Shall rest; shews me the grave, where nature,

weary

And long oppresed with woes and bending cares,
May lay the burthen down, and sink in slumbers
Of peace eternal. Death, grim death, will fold
Me in his leaden arms, and press me close
To his cold clayey breast: My father, then,
Will cease his tyranny; and Garcia, too,
Will fly my pale deformity with loathing.
My soul, enlarged from its vile bonds, will mount,
And range the starry orbs, and milky ways,
Of that refulgent world, where I shall swim
In liquid light, and float, on seas of bliss,
To my Alphonso's soul. Oh, joy too great!
Oh, ecstacy of thought! Help me, Anselmo ;
Help me, Alphonso; take me, reach thy hand;
To thee, to thee I call; to thee, Alphonso:
Oh, Alphonso!

OSMYN ascending from the tomb,

Osm. Who calls that wretched thing that was Alphonso?

Alm. Angels, and all the host of heaven, support me!

Osm. Whence is that voice, whose shrillness, from the grave,

And growing to his father's shroud, roots up
Alphonso?

Aim. Mercy! Providence! Oh, speak,
Speak to it quickly, quickly; speak to me,
Comfort me, help me, hold me, hide me, hide me,
Leonora, in thy bosom, from the light,
And from my eyes!

Osm. Amazement and illusion!

Rivet and nail me where I stand, ye powers,

[Coming forward.

That, motionless, I may be still deceived.
Let me not stir, nor breathe, lest I dissolve
That tender, lovely form of painted air,
So like Almeria. Ha! it sinks, it falls;
I'll catch it ere it goes, and grasp her shade!
'Tis life! 'tis warin! 'tis she, 'tis she herself!
Nor dead, nor shade, but breathing and alive!
It is Almeria, it is my wife!

Alm. I have sworn I'll not wed Garcia: why do ye force me?

Is this a father?

Osm. Look on thy Alphonso.

Thy father is not here, my love, nor Garcia:
Nor am I what I seem, but thy Alphonso.
Wilt thou not know me? Hast thou then forgot

me?

Hast thou thy eyes, yet canst not see Alphonso?
Am I so altered, or art thou so changed,
That, seeing my disguise, thou seest not me?

Alm. It is, it is Alphonso! 'tis his face,
His voice-I know him now, I know him all.
Oh, take me to thy arms, and bear me hence,
Back to the bottom of the boundless deep,
To seas beneath, where thou so long hast dwelt.
Oh, how hast thou returned? How hast thou
charmed

The wildness of the waves and rocks to this; That, thus relenting, they have given thee back To earth, to light and life, to love and me?

Osm. Oh, I'll not ask, nor answer, how or why We both have backward trod the paths of fate, To meet again in life; to know I have thee, Is knowing more than any circumstance, Or means, by which I have theeTo fold thee thus, to press thy balmy lips, And gaze upon thy eyes, is so much joy, I have not leisure to reflect, or know, Or trifle time in thinking.

It is too much! too much to bear and live!
To see thee thus again is such profusion
Of joy, of bliss-I cannot bear-I must
Be mad-I cannot be transported thus.
Osm. Thou excellence, thou joy, thou heaven

of love!

Alm. Where hast thou been? and how art thou alive?

How is all this? All-powerful Heaven, what are we?

Oh, my

strained heart-let me again behold thee, For I weep to see thee-Art thou not paler? Much, much; how thou art changed!

Osm. Not in my love.

Alm. No, no! thy griefs, I know, have done this to thee.

Thou hast wept much, Alphonso; and, I fear, Too much, too tenderly, lamented me.

Osm. Wrong not my love, to say too tenderly. No more, my life; talk not of tears or grief; Affliction is no more, now thou art found. Why dost thou weep, and hold thee from my

arms,

To my distress, to my despair, which Heaven
Could only, by restoring thee, have cured.

Osm. Grant me but life, good Heaven, but length of days,

To pay some part, some little of this debt,
This countless sum of tenderness and love,
For which I stand engaged to this all-excellence :
Then bear me in a whirlwind to my fate,
Snatch me from life, and cut me short unwarned:
Then, then, 'twill be enough-I shall be old,
I shall have passed all æras then

Of yet unmeasured time; when I have made
This exquisite, this most amazing goodness,
Some recompence of love and matchless truth.

Alm. 'Tis more than recompence to see thy face: If heaven is greater joy, it is no happiness, For 'tis not to be borne-What shall I say? I have a thousand things to know and ask, And speak-That thou art here beyond all hope, All thought; that all at once thou art before me, And with such suddenness hast hit my sight, Is such surprise, such mystery, such extasy, It hurries all my soul, and stuns my sense. Sure from thy father's tomb thou didst arise? Osm. I did; and thou, my love, didst call me;

thou.

Alm. True; but how cam'st thou there? Wert thou alone?

Osm. I was, and lying on my father's lead,
When broken echoes of a distant voice
Disturbed the sacred silence of the vault,
In murmurs round my head. I rose and lis-
tened,

And thought I heard thy spirit call Alphonso;
I thought I saw thee too; but, Oh, I thought not
That I indeed should be so blest to see thee-
Alm. But still, how cam'st thou thither? How
thus?-Ha!

What is he, who, like thyself, is started here
Ere seen?

Osm. Where? Ha! What do I see, Antonio!
I am fortunate indeed-my friend, too, safe!
Heli. Most happily, in finding you thus blessed.
Alm. More miracles! Antonio escaped!
Osm. And twice escaped; both from the rage

of seas And war: for in the fight I saw him fall.

Heli. But fell unhurt, a prisoner as yourself,

| And as yourself made free; hither I came, Impatiently to seek you, where I knew Your grief would lead you to lament Anselmo. Osm. There are no wonders; or else all is wonder.

Heli. I saw you on the ground, and raised you up,

When with astonishment I saw Almeria.

Osm. I saw her too, and therefore saw not thee.

Alm. Nor I; nor could I, for my eyes were

yours.

Osm. What means the bounty of all-gracious
Heaven,

That persevering still, with open hand,
It scatters good, as in a waste of mercy!
Where will this end? But Heaven is infinite
In all, and can continue to bestow,

When scanty number shall be spent in telling. Leon. Or I am deceived, or I beheld the glimpse

Of two in shining habits cross the aisle;
Who by their pointing, seem to mark this place.
Alm. Sure I have dreamt, if we must part so

Osm. She's the reverse of thee; she's my un-
happiness.

Harbour no thought that may disturb thy peace;
But gently take thyself away, lest she
Should come, and see the straining of my eyes
To follow thee.

Retire, my love, I'll think how we may meet
To part no more; my friend will tell thee all;
How I escaped, how I am here, and thus ;
How I am not called Alphonso now, but Osmyn;
And he Heli. All, all he will unfold,
Ere next we meet-

Alm. Sure we shall meet again

Osm. We shall; we part not but to meet again. Gladness and warmth of ever-kindling love Dwell with thee, and revive thy heart in absence. [Exeunt Alm. Leon. and Heli. Yet I behold her-yet-and now no more. Turn your lights inward, eyes, and view my thoughts,

So shall you still behold her-'twill not be.
Oh, impotence of sight! Mechanic sense!
Which to exterior objects ow'st thy faculty,
Not seeing of election, but necessity.
Thus do our eyes, as do all common mirrors,
Successively reflect succeeding images :
Not what they would, but must; a star, or toad;
Just as the hand of chance administers.
Not so the mind, whose undetermined view
Resolves, and to the present adds the past:

Thee not; for what thou art yet wants a name;
But something so unworthy and so vile,
That to have loved thee makes me yet more lost
Than all the malice of my other fate.
Traitor, monster, cold, and perfidious slave!
A slave not daring to be free; nor dares
To love above him; for 'tis dangerous.

'Tis that, I know; for thou dost look, with eyes
Sparkling desire, and trembling to possess.
I know my charms have reached thy very soul,
And thrilled thee through with darted fires; but
thou

The

Dost fear so much, thou darest not wish. king! There, there's the dreadful sound! the king's thy rival!

Sel. Madam, the king is here, and entering now. Zara. As I could wish; by Heaven I'll be revenged.

Enter the KING, PEREZ, and Attendants. King. Why does the fairest of her kind withdraw

Her shining from the day, to gild this scene
Of death and night? Ha! what disorder's this?
Somewhat I heard of king and rival mentioned. ·
What's he that dares be rival to the king,
Or lift his eyes to like where I adore?

Zara. There, he, your prisoner, and that was my slave.

King. How? better than my hopes? Does she accuse him?

[Aside. Zara. Am I become so low by my captivity, And do your arms so lessen what they conquer,

That Zara must be made the sport of slaves?
And shall the wretch, whom yester sun beheld
Waiting my nod, the creature of my power,
Presume to-day to plead audacious love,
And build bold hopes on my dejected fate?
King. Better for him to tempt the rage of
Heaven,

And wrench the bolt red-hissing from the hand Of him that thunders, than but to think that insolence.

'Tis daring for a god. Hence to the wheel
With that Ixion, who aspires to hold
Divinity embraced; to whips and prisons
Drag him with speed, and rid me of his face.

[Guards seize Osmyn, and exeunt. Zara. Compassion led me to bemoan his state, Whose former faith had merited much more: And, through my hopes in you, I undertook He should be set at large! thence sprung his insolence,

And what was charity, he construed love.

King. Enough; his punishment be what you

please.

But let me lead you from this place of sorrow,
To one where young delights attend, and joys,
Yet new,
unborn, and blooming in the bud,
Which wait to be full-blown at your approach,
And spread, like roses to the morning sun :
Where every hour shall roll in circling joys,
And love shall wing the tedious wasting day.
Life, without love, is load; and time stands still:
What we refuse to him, to death we give;
And then, then only, when we love, we live.

[Exeunt.

'Tis wanting what should follow-Heaven should follow,

But 'tis torn off-Why should that word alone
Be torn from this petition? Twas to Heaven,
But Heaven was deaf, Heaven heard him not;
but thus,

Thus as the name of Heaven from this is torn,
So did it tear the ears of mercy from
His voice, shutting the gates of prayer against
him.

If piety be thus debarred access

On high, and of good men the very best
Is singled out to bleed, and bear the scourge,
What is reward? Or what is punishment?
But who shall dare to tax eternal justice !
Yet I may think I may, I must; for thought
Precedes the will to think, and error lives
Ere reason can be born. Reason, the power
To guess at right and wrong, the twinkling lamp
Of wandering life, that winks and wakes by
turns,

Fooling the follower, betwixt shade and shining. What noise! Who's there? My friend? How camest thou hither?

Enter HELI.

Heli. The time's too precious to be spent in telling.

The captain, influenced by Almeria's power,
Gave order to the guards for my admittance.

Osm. How does Almeria? But I know she is As I am. Tell me, may I hope to see her? Heli. You may. Anon, at midnight, when the king

Is gone to rest, and Garcia is retired,
Who takes the privilege to visit late,

Presuming on a bridegroom's right, she'll come.
Osm. She'll come; 'tis what I wish, yet what
I fear.

She'll come; but whither, and to whom? Oh, Heaven!

To a vile prison, and a captived wretch;

To one, whom, had she never known, she had Been happy. Why, why was that heavenly crea

ture

Abandoned o'er to love what Heaven forsakes?
Why does she follow, with unwearied steps,
One, who has tired misfortune with pursuing?
One driven about the world, like blasted leaves
And chaff, the sport of adverse winds; 'till late,
At length imprisoned in some cleft of rock,
On earth it rests, and rots to silent dust?

Heli. Have hopes, and hear the voice of better
fate.

I have learned there are disorders ripe for mutiny Among the troops, who thought to share the plunder,

Which Manuel to his own use and avarice Converts. This news has reached Valentia's frontiers,

Where many of your subjects, long oppressed
With tyranny, and grievous impositions,
Are risen in arms, and call for chiefs to head
And lead them, to regain their rights and liberty.
Osm. By Heaven thou hast roused me from
my lethargy!

The spirit which was deaf to my own wrongs,
And the loud cries of my dead father's blood,
Deaf to revenge-nay, which refused to hear
The piercing sighs and murmurs of my love
Yet unenjoyed; what not Almeria could
Revive or raise, my people's voice has wakened.
Heli. Our posture of affairs, and scanty time,
My lord, require you should compose yourself.

Osm. Oh, my Antonio! I am all on fire;
My soul is up in arms, ready to charge
And bear amidst the foe with conquering troops.
I hear them call to lead them on to liberty,
To victory; their shouts and clamours rend
My ears, and reach the heavens. Where is the
king?

Where is Alphonso? Ha! where? where indeed?
Oh, I could tear and burst the strings of life,
To break these chains. Off, off, ye stains of roy-

alty;

Off, slavery. Oh, curse! that I alone

VOL. I.

So do. I will, with patience, wait my fortune. Heli. When Zara comes, abate of

your aversion. Osm. I hate her not, nor can dissemble love: But as I may I'll do. I have a paper Which I would shew thee, friend, but that the sight

Would hold thee here, and clog thy expedition. Within I found it, by my father's hand 'Twas writ; a prayer for me, wherein appears Paternal love, prevailing o'er his sorrows; Such sanctity, such tenderness, so mixed With grief, as would draw tears from inhumanity.

Heli. The care of Providence sure left it there, To arm your mind with hope. Such piety Was never heard in vain. Heaven has in store For you those blessings it withheld from him. In that assurance live; which time, I hope, And our next meeting, will confirm.

Osm. Farewell,

My friend; the good thou dost deserve, attend thee. [Exit Heli. I have been to blame, and questioned, with impiety,

The care of Heaven. More anxious grief. taught me ;

Not so my father bore This should have better