SCENE I-Continues. Enter Don MANUEL and ZANGA. ACT II. Zan. If this be true, I cannot blame your pain For wretched Carlos; 'tis but human in you. But when arrived your dismal news? Man. This hour. Zan. What, not a vessel saved? Man. All, all the storm Devoured; and now o'er his late envied fortune The dolphins bound, and watery mountains roar, Triumphant in his ruin. Zan. Is Alvarez Determined 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 disinclined, And pleads that only; so it was this morning, When he concurred: the tempest broke the match, And sunk his favour, when it sunk the gold. Zan. How does Don Carlos bear it? Whose heart feels most a human heart can feel, 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 learnt their loves. Zan. Ha! was not that received with ecstacy 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 She stalks in view, and fires me with her charms. Zan. That was the very night Isa. At midnight. Zan. So Say, did he see that night his Leonora ? Zan. No matter-tell me, woman, Is not Alonzo rather brave than cautious, Zan. Why, that was well-go, fetch my tablets Two nights ago my father's sacred shade The father's fixed-Don Carlos cannot wed- Were it not then a master-piece, worth all His friend to grant-then from that very grant, I have turned o'er the catalogue of human woes, qual. It is the Hydra of calamities, The seven-fold death; the jealous are the damned. To thee, thou conflagration of the soul ! Withdraw-Ye subtle dæmons, which reside smiles, That little enginery, more mischievous Than fleets and armies, and the cannon's murder, To catch the man I hate, and then devour. Enter Don ALONZO. My lord, I give you joy. Alon. Of what, good Zanga? Zan. Is not the lovely Leonora yours? Zan. He's your friend ; And since he can't espouse the fair himself, Love reigns a sultan with unrivalled sway; Insult his broken heart the very moment! Zan. I understand you: but you'll wed hereafter, When your friend's gone, and his first pain assuaged. Alon. Am I to blame in that? Your very errors; they are born from virtue. | Is Leonora worth one pang or not? Are such as may hereafter give you pain- fair To age and ugliness, because set in gold? [He gives a message to a servant, then returns. Proud hated Spain, oft drenched in Moorish blood! Dost thou not feel a deadly foe within thee? But see, the melancholy lover comes. Car. Hope, thou hast told me lics from day to day, For more than twenty years; vile promiser! Yet much is talked of bliss; it is the art Zan. My noble lord, I mourn your fate; But are no hopes surviving? Car. No hopes. Alvarez has a heart of steel. 'Tis fixed-'tis past-'tis absolute despair! Zan. You wanted not to have your heart made tender, By your own pains, to feel a friend's distress. Zan. I dare be sworn you do. Car. What canst thou mean? Zan. Indeed he has; and fears to ask a favour He can't persuade his heart to wed the maid Cur. Ha! if he weds I am undone indeed; Car. Oh, cruel Heaven! and is it not enough That I must never, never see him more? Say, is it not enough that I must die; But I must be tormented in the grave?— Ask my consent!-Must I then give her to him? Lead to his nuptial sheets the blushing maid? Oh!- -Leonora! never, never, never! Zan. A storm of plagues upon him! he refuses. [Aside. Car. What, wed her?-and to-day? Car. Oh, torment! whither shall I turn? Car. Which is the way? Zan. His happiness is yours I dare not disbelieve you. Car. Kill my friend! Or worse-Alas! and can there be a worse? I find Alonzo's quitting her this morning Car. Thou dost upbraid me. Zan. No, my good lord; but since you cant comply, 'Tis my misfortune that I mentioned it; 'Tis equal death! a choice of agonies?- To soften all to friendship and to love. Zan. My lord, I am bound in duty to obey you If I not bring him, may Alonzo prosper! [Erit. Car. What is this world? Thy school, Oh mi sery! Our only lesson is to learn to suffer; And he, who knows not that, was born for no thing. Though deep my pangs, and heavy at my heart, My comfort is, each moment takes away A grain, at least, from the dead load that's on me, And gives a nearer prospect of the grave. years? Nay, what, indeed, the age of time itself, Yet Leonora she can make time long, As he is going out, enter ZANGA and Don Aloxzo. ZANGA stops Don CARLOS. Zan. Is this Don Carlos? this the boasted friend? How can you turn your back upon his sadness? Look on him, and then leave him if you can. Whose sorrows thus depress him? Not his own: This moment he could wed without your leave. Car. I cannot yield; nor can I bear his griefs. Alonzo! [Going to him, and taking his hand. Alon. Oh, Carlos! Car. Pray, forbear. Which, like a dæmon, writhes him to and fro; Alon. Art thou undone, and shall Alonzo And shall I pour in new? No, fond desire! smile? Alonzo, who, perhaps, in some degree But, Oh, I loved myself! Pour down afflictions The only cause of my severe affliction. Which faultless virtue wants. The crime was mine, Who placed thee there, where only thou couldst fail; Though well I knew that dreadful post of honour I gave thee to maintain. Ah! who could bear Those eyes unhurt? The wounds myself have felt, (Which wounds alone should cause me to condemn thee) They plead in thy excuse; for I too strove And soften all; but think not to deceive me; Car. Pardon for him, who but this morn- Fair Leonora from his heart, all bathed But 'twas in thee, through fondness for thy friend, For which, while this pulse beats, it beats to thee; While this blood flows, it flows for my Alonzo, And every wish is levelled at thy joy. Zan. [To Alonzo.] My lord, my lord, this is your time to speak. Alon. [To Zan.] Because he's kind? It there- For 'tis his kindness which I fear to hurt. Car. Now, now it comes! they are concert- The first word strikes me dead-Oh, Leonora ! And shall another taste her fragrant breath? Who knows what after-time may bring to pass? Fathers may change, and I may wed her still. [Aside. Alon. [To Zan.] Do I not see him quite possessed with anguish, No, love! one pang at parting, and farewell. Car. Alas! my friend, why with such eager grasp Dost press my hand, and weep upon my cheek? Alon. If, after death, our forms (as some believe) Shall be transparent, naked every thought, And friends meet friends, and read each other's hearts, Thou'lt know one day that thou wert held most dear. Farewell. Car. Alonzo, stay-he cannot speak [Holds him. Lest it should grieve me-Shall I be outdone? And lose in glory, as I lose in love? [Aside. I take it much unkindly, my Alonzo, You think so meanly of me, not to speak, When well I know your heart is near to bursting. Have you forgot how you have bound me to you? Your smallest friendship's liberty and life. Alon. There, there it is, my friend! it cuts me there. 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 me. [Aside. Then you confess you would ask something of me? Alon. No, on my soul. Zan. [To Alon.] Then lose her. Why what a pang has he run through for this! Strengthen like wine, and animate the soul, Since thy great soul disdains to make request, Fate and Alvarez tore her from my heart, gether. Of that no more-What now does reason bid? That Heaven is pleased to make distress become | For such occasions. Silence, tears, embraces, her, ACT III. SCENE I. Enter ZANGA. Scarce had the pricst the holy rite performed, Zan. O Joy, thou welcome stranger! twice That letter, which, in glowing terms, conveys, three years I have not felt thy vital beam; but now It warms my veins, and plays around my heart: From happy Carlos to fair Leonora, To aid the nobler workings of my brain. Isa. I quickly dropt it in the bride's apartment, As you commanded. Zan. With a lucky hand; For soon Alonzo found it; I observed him Then rubbed his brow, and took it up again. 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, |