but humane in you.
| But when arriv'd your dismal news? |
| |
| Man. This hour. |
| |
| Zan. What, not a vessel sav'd? |
| |
| Man. All, all, the storm |
| Devour'd; and now o'er his late envy'd fortune |
| The dolphins bound, and wat'ry mountains roar, |
| Triumphant in his ruin. |
| |
| Zan. Is Alvarez |
| Determin'd to deny his daughter to him. |
| That treasure was on shore; must that too join |
| The common wreck? |
| |
| Man. Alvarez pleads, indeed, |
| That Leonora's heart is disinclin'd, |
| And pleads that only; so it was this morning, |
| When he coucurr'd: the tempest broke the match; |
| And sunk his favour, when it sunk the gold. |
| The love of gold is double in his heart; |
| The vice of age, and of Alvarez too. |
| |
| Zan. How does don Carlos bear it? |
| |
| Man. Like a man |
| Whose heart feels most a human heart can feel, |
| And reasons best a human head can reason. |
| |
| Zan. But is he then in absolute despair? |
| |
| Man. Never to see his Leonora more. |
| And, quite to quench all future hope, Alvarez |
| Urges Alonzo to espouse his daughter |
| This very day; for he has learn'd their loves. |
| |
| Zan. Ha! was not that receiv'd with ecstasy |
| By don Alonzo? |
| |
| Man. Yes, at first; but soon |
| A damp came o'er him, it would kill his friend. |
| |
| Zan. Not if his friend consented: and since now |
| He can't himself espouse her— |
| |
| Man. Yet, to ask it |
| Has something shocking to a gen'rous mind; |
| At least, Alonzo's spirit startles at it. |
| Wide is the distance between our despair, |
| And giving up a mistress to another. |
| But I must leave you. Carlos wants support |
| In his severe affliction.[exit. |
| |
| Zan. Ha, it dawns!— |
| It rises to me, like a new-found world |
| To mariners long time distress'd at sea, |
| Sore from a storm, and all their viands spent; |
| Or like the sun just rising out of chaos, |
| Some dregs of ancient night not quite purg'd off. |
| But shall I finish it?—Hoa, Isabella! |
| |
| Enter Isabella. |
| |
| I thought of dying; better things come forward; |
| Vengeance is still alive! from her dark covert, |
| With all her snakes erect upon her crest, |
| She stalks in view, and fires me with her charms. |
| When, Isabella, arriv'd don Carlos here? |
| |
| Isa. Two nights ago. |
| |
| Zan. That was the very night |
| Before the battle—Mem'ry, set down that; |
| It has the essence of a crocodile, |
| Though yet but in the shell—I'll give it birth— |
| What time did he return? |
| |
| Isa. At midnight. |
| |
| Zan. So— |
| Say, did he see that night his Leonora? |
| |
| Isa. No, my good lord. |
| |
| Zan. No matter—tell me, woman, |
| Is not Alonzo rather brave than cautious, |
| Honest than subtle, above fraud himself, |
| Slow, therefore, to suspect it in another? |
| |
| Isa. You best can judge; but so the world thinks of him. |
| |
| Zan. Why, that was well—go, fetch my tablets hither. |
| [exit Isabella. |
| Two nights ago my father's sacred shade |
| Thrice stalk'd around my bed, and smil'd upon me: |
| He smil'd, a joy then little understood— |
| It must be so—and if so, it is vengeance |
| Worth waking of the dead for. |
| |
| Re-enter Isabella, with the tablets; Zanga writes, |
| then reads as to himself. |
| |
| Thus it stands— |
| The father's fix'd—Don Carlos cannot wed— |
| Alonzo may—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 master-piece 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 |
| (And other motives), to work out a cause |
| Of jealousy, to rack Alonzo's peace? |
| I have turn'd o'er the catalogue of human woes, |
| Which sting the heart of man, and find none equal. |
| It is the hydra of calamities, |
| The sev'nfold death; the jealous are the damn'd. |
| Oh, jealousy, each other passion's calm |
|
|