[Exit Irene. Answer me quick, or die! [Draws his dagger, Already hast thou given the fatal wound, Thus wrongs my zeal,-Behold my breast-strike 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: That Selim lives, or seest his hated face, Bar. Bear him hence. Heaven shield the innocent!-Undone Irene ! Forthwith send Achmet hither. Mark him well, [Exit Aladin. How dost thou rise in every hideous shape, As black as night or hell! Tis now too late!- To combat my own heart, and, scorning con [Exeunt Selim and guards. Enter ZAPHIRA. Well, haughty fair! Hath reason yet subdued thee? Wilt thou hear Zaph. Why dost thou vainly urge me! Bar. Can aught but frenzy Rush on perdition? Zaph. Therefore, shall no power Bur. Nay, sport not with my rage: Zaph. Could I but think him so! my earnest prayer Should rise to heaven, to keep him far from thee! power, Know, that thy final hour of choice is come! will wed The murderer of my lord? 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, Selim. Who called on Achmet? Did not Bar- Her speechless agonies, and not relent! Selim. Pity her woes, O mighty Barbarossa! Bar. Curse on thy forward zeal ! ̈ ́ [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, 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 Bar. Have I then bent thy pride? Selim. Dost thou insult my grief? unmanly wretch ! Curse on the fear that could betray my limbs, My coward limbs, to this dishonest posture ! 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! Selim. What! doom thyself Selim. Now, tyrant, pour thy fiercest fury on us: Now, see, despairing guilt! that virtue still Bar. Drag them hence! Her to the altar: Selim to his fate. Even now he aimed Bar. The lurking traitor's found, 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! And claims thy private ear. Ala. The secret friends of Selim, Bar. Curse the traitors! Now speed thee, Aladin. Send forth our spics: Stir me, grim cruelty! The rack shall groan [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 Ala. But while Selim lives, Destruction lurks within the palace walls; proaches. How goes the night? 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 ness! I yet would win her love! Haste! seek out Oth- | Who saved me from dishonour! Irene. O night of horror! Hear me, honoured father! If e'er Irene's peace was dear to thee, Bar. Impious! Dar'st thou disobey? 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. Betrayed thee to destruction! Slaves, unhand me! Think ye, I'll live to bear these pangs of grief, [Exit Irene and guards. Bar. O torment! torment! Even in the midst of power! the vilest slave Even to this giddy height, where now I stand, Now, Aladin? Enter ALADIN. Hast thou seen Othman? He will not, sure, conspire against my pea ce Irene. Oh, never, till thy mercy spare my Sc-The centinel on watch says, that he passed lim! 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, 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 He did not dare to say it; or, if he did, Bar. By Selim's instant death- Bar. Is the rack prepared? Along the ground he lies o'erwhelmed with chains. Bar. Once more I'll try to bend 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 I am prepared. Enter BARBAROSSA and Guards. Selim. Then take it, tyrant. Bar. Didst thou not aim a dagger at my heart? 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 Tread me to earth, I never will complain; What hath my fury done? Irene. Indeed, 'twas hard; 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, Selim. Let guilt like thine Tremble at death: I scorn his darkest frown. There goes the fatal knell. [Bell tolls. Thy fate is sealed.-Not all thy mother's tears, From instant death. Yet ere the assassin die, fears That first awaked suspicion in my father? Those fears that have undone thee !—Heaven is |