But whence this new-fprung hope?
The chief, whofe wifdom guides the Turkish counfels.
He, tir'd of flav'ry, tho' the highest slave,
Projects at once our freedom and his own;
And bids us thus difguis'd await him here.
Can he restore the state he could not fave?
In vain, when Turkey's troops affail'd our walls,
His kind intelligence betray'd their measures;
Their arms prevail'd, though Cali was our friend.
When the tenth fun had fet upon our forrows,
At midnight's private hour, a voice unknown
Sounds in my fleeping ear, Awake, Demetrius,
‹ Awake, and follow me to better fortunes;'
Surpriz'd I ftart, and blefs the happy dream;
Then rouzing, know the fiery chief Abdalla,
Whofe quick impatience feiz'd my doubtful hand,
And led me to the fhore where Cali ftood,
Penfive and lift'ning to the beating furge.
There, in foft hints and in ambiguous phrase,
With all the diffidence of long experience,
That oft' had practis'd fraud, and oft' detected,
The vet'ran courtier half reveal'd his project.
By his command, equip'd for fpeedy flight,
Deep in a winding creek a galley lies,
Mann'd with the braveft of our fellow-captives,
Selected by my care, a hardy band,
That long to hail thee chief.
LEONTIU S.
But what avails
So fmall a force? or why fhould Cali fly?
Or how can Cali's flight reftore our country?
Referve thefe queftions for a fafer hour,
Or hear himself, for fee the Baffa comes.
DEMETRIUS, LEONTIUS, CALI BASSA.
Now fummon all thy foul, illuftrious Chriftian!
Awake each faculty that fleeps within thee,
The courtier's policy, the fage's firmnefs,
The warrior's ardour, and the patriot's zeal;
If chafing past events with vain purfuit,
Or wand'ring in the wilds of future being,
A fingle thought now rove, recall it home.
But can thy friend fuftain the glorious caufe,
The caufe of liberty, the cause of nations?
Obferve him closely with a statefiman's eye,
Thou that haft long perus'd the draughts of nature,
And know'ft the characters of vice and virtue,
Left by the hand of heav'n on human clay.
His mien is lofty, his demeanour great,
Nor fprightly folly wantons in his air,
Q 2
Nor dull ferenity becalms his eyes.
Such had I trufted once as soon as seen,
But cautious age fufpects the flatt'ring form,
And only credits what experience tells.
Has filence prefs'd her feal upon his lips?
Does adamantine faith inveft his heart?
Will he not bend beneath a tyrant's frown?
Will he not melt before ambition's fire?
Will he not soften in a friend's embrace?
Or flow diffolving in a woman's tears?
Sooner the trembling leaves fhall find a voice,
And tell the fecrets of their confcious walks ;
Sooner the breeze fhall catch the flying founds,
And fhock the tyrant with a tale of treason.
Your flaughter'd multitudes that fwell the fhore
With monuments of death, proclaim his courage;
Virtue and liberty engross his foul,
And leave no place for perfidy or fear.
I fcorn a truft unwillingly repos'd;
Demetrius will not lead me to difhonour;
Confult in private, call me when your scheme
Is ripe for action, and demands the fword. [Going.
Forgive an old man's weakness,
And fhare the deepeft fecrets of my foul,
My wrongs, my fears, my motives, my defigns.
When unfuccefsful wars, and civil factions,
Embroil'd the Turkish state, our Sultan's father
Great Amurath, at my requeft, forfook
The cloifter's cafe, refum'd the tott'ring throne,
And fnatch'd the reins of abdicated pow'r
From giddy Mahomet's unfkilful hand.
This fir'd the youthful king's ambitious breaft,
He murmurs vengeance at the name of Cali,
And dooms my rash fidelity to ruin.
Unhappy lot of all that shine in courts;
For forc'd compliance, or for zealous virtue,
Still odious to the monarch, or the people.
Such are the woes when arbitrary pow'r
And lawless paffion, hold the fword of justice.
If there be any land, as fame reports,
Where common laws reftrain the prince and fubject,
A happy land, where circulating pow'r
Flows through each member of th' embodied state,
Sure, not unconscious of the mighty bleffing,
Her grateful fons fhine bright with ev'ry virtue ;
Untainted with the luft of innovation,
Sure all unite to hold her league of rule
Unbroken as the facred chain of nature,
That links the jarring elements in peace.
But fay, great Baffa, why the Sultan's anger,
Burning in vain, delays the ftroke of death?
Young, and unfettled in his father's kingdoms,
Fierce as he was, he dreaded to destroy
The empire's darling, and the foldier's boast,
But now confirm'd, and fwelling with his conquefts,
Secure he tramples my declining fame,
Frowns unreftrain'd, and dooms me with his eyes.
DEMETRIUS.
What can reverse thy doom?
But Greece is ftill forgot.
Which lately blefs'd my gentle government,
Soon as the Sultan's unexpected fate
Fills all th' aftonifh'd empire with confufion,
My policy fhall raife an eafy throne;
The Turkish pow'rs from Europe fhall retreat,
And harrafs Greece no more with wafteful war.
A galley mann'd with Greeks, thy charge, Leontius,
Attends to waft us to repofe and fafety.
That veffel, if observ'd, alarms the court,
And gives a thousand fatal queftions birth;
Why ftor'd for flight? and why prepar'd by Cali?
This hour I'll beg, with unfufpecting face,
Leave to perform my pilgrimage to Mecca;
Which granted, hides my purpofe from the world,
Ard, though refus'd, conceals it from the Sultan.
|