The British drama

Not to reveal his name.

Bar. Thou treacherous maid!

To stoop to freedom from thy father's foe! Irene. Alas, my father!

He never was thy foe.

Bur. What! plead for Selim! Away. He merited the death he found! O coward! traitress to thy father's glory! Thou shouldst have lived a slave, been sold to shaine,

Been banished to the depth of howling deserts, Been aught but what thou art, rather than blot A father's honour by a deed so vile:

Hence, from my sight! Hence, thou unthankful child!

Beware thee: shun the queen: nor taint her ear With Selim's fate. Yes, she shall crown my love;

Or, by our prophet, she shall dread my power! [Exit Barbarossa,

Irene. Unhappy queen

To what new scenes of horror art thou doomed!
O cruel father! hapless child! whom pity
Compels to call him cruel! Generous Selim!
Poor injured queen! She but intreats to die
In her dear father's tents! thither, good queen,
My care shall speed thee, while suspicion sleeps.
What though my frowning father pour his rage
On my defenceless head? Yet innocence
Shall yield her firm support; and conscious virtue
Gild all my days. Could I but save Zaphira,

Let the storm beat, I'll weep and pray, till she, (Bereft of her loved lord, of every joy bereft !) And heaven, forget my father e'er was cruel.

[Erit.

SCENE I.

ACT II.

Does he assume the name of king?
Oth. He does.

Zaph. O title vilely purchased!' by the blood Of innocence! by treachery and murder! May heaven incensed pour down its vengeance on him;

Blast all his joys, and turn them into horror;
Till phrenzy rise, and bid him curse the hour
That gave his crimes their birth! my faithful
Othman,

My sole surviving prop! canst thou devise
No secret means, by which I may escape
This hated palace! with undaunted step
I'd roam the waste, to reach my father's vales
Of dear Mutija! Can no means be found,
To fly these blackening horrors that surround
me?

Oth. That hope is vain. The tyrant knows thy

rage

Shall wake the vallies into honest vengeance:
The sudden storm shall pour on Barbarossa;
And every glowing warrior steep his shaft
In deadlier poison, to revenge my wrongs.
Oth. There spoke the queen. But as thou
lov'st thy freedom,

Touch not on Selim's death. Thy soul will kindle,

And passion mount in flames that will consume thee.

Zaph. My murdered son! Yes, to revenge thy death,

I'll speak a language which my heart disdains. Oth. Peace, peace! the tyrant comes: now, injured queen,

Plead for thy freedom, hope for just revenge, And check each rising passion! [Exit Othman.

No more the pride of conquest e'er can charm
My widowed heart! With my departed lord
My love lies buried! I should meet thy flame
With sullen tears and cold indifference.
Then turn thee to some happier fair, whose heart
May crown thy growing love, with love sincere!
For I have none to give.

Bar. Love ne'er should die:

'Tis the soul's cordial: 'tis the fount of life;
Therefore should spring eternal in the breast.
One object lost, another should succeed;
And all our life be love.

Zaph. Urge me no more: thou might'st with
equal hope

Woo the cold marble weeping o'er a tomb,

To meet thy wishes. But if generous love
Dwell in thy breast, vouchsafe me proof sincere:
Give me safe convoy to the native vales
Of dear Mutija, where my father reigns.

Bar. O blind to proffered bliss! what! fondly quit

This lofty palace, and the envied pomp
Of empire, for an Arab's wandering tent,
Where the mock chieftain leads his vagrant
tribes

From plain to plain, as thirst or famine sways;
Obscurely vain, and faintly shadows out
The majesty of kings! Far other joys
Here shall attend thy call: the winged bark
For thee shall traverse seas; and every clime
Be tributary to Zaphira's charms.

To thee, exalted fair, submissive realms
Shall bow the neck; and swarthy kings and
queens,

From the far distant Niger and the Nile,
Drawn captive at my conquering chariot wheels,
Shall kneel before thee.

Zaph. Pomp and power are toys,
Which even the mind at ease may well disdain;
But, ah! what mockery is the tinsel pride
Of splendour, when by wasting woes the mind
Lies desolate within! Such, such, is mine!
O'erwhelmed with ills, and dead to every joy;
Envy me not this last request, to die
In my dear father's tents.

Bar. Thy suit is vain-
Zaph. Thus kneeling at thy feet-
seech thee.

-I do be

From the war's rage, than violence and blood?
Have not unceasing horrors marked thy reign?
Through seven long years thy slaughtering sword
hath reeked
With guiltless blood.

Bar. With guiltless blood? Take heed-
Rouse not my slumbering rage, nor vindicate
Thy country's guilt and treason!

Zaph. Where violence reigns, there innocence is guilt,

And virtue, treason. Know, Zaphira scorns Thy menace. Yes; thy slaughtering sword hath reeked

With guiltless blood. Through thee exile and death

Have thinned Algiers. Is this thy boasted peace? So might the tyger boast the peace he brings, When he o'erleaps by stealth, and wastes the

fold.

Bar. Ungrateful queen! I will give thee proof of love,

Inhuman tyrant! Curses on thy head!

She lords it o'er my heart. There is a charm
Of majesty in virtue, that disarms
Reluctant power, and bends the struggling will
From her most firm resolve.

May dire remorse and anguish haunt thy throne, O Aladin!

And 'gender in thy bosom fell despair!

Despair as deep as mine!

Bar. What means Zaphira ? What means this burst of grief?

Zaph. Thou fell destroyer!

Had not guilt steeled thy heart, awakening conscience

Would flash conviction on thee, and each look,
Shot from these eyes, be armed with serpent
horrors,

To turn thee into stone ! Relentless man !
Who did the bloody deed? Oh, tremble guilt,
Where'er thou art! Look on me! Tell me, ty-

The all-seeing eye of Heaven, its lifted thunder,
And all the reddening vengeance which it stores
For crimes like thine? Yet, know, Zaphira scorns
thee!

Though robbed by thee of every dear support,
No tyrant's threat can awe the free-born soul,
That greatly dares to die. [Exit Zaphira.
Bar. Where should she learn the tale of Se-
lim's death!

Could Othman dare to tell it? If he did,

My rage shall sweep him, swifter than the whirlwind,

To instant death ! Curse on her steadiness !

Fnter ALADIN.

Timely thou com'st, to ease my labouring thought,
That swells with indignation and despair.
This stubborn woman-

Ala. What, unconquered still ?

Bur. The news of Selim's fate hath reached her ear.

Whence could this come?

Ala. I can resolve the doubt.

A female slave, attendant on Zaphira,
O'erheard the messenger who brought the tale,
And gave it to her ear.

Bar. Perdition seize her!

Nor threats can move, nor promise now allure
Her haughty soul : nay, she defies my power,
And talks of death, as if her female form
Inshrined some hero's spirit.

Ala. Let her rage foam.

Bar. That speaks him true.

Aladin.

-Conduct him,
[Erit Aladin.
This is beyond my hope. The secret pledge
Restored, prevents suspicion of the deed,
While it confirms it done.

Enter SELIM disguised as ACHMET, and ALADIN.
Selim. Hail, mighty Barbarossa! As the pledge
[Kneels

Of Selim's death, behold thy ring restored:
That pledge will speak the rest.

Bar. Rise, valiant youth!

But first, no more a slave—I give thee freedom.
Thou art the youth whom Omar (now no more)
Joined his companion in this brave attempt ?
Selim. I am.

Bar. Then tell me how you sped.Where
found ye

That insolent!

Selim. We found him at Oran,
Plotting deep mischief to thy throne and people.
Bar. Well ye repaid the traitor.-

Selim. As we ought.

While night drew on, we leapt upon our prey.
Full at his heart brave Omar aimed the poiguard;

Which Selim shunning, wrenched it from his | He dares his bloody hand, and pleads to die.

hand,

Then plunged it in his breast. I hasted on,
Too late to save, yet I revenged my friend:
My thirsty dagger, with repeated blows,
Searched every artery: They fell together,
Gasping in folds of mortal enmity;
And thus in frowns expired.

Bar. Well hast thou sped.

Thy dagger did its office, faithful Achmet;
And high reward shall wait thee.-One thing

Be the thought fortunate!-Go, see the queen.
For know, the rumour of her Selim's death
Hath reached her ear: Hence dark suspicions rise,
Glancing at me. Go, tell her, that thou saw'st
Her son expire; that, with his dying breath,
He did conjure her to receive my vows,
And give her country peace.-That, sure will lull
Suspicion. Aladin, that sure will win her.
Ala. 'Tis wisely thought.—It must.

Enter OTHMAN.

Bar. Most welcome, Othman. Behold this gallant stranger. He hath done The state good service. Let some high reward Await him, such as may o'erpay his zeal. Conduct him to the queen; for he hath news Worthy her ear, from her departed son; Such as may win her love--Come, Aladin; The banquet waits our presence: festal joy Laughs in the mantling goblet; and the night, Illumined by the taper's dazzling beam, Rivals departed day. [Exeunt Bar. and Ala. Selim. What anxious thought

Rolls in thine eye, and heaves thy labouring breast?

Why joinest thou not the loud excess of joy,
That riots through the palace?

Oth. Darest thou tell me,

On what dark errand thou art here?

Selim. I dare.

Dost not perceive the savage lines of blood
Deform my visage? Read'st not in mine eye
Remorseless fury?—I am Selim's murderer.
Oth. Selim's murderer!
Selim. Start not from me.

My dagger thirsts not but for regal blood-
Why this amazement?

Oth. Amazement?-No-'Tis well-'Tis as it should be

He was, indeed, a foe to Barbarossa.

Selim. And therefore to Algiers :-Was it not so?

Why dost thou pause? What passion shakes thy frame?

Oth. Fate, do thy worst! I can no more dissemble!

Can I, unmoved, behold the murdering ruffian,

Selim. What! didst thou love this Selim? Oth. All men loved him.

Selim. Yet seven revolving years, worn out In tedious exile, may have wrought such change Of voice and feature in the state of youth, As might elude thine eye.

Oth. No time can blot

The memory of his sweet majestic mein,
The lustre of his eye! besides, he wears
A mark indelible, a beauteous scar,
Made on his forehead by a furious pard,
Which, rushing on his mother, Selim slew.
Selim. A scar!

Oth. Aye, on his forehead.

Selim. What! like this? [Lifting his turban. Oth. Whom do I see!-am I awake?-my prince! [Kneels.

My honoured, honoured king!

Selim. Rise, faithful Othman.

Thus let me thank thy truth! [Embraces him. Oth. O happy hour!

Selim. Why dost thou tremble thus?

grasp my hand?

Why

And why that ardent gaze? Thou can'st not doubt me!

Oth. Ah, no! I see thy sire in every line.How did my prince escape the murderer's hand? Selim. I wrenched the dagger from him, and

gave back

That death he meant to bring. The ruffian wore The tyrant's signet :- Take this ring,' he cried, 'The sole return my dying hand can make thee For its accursed attempt: this pledge restored, Will prove thee slain: Safe may'st thou sce Algiers,

Smeared with my prince's blood!-Go, tell theUnknown to all.' This said, the assassin died.

tyrant,

Othman defies his power; that, tired with life,

Oth. But how to gain admittance, thus un

known?

Selim. Disguised as Selim's murderer I come: | For I have seen our friends, and parted now The accomplice of the deed: the ring restored, Gained credence to my words.

Oth. Yet ere thou cam'st, thy death was rumoured here.

Selim. I spread the flattering tale, and sent it
hither,

That babbling rumour, like a lying dream,
Might make belief more easy. Tell me, Oth-

man,

And yet I tremble to approach the theme-
How fares my mother? does she still retain
Her native greatness?

Oth. Still in vain the tyrant

From Sadi and Almanzor.
Oth. Say what hope?
My soul is all attention.-
Selim. Mark me, then;

A chosen band of citizens this night

Will storm the palace: while the glutted troops
Lie drenched in surfeit, the confederate city,
Bold through despair, have sworn to break their
chain,

By one wide slaughter. I, mean time, have
gained

The palace, and will wait the appointed hour,
To guard Zaphira from the tyrant's rage,

Tempts her to marriage, though with impious Amid the dreadful uproar.

threats

Forbodes some dire event!-O quit these walls! Selim. Not till a deed be done, which every tyrant

Shall tremble when he hears.

Oth. What means my prince?

Selim. To take just vengeance for a father's
blood,

A mother's sufferings, and a people's groans.
Oth. Alas, my prince! thy single arm is weak
To combat multitudes!

Selim. Therefore I come,

Clad in this murderer's guise-Ere morning shines,

This, Othman-this-shall drink the tyrant's [Shews a dagger.

blood.

Oth. Heaven shield thy precious life-let cau

tion rule

Thy headlong zeal!

Selim. Nay, think not that I come Blindly impelled by fury or despair :

Oth. Heaven protect thee

'Tis dreadful-What's the hour?

Selim. I left our friends

In secret council. Ere the dead of night
Brave Sadi will report their last resolves.-
Now lead me to the queen.-

Oth. Brave prince, beware!

Her joy's or fear's excess would sure betray thee.
Thou shalt not see her till the tyrant perish!

Selim. I must.-I feel some secret impulse
urge me.

Who knows that 'tis not the last parting interview,

We ever shall obtain ?

Oth. Then, on thy life,

Do not reveal thyself. Assume the name
Of Selim's friend; sent to confirm her virtue,
And warn her that he lives.

Selim. It shall be so; I yield me to thy will.
Oth. Thou greatly daring youth! May angels
watch,

And guard thy upright purpose, that Algiers
May reap the blessings of thy virtuous reign,
And all thy godlike father shine in thee!

Selim. Oh, thou hast roused a thought, on
which revenge

Mounts with redoubled fire!-Yes, here, even
here,-

Beneath this very roof, my honoured father
Shed round his blessings, till accursed treachery
Stole on his peaceful hour! O blessed shade!
If yet thou hoverest o'er thy once-loved clime,
Now aid me to redress thy bleeding wrongs!
Infuse thy mighty spirit into my breast,
Thy firm and dauntless fortitude, unawed
By peril, pain, or death! that, undismayed,
I may pursue the just intent, and dare
Or bravely to revenge, or bravely die. [Exeunt.

« Anterior Continuar »

Libros

The British drama, Volumen1