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[Exit Irene.

Answer me quick, or die! [Draws his dagger,
Selim. Yes, freely strike-

Already hast thou given the fatal wound,
And pierced my heart with thy unkind suspicion!
Oh, could my dagger find a tongue, to tell
How deep it drank his blood!-But since thy
doubt

Thus wrongs my zeal,-Behold my breast-strike
here

For bold is innocence.

Bar. I scorn the task. [Puts up his dagger. Time shall decide thy doom. Guards! mark me well.

See that ye watch the motions of the slave:
And if he meditates to escape your eye,
Let your good sabres cleave him to the chine.
Selim. I yield me to thy will, and when thou
knowest

That Selim lives, or seest his hated face,
Then wreak thy vengeance on me.

Bar. Bear him hence.

Heaven shield the innocent!-Undone Irene !
Whate'er the event, thy doom is misery!
Bar. Her words are wrapt in darkness. Ala-Yet, on your lives, await me within call.
din,
I will have deeper inquisition made;
Haply some witness may confront the slave,
And drag to light his falsehood.

Forthwith send Achmet hither. Mark him well,
His countenance and gesture-Then, with speed,
Double the centinels.
Infernal guilt!

[Exit Aladin.

How dost thou rise in every hideous shape,
Of rage and doubt, suspicion, and despair,
To rend my soul! more wretched far than they
Made wretched by my crimes! Why did I not
Repent, while yet my crimes were delible!
Ere they had struck their colours through my
soul,

As black as night or hell! Tis now too late!-
Hence, then, ye vain repinings! Take me all,
Unfeeling guilt! O banish, if thou canst,
This fell remorse, and every fruitless fear!
Be this my glory-to be great in evil!

To combat my own heart, and, scorning con

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[Exeunt Selim and guards.
Call Zaphira.
[Exit a Slave.
If Selim lives-then what is Barbarossa?
My throne's a bubble, that but floats in air,
Till marriage-rites declare Zaphira mine.
Fool that I am! to wait the weak effects
Of slow persuasion, when unbounded power
Can give me all I wish! Slave, hear my will;
Fly bid the priest prepare the marriage-rites:
Let incense rise to Heaven; and choral songs
Attend Zaphira to the nuptial. [Erit Slave.
I will not brook delay. By love and vengeance,
This hour decides her fate!

Enter ZAPHIRA.

Well, haughty fair!

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Hath reason yet subdued thee? Wilt thou hear
The voice of love?

Zaph. Why dost thou vainly urge me!
Thou know'st my fixed resolve.

Bar. Can aught but frenzy

Rush on perdition?

Zaph. Therefore, shall no power
Ere make me thine.

Bur. Nay, sport not with my rage:
Though yon suspected slave affirms him dead,
Yet rumour whispers, that young Selim lives.

Zaph. Could I but think him so! my earnest

prayer

Should rise to heaven, to keep him far from thee!
Bar. Therefore, lest treachery undermine my

power,

Know, that thy final hour of choice is come!
Zaph. I have no choice. Think'st thou I e'er

will wed

The murderer of my lord?
Bar. Take heed, rash queen!

Tell me thy last resolve.

Zaph. Then hear me, Heaven!

Hear all ye powers that watch o'er innocence! Angels of light! And thou, dear honoured shade Of my departed lord! attend, while here

I ratify, with vows, my last resolve.

If e'er I wed this tyrant murderer,
If I pollute me with this horrid union,
Black as adultery or damned incest,
May ye, the ministers of Heaven, depart,
Nor shed your influence on the guilty scene!
May horror blacken all our days and nights!
May discord light the nuptial torch! and rising
From hell, may swarming fiends, in triumph, howl
Around the accursed bed!

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Selim. Who called on Achmet? Did not Bar- Her speechless agonies, and not relent!

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Selim. Pity her woes, O mighty Barbarossa!
Bar. Rouze not my vengeance, slave!
Selim. O hear me, hear me!

Bar. Curse on thy forward zeal ! ̈ ́
Selim. Yet, yet have mercy.

[Kneels.

[Lays hold of Barbarossa's garment. Bar. Presuming slave, begone! [Strikes Selim. Selim. Nay, then, die, tyrant!

[Rises, and aims to strike Barbarossa, who wrests his dagger from him. Bar. Ah, traitor, have I caught thee! Hold! forbear!

[To guards, who offer to kill Selim. Kill him not yet. I will have greater vengeance. Perfidious wretch! who art thou? Bring the rack; Let that extort the secrets of his heart.

Selim. Thy impious threats are lost! I know that death

And torments are my doom. Yet, ere I die,
I'll strike thy soul with horror. Off, vile habit!
Let me emerge from this dark cloud that hides

me,

And make my setting glorious! If thou dar'st,

Bar. At length revenge is mine! slaves, force

her hence!

This hour shall crown my love.

Zaph. O mercy, mercy!

Selim. Lo! Barbarossa! thou, at length, hast conquered!

Behold a hapless prince, o'erwhelmed with woes, [Kneels.

Prostrate before thy feet! Not for myself
I plead! Yes, plunge the dagger in my breast!
Tear, tear me piecemeal! But, O spare Zaphira!
Yet, yet relent! force not her matron honour!
Reproach not Heaven.

Bar. Have I then bent thy pride?
Why, this is conquest even beyond my hope!
Lie there, thou slave! lie, till Zaphira's cries
Arouse thee from thy posture.

Selim. Dost thou insult my grief? unmanly wretch !

Curse on the fear that could betray my limbs,
[Rising.

My coward limbs, to this dishonest posture !
Long have I scorned, I now defy thy power.

Bar. I'll put thy boasted virtue to the trial. Slaves, bear him to the rack.

Zaph. O spare my son !

Sure filial virtue never was a crime!
Save but my son! I yield me to thy wish!
What do I say? The marriage vow! O horror!
This hour shall make me thine.

Selim. What! doom thyself
The guilty partner of a murderer's bed,

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Selim. Now, tyrant, pour thy fiercest fury on

us:

Now, see, despairing guilt! that virtue still
Shall conquer, though in ruin.

Bar. Drag them hence!

Her to the altar: Selim to his fate.

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Even now he aimed

Bar. The lurking traitor's found,
Convicted, and disarmed.
This dagger at my heart.

Ala. Audacious traitor!

The slave says, farther, that he brings the tidings

Zaph. O Selim! O my son! Thy doom is Of dark conspiracy, now hovering o'er us,

death!

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And claims thy private ear.
Bar. Of dark conspiracy!
Where? Among whom?

Ala. The secret friends of Selim,
Who nightly haunt the city.

Bar. Curse the traitors!

Now speed thee, Aladin. Send forth our spics:
Explore their haunts: for, by the infernal powers,
I will let loose my rage. The furious lion
Now foams indignant, scorning tears and cries.
Let Selim forthwith die. Come, mighty ver
geance!

Stir me, grim cruelty! The rack shall groan
With new-born horrors! I will issue forth,
Like midnight-pestilence: my breath shall strew
The streets with dead; and havock stalk in gore.
Hence, pity! Feed the milky thought of habes;
Mine is of bloodier hue.

[Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I.

Enter BARBAROSSA, ALADIN, and Guards.

Bar. Is the watch doubled? Are the gates secured

Against surprise ?

Ala. They are; and mock the attempt

Of force or treachery.

Bar. This whispered rumour

Of dark conspiracy, on farther inquest,

Seems but a false alarm. Our spies, sent out,

And now returned from search, affirin that sleep
Has wrapped the city.

Ala. But while Selim lives,

Destruction lurks within the palace walls;
Nor bars, nor centinels, can give us safety.
Bar. Right, Aladin.

proaches.

How goes the night?

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Each secret from his heart; unless he give

His hour of fate ap- Zaphira to my arms, by marriage vows,

Ala. The second watch is near.

With full consent; ere yet the second watch
Toll for his death. Curse on this woman's weak

ness!

I yet would win her love! Haste! seek out Oth- | Who saved me from dishonour!

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Irene. O night of horror! Hear me, honoured father!

If e'er Irene's peace was dear to thee,
Now hear me !

Bar. Impious! Dar'st thou disobey?
Did not my sacred will ordain thee hence?
Get thee to rest; for death is stirring here.
Irene. O fatal words! By every sacred tye,
Recall the dire decree!

Bar. What would'st thou say?

Whom plead for?

Irene. For a brave unhappy prince, Sentenced to die.

Bar. And justly! But this hour

The traitor half fulfilled thy dream, and aimed His dagger at my heart.

Irene. Might pity plead!

Bar. What! plead for treachery?

Irene. Yet pity might bestow a milder name. Wouldst thou not love the child, whose fortitude Should hazard life for thee? Oh, think on that: The noble mind hates not a virtuous foe: His generous purpose was to save a mother!

Bar. Damned was his purpose: and accurst art thou,

Whose perfidy would save the dark assassin, Who sought thy father's life! Hence, from my sight!

Of

Bar. By the powers

great revenge, thy fond intreaties seal His instant death! In him I'll punish thee. Away!

Irene. Yet hear me, ere my tortured soul Rush on some deed of horror!

Bar. Seize her, guards!

Convey the frantic ideot from my presence: See that she do no violence on herself.

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Betrayed thee to destruction! Slaves, unhand me!

Think ye, I'll live to bear these pangs of grief,
These horrors that oppress my tortured soul!
Inhuman father! generous, injured prince!
Methinks I see thee stretched upon the rack,
Hear thy expiring groans: O horror! horror!
What shall I do to save him! Vain, alas!
Vain are my tears and prayers—at least, I'll die.
Death shall unite us yet!

[Exit Irene and guards.

Bar. O torment! torment!

Even in the midst of power! the vilest slave
More happy far than I! the very child,
Whom my love cherished from her infant years,
Conspires to blast my peace! O false anibition,
Thou lying phantom! whither hast thou lured
me!

Even to this giddy height, where now I stand,
Forsaken, comfortless! with not a friend
In whom my soul can trust!

Now, Aladin?

Enter ALADIN.

Hast thou seen Othman?

He will not, sure, conspire against my pea ce
Ala. He's fled, my lord. I dread some lurk-
ing ruin.

Irene. Oh, never, till thy mercy spare my Sc-The centinel on watch says, that he passed

lim!

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Unhappy father! whose perfidious child Leagues with his deadliest foe, and guides the dagger

Even to his heart! Perdition catch thy falsehood!

And is it thus, a thankless child repays me,
For all the guilt in which I plunged my soul,
To raise her to a throne!

Irene. O spare these words,

More keen than daggers to my bleeding heart! Let me not live suspected! Dearest father! Behold my breast! write thy suspicion here: Write them in blood; but spare the generous youth,

The gate, since midnight, with an unknown

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He did not dare to say it; or, if he did,
Pernicious slave, why dost thou wound my ear
By the foul repetition?-Gracious powers,
Let me be calm !-O my distracted soul!
How am I rent in pieces! Othman fled!
Why then may all hell's curses follow him!
What's to be done? some mischief lurks unseen.
Ala. Prevent it then-

Bar. By Selim's instant death-
Ala. Ay, doubtless.

Bar. Is the rack prepared?
Ala. 'Tis ready.

Along the ground he lies o'erwhelmed with chains.
The ministers of death stand round, and wait
Thy last command.

Bar. Once more I'll try to bend

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Irene. Stop, O stop!

SELIM discovered in chains, Executioners, Officer, Hold your accursed hands!—On me, on me

&c. and the rack.

Selim. I pray you, friends,

When I am dead, let not indignity

Insult these poor remains; see them interred
Close by my father's tomb; I ask no more.
Officer. They shall.
Selim. How goes the night?
Offi. Thy hour of fate,
The second watch, is near,
Selim. Let it come on;

I am prepared.

Enter BARBAROSSA and Guards.
Bar. So-raise him from the ground.—
[They raise him.
Perfidious boy! behold the just rewards
Of guilt and treachery! Didst thou not give
Thy forfeit life, whene'er I should behold
Selim's detested face?

Selim. Then take it, tyrant.

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Bar. Didst thou not aim a dagger at my heart?
Selim. I did.

Bar. Yet Heaven defeated thy intent,

And saved me from the dagger.

Selim. 'Tis not ours

Pour all your torments!-How shall I approach thee!

Selim. These are thy father's gifts!-Yet thou

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Tread me to earth, I never will complain;
But my last breath shall bless thee!
Selim. Loved Irene !

What hath my fury done?

Irene. Indeed, 'twas hard;
But I was born to sorrow!
Selim. Melt me not.

I cannot bear thy tears;-they quite unman me.

To question Heaven. The intent, and not the Forgive the transports of my rage.

deed,

Irene. Alas!

Is in our power: and therefore, who dares greatly,The guilt is mine: Canst thou forgive those Does greatly.

Bar. Yet bethink thee, stubborn boy, What horrors now surround thee

Selim. Thinkest thou, tyrant,

I came so ill prepared?—Thy rage is weak,
Thy torments powerless o'er the steady mind:
He who can bravely dare, can bravely suffer.
Bar. Yet, lo! I come, by pity led, to spare thee.
Relent, and save Zaphira!-For the bell
Even now expects the centinel, to toli
The signal of thy death.

Selim. Let guilt like thine

Tremble at death: I scorn his darkest frown.
Hence, tyrant, nor prophane my dying hour!
Bar. Then take thy wish.

There goes the fatal knell.

[Bell tolls.

Thy fate is sealed.-Not all thy mother's tears,
Nor prayers, nor eloquence of grief, shall save
thee

From instant death. Yet ere the assassin die,
Let torment wring each secret from his heart.
The traitor Othman's fled;-Conspiracy
Lurks in the womb of night, and threatens ruin.
Spare not the rack, nor cease, till it extort
The lurking treason; and this murderer call
On death, to end his woes. [Exit Barbarossa.

fears

That first awaked suspicion in my father?

Those fears that have undone thee !—Heaven is

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