Her. That calm was never his, no other will be! Thou knowest not, and mayst thou never know, How bitter is the tear that fiery shame Scourges and tortures from the soldier's eye. Whichever of these bad reports be true, He hides it from all hearts, to wring his own, And drags the heavy secret to the grave. Not victory, that o'ershadows him, sees he! No airy and light passion stirs abroad To ruffle or to soothe him; all are quelled Beneath a mightier, sterner stress of mind: Wakeful he sits, and lonely and unmoved, Beyond the arrows, views, or shouts of men; As oftentimes an eagle, when the sun Throws o'er the varying earth his early ray, Stands solitary, stands immovable Upon some highest cliff, and rolls his eye, Clear, constant, unobservant, unabased, In the cold light, above the dews of morn. He now assumes that quietness of soul Which never but in danger have I seen On his staid breast.

TAR. Danger is past, he conquers; No enemy is left him to subdue.

HER. He sank not, while there was, into himself. Now plainly see I from his altered tone, He cannot live much longer—thanks to God!

TAR. What! wishest thou thy once kind master dead? Was he not kind to thee, ungrateful slave!

HER. The gentlest, as the bravest, of mankind. Therefore shall memory dwell more tranquilly With Julian, once at rest, than friendship could, Knowing him yearn for death with speechless love. For his own sake I could endure his loss, Pray for it, and thank God; yet mourn I must Him above all! so great, so bountiful, So blessed once! bitterly must I mourn. 'Tis not my solace that 'tis his desire; Of all that pass us in life's drear descent We grieve the most for those that wished to die. A father to us all, he merited, Unhappy man! all a good father's joy In his own house, where seldom he hath been, But, ever mindful of its dear delights, He formed one family around him, ever.

TAR. Yes, we have seen and known him—let his fame Refresh his friends, but let it stream afar, Nor in the twilight of home scenes be lost. He chose the best, and cherished them; he left To self-reproof the mutinies of vice; Avarice, that dwarfs ambition's tone and mien; Envy, sick nursling of the court; and pride That cannot bear his semblance nor himself; And malice, with blear visage half-descried Amid the shadows of her hiding-place.

HER. What could I not endure, O gallant man, To hear him spoken of as thou hast spoken! Oh! I would almost be a slave to him Who calls me one.

MUZA. What? art thou not? begone.

TAR. Reply not, brave Hernando, but retire. All can revile, few only can reward. Behold the meed our mighty chief bestows! Accept it, for thy services, and mine. More, my bold Spaniard, hath obedience won Than anger, even in the ranks of war.

HER. The soldier, not the Spaniard, shall obey.

[Goes.

MUZA to TAR. Into our very council bringest thou Children of reprobation and perdition? Darkness thy deeds and emptiness thy speech, Such images thou raisest as buffoons Carry in merriment on festivals; Nor worthiness nor wisdom would display To public notice their deformities, Nor cherish them nor fear them; why shouldst thou?

TAR. I fear not them nor thee.

FIFTH ACT: THIRD SCENE.

EGILONA enters.

ABD. Advance, O queen. Now let the turbulence of faction cease.

MUZA. Whate'er thy purpose, speak, and be composed.

EGI. He goes; he is afar; he follows her; He leads her to the altar, to the throne. For, calm in vengeance, wise in wickedness, The traitor hath prevailed, o'er him, o'er me, O'er you—the slaves, the dupes, the scorn, of Julian. What have I heard! what have I seen!

MUZA. Proceed.

ABD. And I swear vengeance on his guilty head Who intercepts from thee the golden rays Of sovereignty; who dares rescind thy rights; Who steals upon thy rest, and breathes around Empoisoned damps o'er that serenity Which leaves the world, and faintly lingers here.

MUZA. Who shuns thee -

ABD. Whose desertion interdicts Homage, authority, precedency -

MUZA. Till war shall rescue them -

ABD. And love restore.

EGI. O generous Abdalazis! never! never! My enemies—Julian alone remains - The worst, in safety, far beyond my reach, Breathe freely on the summit of their hopes; Because they never stopped, because they sprang From crime to crime, and trampled down remorse. Oh! if her heart knew tenderness like mine! Grant vengeance on the guilty; grant but that, I ask no more; my hand, my crown, is thine. Fulfil the justice of offended heaven, Assert the sacred rights of royalty, Come not in vain, crush the rebellious crew, Crush, I implore, the indifferent and supine.

MUZA. Roderigo thus escaped from Julian's tent.

EGI. No, not escaped, escorted, like a king. The base Covilla first pursued her way On foot; but after her the royal car, Which bore me from San Pablos to the throne, Empty indeed, yet ready at her voice, Rolled o'er the plain, amid the carcases Of those who fell in battle or in flight: She, a deceiver still, to whate'er speed The moment might incite her, often stopped To mingle prayers with the departing breath, Improvident! and those with heavy wounds Groaned bitterly beneath her tottering knee.

TAR. Now, by the clement and the merciful! The girl did well: when I breathe out my soul, Oh! if compassion give one pang the more, That pang be mine; here be it, in this land. Such women are they in this land alone.

EGI. Insulting man!

MUZA. We shall confound him yet. Say, and speak quickly, whither went the king? Thou knewest where was Julian.

ABD. I will tell Without his answer: yes, my friends; yes, Tarik, Now will I speak, nor thou, for once, reply. There is, I hear, a poor half-ruined cell In Xeres, whither few indeed resort; Green are the walls within, green is the floor And slippery from disuse; for Christian feet Avoid it, as half-holy, half accursed. Still in its dark recess fanatic sin Abases to the ground his tangled hair, And servile scourges and reluctant groans Roll o'er the vault uninterruptedly, Till, such the natural stillness of the place The very tear upon the damps below Drops audible, and the heart's throb replies. There is the idol maid of Christian creed, And taller images, whose history I know not, nor inquired—a scene of blood, Of resignation amid mortal pangs, And other things, exceeding all belief. Hither the aged Opas of Seville Walked slowly, and behind him was a man Barefooted, bruised, dejected, comfortless, In sackcloth; the white ashes on his head Dropped as he smote his breast; he gathered up, Replaced them all, groaned deeply, looked to heaven, And held them, like a treasure, with clasped hands.

EGI. Oh! was Roderigo so abased?

MUZA. 'Twas he. Now, Egilona, judge between your friends And enemies; behold what wretches brought The king, thy lord, Roderigo, to disgrace.

EGI. He merited—but not from them—from me This, and much worse: had I inflicted it, I had rejoiced—at what I ill endure.

MUZA. For thee, for thee alone, we wished him here, But other hands released him -

ABD. With what aim Will soon appear to those discerning eyes.

EGI. I pray thee, tell what passed until that hour.

ABD. Few words, and indistinct; repentant sobs Filled the whole space, the taper in his hand, Lighting two small dim lamps before the altar, He gave to Opas; at the idol's feet He laid his crown, and wiped his tears away: The crown reverts not, but the tears return.

EGI. Yes, Abdalazis! soon, abundantly. If he had only called upon my name, Seeking my pardon ere he looked to heaven's, I could have—no! he thought not once on me! Never shall he find peace or confidence; I will rely on fortune and on thee, Nor fear my future lot: sure, Abdalazis, A fall so great can never happen twice, Nor man again be faithless, like Roderigo.

ABD. Faithless he may be still, never so faithless. Fainter must be the charms, remote the days, When memory and dread example die, When love and terror thrill the heart no more, And Egilona is herself forgotten.

FIFTH ACT: FOURTH SCENE.



JULIAN enters.

TAR. Turn, and behold him! who is now confounded? Ye who awaited him, where are ye? speak. Is some close comet blazing o'er your tents? Muza! Abdalazis! princes, conquerors, Summon, interrogate, command, condemn.

MUZA. Justly, Don Julian—but respect for rank Allays resentment, nor interrogates Without due form—justly may we accuse This absence from our councils, from our camp: This loneliness in which we still remain Who come invited to redress your wrongs. Where is the king?

JUL. The people must decide.

MUZA. Imperfectly, I hope, I understand Those words, unworthy of thy birth and age.

JUL. O chieftain, such have been our Gothic laws.

MUZA. Who then amid such turbulence is safe?

JUL. He who observes them: 'tis no turbulence, It violates no peace: 'tis surely worth A voice, a breath of air, thus to create By their high will the man, formed after them In their own image, vested with their power, To whom they trust their freedom and their lives.

MUZA. They trust! the people! God assigns the charge: Kings open but the book of destiny And read their names, all that remains for them The mystic hand from time to time reveals. Worst of idolaters! idolater Of that refractory and craving beast Whose den is in the city, at thy hand I claim our common enemy, the king.

JUL. Sacred from justice then! but not from malice!

TAR. Surrender him, my friend: be sure his pains Will not be softened.

JUL. 'Tis beyond my power.

TAR. To-morrow—if in any distant fort He lies to-night: send after him.

JUL. My faith Is plighted, and he lives—no prisoner.

EGI. I knew the truth.

ABD. Now, Tarik, hear and judge. Was he not in thy camp? and in disguise?

TAR. No: I will answer thee.

MUZA. Audacious man! Had not the Kalif Walid placed thee here, Chains and a traitor's death should be thy doom. Speak, Abdalazis! Egilona, speak. Were ye not present? was not I myself? And aided not this Julian his escape?

JUL. 'Tis true.

TAR. Away then friendship; to thy fate I leave thee: thou hast rendered Muza just, Me hostile to thee. Who is safe! a man Armed with such power and with such perfidy!

JUL. Stay, Tarik! hear me; for to thee alone Would I reply.

TAR. Thou hast replied, already. [Goes.

MUZA. We, who were enemies, would not inquire Too narrowly what reasons urged thy wrath Against thy sovereign lord: beneath his flag The Christians first assailed us from these shores, And we seized gladly the first aid we found To quell a wealthy and a warlike king. We never held to thee the vain pretence That 'twas thy quarrel our brave youth espoused, Thine, who hast wrought us much disgrace and woe. From perils and from losses, here we rest And drink of the fresh fountain at our feet, Not madly following such illusive streams As overspread the dizzy wilderness, And vanish from the thirst they have seduced. Ours was the enterprise, the land is ours: What gain we by our toils if he escape Whom we came hither solely to subdue?

JUL. Is there no gain to live in amity?

MUZA. The gain of traffickers and idle men: Courage and zeal expire upon such calms. Further, what amity can Moors expect When you have joined your forces?

JUL. From the hour That he was vanquished I have laid aside All power, all arms.

MUZA. How can we trust thee, once Deceived, and oftener than this once despised? Thou camest hither with no other aim Than to deprive Roderigo of his crown For thy own brow.

EGI. Julian, base man, 'tis true. He comes a prince, no warrior, at this hour.

MUZA. His sword, O queen, would not avail him now.

ABD. Julian, I feel less anger than regret. No violence of speech, no obloquy, No accusation shall escape my lips: Need there is none, nor reason, to avoid My questions: if thou value truth, reply. Hath not Roderigo left the town and camp? Hath not thy daughter?

EGI. Past the little brook Toward the Betis—from a tower I saw The fugitives, far on their way; they went Over one bridge, each with armed men—not half A league of road between them—and had joined But that the olive-groves along the path Concealed them from each other—not from me: Beneath me the whole level I surveyed, And, when my eyes no longer could discern Which track they took, I knew it from the storks Rising in clouds above the reedy plain.

MUZA. Deny it, if thou canst.

JUL. I ordered it.

ABD. None could besides: lo! things in such a mass Falling together on observant minds, Create suspicion and establish proof: Wanted there fresh—why not employ our arms? Why go alone?

MUZA. To parley, to conspire, To reunite the Spaniards, which we saw, To give up treaties, close up enmities, And ratify the deed with Moorish blood.

JUL. Gladly would Spain procure your safe return, Gladly would pay large treasures, for the aid You brought against oppression -

MUZA. Pay she shall - The treasures of her soil, her ports, her youth: If she resist, if she tumultuously Call forth her brigands and we lose a man, Dreadful shall be our justice; war shall rage Through every city, hamlet, house, and field, And, universal o'er the gasping land, Depopulation.

JUL. They shall rue the day Who dare these things.

MUZA. Let order then prevail. In vain thou sendest far away thy child, Thy counsellor the metropolitan, And Sisabert—prudence is mine no less. Divide with us our conquests, but the king Must be delivered up.

JUL. Never by me.

MUZA. False then were thy reproaches, false thy grief.

JUL. O Egilona! were thine also feigned?

ABD. Say, lovely queen, neglectful of thy charms Turned he his eyes toward the young Covilla? Did he pursue her to the mad excess Of breaking off her vows to Sisabert, And marrying her, against the Christian law?

MUZA. Did he prefer her so?

ABD. Could he prefer To Egilona -

EGI. Her! the child Covilla? Eternal hider of a foolish face, Incapable of anything but shame, To me? old man! to me? O Abdalazis! No: he but followed with slow pace my hate. And cannot pride check these unseemly tears.

[Goes.

MUZA. The most offended, an offended woman, A wife, a queen, is silent on the deed.

ABD. Thou disingenuous and ignoble man, Spreading these rumours! sending into exile All those their blighting influence injured most: And whom? thy daughter and adopted son, The chieftains of thy laws and of thy faith. Call any witnesses, proclaim the truth, And set, at last, thy heart, thy fame, at rest.

JUL. Not, if I purposed or desired to live, My own dishonour would I e'er proclaim Amid vindictive and reviling foes.

MUZA. Calling us foes, avows he not his guilt? Condemns he not the action we condemn, Owning it his, and owning it dishonour? 'Tis well my cares pressed forward, and struck home.

JUL. Why smilest thou? I never saw that smile But it portended an atrocious deed.

MUZA. After our manifold and stern assaults, With every tower and battlement destroyed, The walls of Ceuta still were strong enough -

JUL. For what? who boasted now her brave defence, Or who forbade your entrance, after peace?

MUZA. None: for who could? their engines now arose To throw thy sons into the arms of death. For this erect they their proud crests again. Mark him at last turn pale before a Moor.

JUL. Imprudent have they been, their youth shall plead.

ABD. O father, could they not have been detained?

MUZA. Son, thou art safe and wert not while they lived.

ABD. I feared them not.

MUZA. And therefore wert not safe: Under their star the blooming Egilona Would watch for thee the nuptial lamp in vain.

JUL. Never, oh never, hast thou worked a wile So barren of all good! speak out at once, What hopest thou by striking this alarm? It shocks my reason, not my fears or fondness.

MUZA. Be happy then as ignorance can be; Soon wilt thou hear it shouted from our ranks. Those who once hurled defiance o'er our heads, Scorning our arms, and scoffing at our faith, The nightly wolf hath visited, unscared, And loathed them as her prey; for famine first, Achieving in few days the boast of year; Sank their young eyes and opened us the gates: Ceuta, her port, her citadel, is ours.

JUL. Blessed boys! inhuman as thou art, what guilt Was theirs?

MUZA. Their father's.

JUL. Oh, support me, Heaven! Against this blow! all others I have borne. Ermenegild! thou mightest, sure, have lived! A father's name awoke no dread of thee! Only thy mother's early bloom was thine! There dwelt on Julian's brow—thine was serene - The brightened clouds of elevated souls, Feared by the most below: those who looked up Saw, at their season, in clear signs, advance Rapturous valour, calm solicitude, All that impatient youth would press from age, Or sparing age sigh and detract from youth: Hence was his fall! my hope! myself! my Julian! Alas! I boasted—but I thought on him, Inheritor of all—all what? my wrongs - Follower of me—and whither? to the grave - Ah, no: it should have been so years far hence! Him at this moment I could pity most, But I most prided in him; now I know I loved a name, I doted on a shade. Sons! I approach the mansions of the just, And my arms clasp you in the same embrace, Where none shall sever you—and do I weep! And do they triumph o'er my tenderness! I had forgotten my inveterate foes Everywhere nigh me, I had half forgotten Your very murderers, while I thought on you: For, O my children, ye fill all the space My soul would wander o'er—O bounteous heaven! There is a presence, if the well-beloved Be torn from us by human violence, More intimate, pervading, and complete, Than when they lived and spoke like other men; And there pale images are our support When reason sinks, or threatens to desert us. I weep no more—pity and exultation Sway and console me: are they—no!—both dead?

MUZA. Ay, and unsepulchred.

JUL. Nor wept nor seen By any kindred and far-following eye?

MUZA. Their mother saw them, if not dead, expire.

JUL. O cruelty—to them indeed the least! My children, ye are happy—ye have lived Of heart unconquered, honour unimpaired, And died, true Spaniards, loyal to the last.

MUZA. Away with him.

JUL. Slaves! not before I lift My voice to heaven and man: though enemies Surround me, and none else, yet other men And other times shall hear: the agony Of an oppressed and of a bursting heart No violence can silence; at its voice The trumpet is o'erpowered, and glory mute, And peace and war hide all their charms alike. Surely the guests and ministers of heaven Scatter it forth through all the elements; So suddenly, so widely, it extends, So fearfully men breathe it, shuddering To ask or fancy how it first arose.

MUZA. Yes, they shall shudder—but will that, henceforth, Molest my privacy, or shake my power?

JUL. Guilt hath pavilions, but no privacy. The very engine of his hatred checks The torturer in his transport of revenge, Which, while it swells his bosom, shakes his power And raises friends to his worst enemy.

MUZA. Where now are thine? will they not curse the day That gave thee birth, and hiss thy funeral! Thou hast left none who could have pitied thee.

JUL. Many, nor those alone of tenderer mould, For me will weep—many alas through me! Already I behold my funeral. The turbid cities wave and swell with it, And wrongs are lost in that day's pageantry: Oppressed and desolate, the countryman Receives it like a gift; he hastens home, Shows where the hoof of Moorish horse laid waste His narrow croft and winter garden-plot, Sweetens with fallen pride his children's lore, And points their hatred; but applauds their tears. Justice, who came not up to us through life, Loves to survey our likeness on our tombs, When rivalry, malevolence, and wrath, And every passion that once stormed around, Is calm alike without them as within. Our very chains make the whole world our own, Bind those to us who else had passed us by, Those at whose call brought down to us, the light Of future ages lives upon our name.

MUZA. I may accelerate that meteor's fall, And quench that idle ineffectual light Without the knowledge of thy distant world.

JUL. My world and thine are not that distant one. Is age less wise, less merciful, than grief, To keep this secret from thee, poor old man? Thou canst not lessen, canst not aggravate My sufferings, canst not shorten nor extend Half a sword's length between my God and me. I thank thee for that better thought than fame, Which none, however, who deserve, despise, Nor lose from view till all things else are lost.

ABD. Julian, respect his age, regard his power. Many who feared not death have dragged along A piteous life in darkness and in chains. Never was man so full of wretchedness But something may be suffered after all, Perhaps in what clings round his breast, and helps To keep the ruin up, which he amid His agony and frenzy overlooks, But droops upon at last, and clasps, and dies.

JUL. Although a Muza send far underground, Into the quarry whence the palace rose, His mangled prey, climes alien and remote Mark and record the pang. While overhead Perhaps he passes on his favourite steed, Less heedful of the misery he inflicts Than of the expiring sparkle from a stone; Yet we, alive or dead, have fellow men If ever we have served them, who collect From prisons and from dungeons our remains, And bear them in their bosom to their sons. Man's only relics are his benefits; These, be there ages, be there worlds, between, Retain him in communion with his kind: Hence is our solace, our security, Our sustenance, till heavenly truth descends - Losing in brightness and beatitude The frail foundations of these humbler hopes - And, like an angel guiding us, at once Leaves the loose chain and iron gate behind.

MUZA. Take thou my justice first, then hope for theirs. I, who can bend the living to my will, Fear not the dead, and court not the unborn: Their arm will never reach me, nor shall thine.

ABD. Pity, release him, pardon him, my father. Forget how much thou hatest perfidy; Think of him, once so potent, still so brave, So calm, so self-dependent in distress - I marvel at him—hardly dare I blame, When I behold him fallen from so high, And so exalted after such a fall. Mighty must that man be who can forgive A man, so mighty; seize the hour to rise, Another never comes. Oh, say, my father, Say, "Julian, be my enemy no more." He fills me with a greater awe than e'er The field of battle, with himself the first, When every flag that waved along our host Drooped down the staff, as if the very winds Hung in suspense before him—bid him go And peace be with him, or let me depart. Lo! like a god, sole and inscrutable, He stands above our pity.

JUL. For that wish - Vain as it is, 'tis virtuous—oh, for that, However wrong thy censure and thy praise, Kind Abdalazis, mayst thou never feel The rancour that consumes thy father's breast, Nor want the pity thou hast sought for me.

MUZA. Now hast thou sealed thy doom.

JUL. And thou thy crimes.

ABD. O father, heed him not: those evil words Leave neither blight nor blemish—let him go.

MUZA. A boy, a very boy, art thou indeed! One who in early day would sally out To chase the lion, and would call it sport, But, when more wary steps had closed him round, Slink from the circle, drop the toils, and blanch Like a lithe plant from under snow in spring.

ABD. He who ne'er shrank from danger might shrink now, And ignominy would not follow here.

MUZA. Peace, Abdalazis! how is this? he bears Nothing that warrants him invulnerable: Shall I then shrink to smite him? shall my fears Be greatest at the blow that ends them all? Fears? no! 'tis justice—fair, immutable, Whose measured step, at times, advancing nigh, Appalls the majesty of kings themselves. Oh, were he dead! though then revenge were o'er.

FINAL ACT.—FIFTH SCENE.

OFF. Thy wife, Count Julian -

JUL. Speak!

OFF. —Is dead.

JUL. Adieu, Earth, and the humblest of all earthly hopes, To hear of comfort, though to find it vain. Thou murderer of the helpless! shame of man! Shame of thy own base nature! 'tis an act He who could perpetrate could not avow, Stained, as he boasts to be, with innocent blood, Deaf to reproach, and blind to retribution.

OFF. Julian, be just; 'twill make thee less unhappy. Grief was her end: she held her younger boy And wept upon his cheek; his naked breast By recent death now hardening and inert, Slipped from her knee; again with frantic grasp She caught it, and it weighed her to the ground: There lay the dead.

JUL. She?

OFF. And the youth her son.

JUL. Receive them to thy peace, eternal God! O soother of my hours, while I beheld The light of day, and thine! adieu, adieu! And, my Covilla! dost thou yet survive? Yes, my lost child, thou livest yet—in shame! Oh, agony past utterance! past thought! That throwest death, as some light idle thing, With all its terrors, into dust and air, I will endure thee; I, whom heaven ordained Thus to have served beneath my enemies, Their conqueror, thus to have revisited My native land with vengeance and with woe. Henceforward shall she recognise her sons, Impatient of oppression or disgrace, And rescue them, or perish; let her hold This compact, written with her blood, and mine. Now follow me—but tremble—years shall roll, And wars rage on, and Spain at last be free.



Footnote:

{1} "Ah, what avails the sceptred race, Ah, what the form divine! What every virtue, every grace! Rose Aylmer, all were thine.

"Rose Aylmer, whom these wakeful eyes May weep, but never see, A night of memories and sighs I consecrate to thee."

THE END