Thy voice alone can utter it—another.

Sis.  Ah lost Covilla! can a thirst of power
Alter thy heart, thus, to abandon mine,
And change my very nature at one blow.

Cov.  I told you, dearest Sisabert, ’twas vain
To urge me more, to question, or confute.

Sis.  I know it—for another wears the crown
Of Witiza my father; who succeeds
To king Roderigo will succeed to me.
Yet thy cold perfidy still calls me dear,
And o’er my aching temples breathes one gale
Of days departed to return no more.

Jul.  Young man, avenge our cause.

Sis.  What cause avenge?

Cov.  If I was ever dear to you, hear me.
Not vengeance; Heaven will give that signal soon.
O Sisabert, the pangs I have endured
On your long absence—

Sis.  Will be now consoled.
Thy father comes to mount my father’s throne;
But though I would not an usurper king,
I prize his valour and defend his crown:
No stranger, and no traitor, rules o’er me,
Or unchastized inveigles humbled Spain.
Covilla, gavest thou no promises?
Nor thou, Don Julian?  Seek not to reply—
Too well I know, too justly I despise,
Thy false excuse, thy coward effrontery;
Yes, when thou gavest them across the sea,
An enemy wert thou to Mahomet,
And no appellant to his faith or leagues.

Jul.  ’Tis well: a soldier hears, throughout, in silence.
I urge no answer: to those words, I fear,
Thy heart with sharp compunction will reply.

[Sisabert, to Covilla.

Sis.  Then I demand of thee, before thou reign,
Answer me, while I fought against the Frank
Who dared to sue thee? blazon’d in the court,
Trailed not thro’ darkness, were our nuptial bands;
No: Egilona join’d our hands herself,
The peers applauded, and the king approved.

Jul.  Hast thou yet seen that king since thy return?

Cov.  Father!  O father!

Sis.  I will not implore
Of him or thee what I have lost for ever,
These were not, when we parted, thy alarms;
Far other, and far worthier of thy heart
Were they! which Sisabert could banish then!
Fear me not, now, Covilla! thou hast changed,
I am changed too—I lived but where thou livedst,
My very life was portioned off from thine.
Upon the surface of thy happiness
Day after day, I gazed, I doated—there
Was all I had, was all I coveted,
So pure, serene, and boundless, it appear’d:
Yet, for we told each other every thought,
Thou knowest well, if thou rememberest,
At times I fear’d; as tho’ some demon sent
Suspicion without form into the world,
To whisper unimaginable things;
Then thy fond arguing banished all but hope,
Each wish, and every feeling, was with thine,
Till I partook thy nature, and became
Credulous, and incredulous, like thee.
We, who have met so alter’d, meet no more.

[Takes her hand.

Mountains and seas! ye are not separation—
Death! thou dividest, but unitest too,
In everlasting peace and faith sincere.
Confiding love! where is thy resting-place!
Where is thy truth, Covilla! where? [32]—go, go,
I should adore thee and believe thee still.

[Sisabert goes.

Cov.  O Heaven! support me, or desert me quite,
And leave me lifeless this too trying hour!
He thinks me faithless.

Jul.  He must think thee so.

Cov.  O tell him, tell him all, when I am dead—
He will die, too, and we shall meet again.
He will know all when these sad eyes are closed.
Ah cannot he before! must I appear
The vilest!—O just Heaven! can it be thus?
I am—all earth resounds it—lost, despised,
Anguish and shame unutterable seize me.
’Tis palpable—no phantom, no delusion,
No dream that wakens with overwhelming horror;
Spaniard and Moor fight on this ground alone,
And tear the arrow from my bleeding breast
To pierce my father’s, for alike they fear.

Jul.  Invulnerable now, and unassail’d
Are we, alone perhaps of human kind,
Nor life allures us more, nor death alarms.

Cov.  Fallen, unpitied, unbelieved, unheard!
I should have died long earlier: gracious God!
Desert me to my sufferings, but sustain
My faith in, thee!  O hide me from the world,
And from thyself, my father, from thy fondness,
That opened in this wilderness of woe
A source of tears that else had burst my heart,
Setting me free for ever—then perhaps
A cruel war had not divided Spain,
Had not o’erturned her cities and her altars,
Had not endanger’d thee!  O haste afar
Ere the last dreadful conflict that decides
Whether we live beneath a foreign sway—

Jul.  Or under him whose tyranny brought down
The curse upon his people.  O child! child!
Urge me no further, talk not of the war,
Remember not our country.

Cov.  Not remember!
What have the wretched else for consolation,
What else have they who pining feed their woe?
Can I, or should I, drive from memory
All that was dear and sacred, all the joys
Of innocence and peace; when no debate
Was in the convent, but what hymn, whose voice,
To whom among the blessed it arose,
Swelling so sweet; when rang the vesper-bell
And every finger ceased from the guitar,
And every tongue was silent through our land;
When, from remotest earth, friends met again
Hung on each other’s neck, and but embraced,
So sacred, still, and peaceful, was the hour.
Now, in what climate of the wasted world,
Not unmolested long by the profane,
Can I pour forth in secrecy to God
My prayers and my repentance? where beside
Is the last solace of the parting soul?
Friends, brethren, parents—dear indeed, too dear,
Are they, but somewhat still the heart requires
That it may leave them lighter, and more blest.

Jul.  Wide are the regions of our far-famed land:
Thou shalt arrive at her remotest bounds,
See her best people, choose some holiest house—
Whether where Castro [35] from surrounding vines
Hears the hoarse ocean roar among his caves,
And, thro’ the fissure in the green church-yard,
The wind wail loud the calmest summer day;
Or where Santona leans against the hill,
Hidden from sea and land by groves and bowers.

Cov.  O! for one moment, in those pleasant scenes
Thou placest me, and lighter air I breathe;
Why