Untitled

SCENE THE FIRST.--The Sea Shore.

NAOMI and a Moresco.

Moresco. This was no time for freaks of useless vengeance.

Naomi. True! but Francesco, the Inquisitor, Thou know'st the bloodhound--'twas a strong temptation. And when they pass'd within a mile of his house, We could not curb them in. They swore by Mahomet, It were a deed of treachery to their brethren To sail from Spain and leave that man alive.

Moresco. Where is Alhadra?

Naomi. She moved steadily on Unswerving from the path of her resolve. Yet each strange object fix'd her eye: for grief Doth love to dally with fantastic shapes, And smiling, like a sickly moralist, Gives some resemblance of her own concerns To the straws of chance, and things inanimate. I seek her here; stand thou upon the watch.

[Exit Moresco.

Naomi (looking wistfully to the distance). Stretch'd on the rock! It must be she--Alhadra!

[ALHADRA rises from the rock, and advances slowly, as if musing.

Naomi. Once more, well met! what ponder'st thou so deeply?

Alhadra. I scarce can tell thee! For my many thoughts Troubled me, till with blank and naked mind I only listen'd to the dashing billows. It seems to me, I could have closed my eyes And wak'd without a dream of what has pass'd; So well it counterfeited quietness, This wearied heart of mine!

Naomi. 'Tis thus by nature Wisely ordain'd, that so excess of sorrow Might bring its own cure with it.

Alhadra. Would to Heaven That it had brought its last and certain cure! That ruin in the wood.

Naomi. It is a place Of ominous fame; but 'twas the shortest road, Nor could we else have kept clear of the village. Yet some among us, as they scal'd the wall, Mutter'd old rhyming prayers.

Alhadra. On that broad wall I saw a skull; a poppy grew beside it, There was a ghastly solace in the sight!

Naomi. I mark'd it not, and in good truth the night-bird Curdled my blood, even till it prick'd the heart. Its note comes dreariest in the fall of the year:

[Looking round impatiently.

Why don't they come? I will go forth and meet them.

[Exit NAOMI.

Alhadra (alone). The hanging woods, that touch'd by autumn seem'd As they were blossoming hues of fire and gold, The hanging woods, most lovely in decay, The many clouds, the sea, the rock, the sands, Lay in the silent moonshine; and the owl, (Strange! very strange!) the scritch owl only wak'd, Sole voice, sole eye of all that world of beauty! Why such a thing am I! Where are these men? I need the sympathy of human faces To beat away this deep contempt for all things Which quenches my revenge. Oh!--would to Alla The raven and the sea-mew were appointed To bring me food, or rather that my soul Could drink in life from the universal air! It were a lot divine in some small skiff, Along some ocean's boundless solitude, To float for ever with a careless course, And think myself the only being alive! [NAOMI re-enters.

Naomi. Thy children----

Alhadra. Children? Whose children?

[A pause--then fiercely.

Son of Velez, This hath new-strung my arm! Thou coward tyrant, To stupify a woman's heart with anguish, Till she forgot even that she was a mother!

[A noise--enter a part of the Morescoes; and from the opposite side of the stage a Moorish Seaman.

Moorish Seaman. The boat is on the shore, the vessel waits. Your wives and children are already stow'd; I left them prattling of the Barbary coast, Of Mosks, and minarets, and golden crescents. Each had her separate dream; but all were gay, Dancing, in thought, to finger-beaten timbrels!

[Enter MAURICE and the rest of the Morescoes dragging in FRANCESCO.

Francesco. O spare me, spare me! only spare my life!

An Old Man. All hail, Alhadra! O that thou hadst heard him When first we dragg'd him forth! [Then turning to the band. Here! in her presence----

[He advances with his sword as about to kill him. MAURICE leaps in and stands with his drawn sword between FRANCESCO and the Morescoes.

Maurice. Nay, but ye shall not!

Old Man. Shall not? Hah? Shall not?

Maurice. What, an unarm'd man? A man that never wore a sword? A priest? It is unsoldierly! I say, ye shall not!

Old Man (turning to the bands). He bears himself most like an insolent Spaniard!

Maurice. And ye like slaves, that have destroy'd their master, But know not yet what freedom means; how holy And just a thing it is! He's a fallen foe! Come, come, forgive him!

All. No, by Mahomet!

Francesco. O mercy, mercy! talk to them of mercy!

Old Man. Mercy to thee! No, no, by Mahomet!

Maurice. Nay, Mahomet taught mercy and forgiveness. I am sure he did!

Old Man. Ha! Ha! Forgiveness! Mercy!

Maurice. If he did not, he needs it for himself!

Alhadra. Blaspheming fool! the law of Mahomet Was given by him, who framed the soul of man. This the best proof--it fits the soul of man! Ambition, glory, thirst of enterprize, The deep and stubborn purpose of revenge, With all the boiling revelries of pleasure-- These grow in the heart, yea, intertwine their roots With its minutest fibres! And that Being Who made us, laughs to scorn the lying faith, Whose puny precepts, like a wall of sand, Would stem the full tide of predestined Nature!

Naomi (who turns toward Francesco with his sword). Speak!

All (to Alhadra). Speak!

Alhadra. Is the murderer of your chieftain dead? Now as God liveth, who hath suffer'd him To make my children orphans, none shall die Till I have seen his blood! Off with him to the vessel!

[A part of the Morescoes hurry him off.

Alhadra. The Tyger, that with unquench'd cruelty, Still thirsts for blood, leaps on the hunter's spear With prodigal courage. 'Tis not so with man.

Maurice. It is not so, remember that, my friends! Cowards are cruel, and the cruel cowards.

Alhadra. Scatter yourselves, take each a separate way, And move in silence to the house of Velez. [Exeunt.