for you,
Distemper him, and give reality

To the creatures of his fancy

To Isidore I will dispatch a message,
And lure him to the cavern! ay, that cavern!
He cannot fail to find it. Thither I'll lure him,
Whence he shall never, never more return!
[Looks through the side window
A rim of the sun lies yet upon the sea,
And now 't is gone! All shall be done to-night.

Erit

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

A cavern, dark, except where a gleam of moonlight is seen on one side at the further end of it; supposed to be cast on it from a crevice in a part of the cavern out of sight. ISIDORE alone, an extinguished torch in his hand.

ISIDORE.

Faith 't was a moving letter-very moving!
'His life in danger, no place safe but this!
Twas his turn now to talk of gratitude."
And yet but no! there can't be such a villain.
It cannot be!

Thanks to that little crevice,

Which lets the moonlight in! I'll go and sit by it.
To peep at a tree, or see a he-goat's beard,
Or hear a cow or two breathe loud in their sleep-
Any thing but this crash of water-drops!
These dull abortive sounds that fret the silence
With puny thwartings and mock opposition!
So beats the death-watch to a dead man's ear.
[He goes out of sight, opposite to the patch of
moonlight: returns after a minute's elapse,
in an ecstasy of fear.

A hellish pit! The very same I dreamt of!
I was just in-and those damn'd fingers of ice
Which clutch'd my hair up! Ha!-what's that-it
moved.

[ISIDORE stands staring at another recess in
the cavern. In the mean time ORDONIO en-
ters with a torch, and halloos to ISIDORE.

ISIDORE.

I swear that I saw something moving there! The moonshine came and went like a flash of lightning

I swear, I saw it move.

Call him, that fears his fellow-man, a coward! I fear not man-but this inhuman cavern,

ORDONIO (goes into the recess, then returns, and with It were too bad a prison-house for goblins.

great scorn).

But first permit me! [Lights his torch at ORDONIO's, and while lighting it. (A lighted torch in the hand, Is no unpleasant object here one's breath Floats round the flame, and makes as many colors As the thin clouds that travel near the moon.)

You see that crevice there?

My torch extinguish'd by these water drops,

Beside (you'll smile, my Lord), but true it is,
My last night's sleep was very sorely haunted
By what had pass'd between us in the morning.
O sleep of horrors! Now run down and stared at
By Forms so hideous that they mock remembrance--
Now seeing nothing and imagining nothing,
But only being afraid-stifled with Fear!
While every goodly or familiar form

Had a strange power of breathing terror round me!
I saw you in a thousand fearful shapes ;
And, I entreat your lordship to believe me,
In my last dream-

ORDONIO. Well? ISIDORE.

I was in the act Of falling down that chasm, when Alhadra Waked me she heard my heart beat.

·ORDONIO.

And marking that the moonlight came from thence, Hal you been here before?

I stept in to it, meaning to sit there;

But scarcely had I measured twenty paces-
My body bending forward, yea, overbalanced
Almost beyond recoil, on the dim brink

Of a huge chasm I stept. The shadowy moonshine
Filling the Void, so counterfeited Substance,

ISIDORE.

Strange enough!

Never, my Lord. But mine eyes do not see it now more clearly, Than in my dream I saw-that very chasm. ORDONIO (stands lost in thought, then after a pause I know not why it should be! yet it is

« Anterior Continuar »

Libros