Your counsel, which determines him in all,
Should finish the debate.
Must I not only lose her, but be made
Myself the instrument? Not only die,
But plunge the dagger in my heart myself?
Leon. What, do you tremble lest you should be mine?
For what else can you tremble? Not for that
My father places in your power to alter.
Alon. What's in my power? O, yes, to stab my friend!
Leon. To stab your friend were barbarous indeed: Spare him-and murder me.
Alon. First perish all!
No, Leonora, I am thine for ever:
The groans of friendship shall be heard no more.
For whatsoever crime I can commit,
I've felt the pangs already.
Leon. Hold, Alonzo,
And hear a maid whom doubly thou hast conquer❜d.
I love thy virtue as I love thy person,
And I adore thee for the pains it gave me;
But, as I felt the pains, I'll reap the fruit;
I'll shine out in my turn, and show the world
Thy great example was not lost upon me.
Thus then I tear me from thy hopes for ever.
Shall I contribute to Alonzo's crimes?
No, though the life-blood gushes from my heart,
You shall not be ashamed of Leonora ;
Nay, never shrink: take back the bright example
You lately lent; O, take it while you may,
While I can give it you, and be immortal!
Alon. She's gone, and I shall see that face no
But pine in absence, and till death adore.
When with cold dew my fainting brow is hung,
And my eyes darken, from my fault'ring tongue
How dreadful is it to a generous mind
To ask, when sure he cannot be denied!
Car. How greatly thought! In all he towers above
Then you confess you would ask something of me? Alon. No, on my soul.
Zan. [To ALONZO.] Then lose her.
Car. Glorious spirit!
Why, what a pang has he run through for this!
By Heaven, I envy him his agonies.
Why was not mine the most illustrious lot,
Of starting at one action from below,
And flaming up into consummate greatness?
Ha! angels strengthen me !-It shall be so
My Alonzo!
Since thy great soul disdains to make request,
Receive with favour that I make to thee.
Alon. What means my Carlos?
Car. Pray, observe me well.
Fate and Alvarez tore her from my heart,
And, plucking up my love, they had well nigh
Pluck'd my life too, for they were twined together.
Of that no more-What now does reason bid?
I cannot wed-Farewell my happiness!
But, O my soul, with care provide for hers!
In life how weak, how helpless is woman!
So properly the object of affliction,
That Heaven is pleased to make distress become her,
And dresses her most amiably in tears.
Take then my heart in dowry with the fair,
Be thou her guardian and thou must be mine;
Shut out the thousand pressing ills of life
With thy surrounding arms— -Do this, and then
Set down the liberty and life thou gavest me,
As little things, as essays of thy goodness,
And rudiments of friendship so divine.
Alon. There is a grandeur in thy goodness to me,
Which, with thy foes, would render thee adored.
And canst thou, canst thou part with Leonora ?
Car. I do not part with her, I give her thee.
Alon. Carlos'-
But think not words were ever made
For such occasions. Silence, tears, embraces,
Are languid eloquence: I'll seek relief
In absence, from the pain of so much goodness,
There thank the blest above, thy sole superiors,
Adore, and raise my thoughts of them by thee.
[Exit. Zan. Thus far success has crown'd my boldest
My next care is to hasten these new nuptials,
And then my master-works begin to play.
[Aside, and exit. Car. Too soon thou praisest me. He's gone, and
I must unsluice my overburden'd heart,
And let it flow. I would not grieve my friend
With tears; nor interrupt my great design;
Great sure as ever human breast durst think of.
But now my sorrows, long with pain suppress'd,
Burst their confinement with impetuous sway,
O'erswell all bounds, and bear e'en life away:
So, till the day was won, the Greek renown'd,
With anguish wore the arrow in his wound,
Then drew the shaft from out his tortured side,
Let gush the torrent of his blood, and died.
Go and fetch my tablets hither.
Two nights ago my father's sacred shade
Thrice stalk'd around my bed, and smiled upon me; He smiled a joy then little understood
It must be so and if so, it is vengeance
Worth waking of the dead for.
Enter ISABELLA with the Tablets; ZANGA writes ; then reads, as to himself.
The father's fix'd- -Don Carlos cannot wed
-but that will hurt his friend
Nor can he ask his leave-or, if he did,
He might not gain it-It is hard to give
Our own consent to ills, though we must bear them.
Were it not then a masterpiece, worth all
The wisdom I can boast, first to persuade
Alonzo to request it of his friend,
His friend to grant, then, from that very grant,
The strongest proof of friendship man can give,
To work out a cause
Of jealousy, to rack Alonzo's peace!
I have turn'd o'er the catalogue of woes,
Which sting the heart of man, and find none equal.
It is the hydra of calamities,
The seven-fold death; the jealous are the damn'd.
Isa. Alonzo comes this
Withdraw. [Exit ISABELLA.] Ye subtle demons, which reside
In courts, and do your work with bows and smiles,
That little enginery, more mischievous
Than fleets and armies, and the cannon's murder,
Teach me to look a lie; give me your maze
Of gloomy thought and intricate design,
To catch the man I hate, and then devour.
For soon Alonzo found it; I observed him
From out my secret stand. He took it up;
But scarce was it unfolded to his sight,
When he, as if an arrow pierced his eye,
Started, and trembling dropp'd it on the ground.
Pale and aghast a while my victim stood,
Disguised a sigh or two, and puff'd them from him;
Then rubb'd his brow, and took it
up again.
At first he look'd as if he meant to read it;
But, check'd by rising fears, he crush'd it thus,
And thrust it, like an adder, in his bosom.
Isa. But if he read it not, it cannot sting him,
At least not mortally.
Zan. At first I thought so;
But farther thought informs me otherwise,
And turns this disappointment to account.
He more shall credit it, because unseen,
(If 'tis unseen) as thou anon may'st find.
Isa. That would indeed commend my Zanga's skill.
Zan. This, Isabella, is Don Carlos' picture;
Take it, and so dispose of it, that, found,
It may rise up a witness of her love;
Under her pillow, in her cabinet,
Or elsewhere, as shall best promote our end.
Isa. I'll weigh it as its consequence requires,
Then do my utmost to deserve your smile.
Zan. Is that Alonzo prostrate on the ground? Now he starts up like flame from sleeping embers, And wild distraction glares from either eye. If thus a slight surmise can work his soul, How will the fulness of the tempest tear him! Enter DON ALONZO.
Alon. And yet it cannot be- -I am deceivedI injure her she wears the face of Heaven. Zan. He doubts.
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