The Same. -
Symphony of Warlike Musick. Enter the KING, attended by GARCIA and several Officers. Files of Prisoners in Chains, and Guards, who are ranged in Order round the Stage. ALMERIA meets the KING, and kneels; afterwards GONSALEZ kneels and kisses the KING'S Hand, while GARCIA does the same to the Princess. -
KING. Almeria, rise- My best Gonsalez rise.
What, Tears! my good old Friend.-
GONS. But Tears of Joy. To see you thus, has fill'd
My Eyes with more Delight than they can hold.
KING. By Heav'n thou lov'st me, and I'm pleas'd thou dost:
Take it for Thanks, Old Man, that I rejoice
To see thee weep on this Occasion- But some
Here are who seem to mourn at our Success!
How is it, Almeria, that you meet our Eyes,
Upon this solemn Day, in these sad Weeds?
You and yours, are all, in opposition
To my Brightness, like Daughters of Affliction.
ALM. Forgive me, Sir, if I offend.
The Year, which I have vow'd to pay to Heav'n,
In Mourning and strict Life, for my Deliverance
From Death, and Wreck of the tempestuous Sea,
Wants yet to be expired.
KING. Your Zeal to Heav'n is great; so is your Debt:
Yet something too is due to me, who gave
That Life, which Heav'n preserv'd. A Day bestow'd
In Filial Duty, had atton'd and giv'n
A Dispensation to your Vow- No more.
'Twas weak and wilful- and a Woman's Errour.
Yet- upon thought, it doubly wounds my Sight,
To see that Sable worn upon the Day
Succeeding that, in which our deadliest Foe,
Hated Anselmo, was interr'd- By Heav'n,
It looks as thou didst mourn for him: Just as
Thy senseless Vow appear'd to bear its Date,
Not from that Hour wherein thou wert preserv'd,
But that wherein the curs'd Alphonso perish'd.
Ha! what? thou dost not weep to think of that?
GONS. Have Patience, Royal Sir, the Princess weeps
To have offended you. If Fate decreed,
One 'pointed Hour should be Alphonso's Loss,
And her Deliverance; Is she to blame?
KING. I tell thee she's to blame, not to have feasted
When my first Foe was laid in Earth, such Enmity,
Such Detestation, bears my Blood to his;
My Daughter should have revell'd at his Death.
She should have made these Pallace Walls to shake,
And all this high and ample Roof to ring
With her Rejoicings. What, to mourn, and weep;
Then, then, to weep, and pray, and grieve? By Heav'n,
There's not a Slave, a shackled Slave of mine,
But should have smil'd that Hour, through all his Care,
And shook his Chains in Transport and rude Harmony.
GONS. What she has done, was excess of Goodness;
Betray'd by too much Piety, to seem
As if she had offended.
KING. To seem is to commit, at this Conjuncture.
I wonnot have the seeming of a Sorrow seen
To Day- Retire, divest your self with speed
Of that offensive Black; on me be all
The Violation of your Vow.
You stand excused that I command it.
GAR. [Kneeling.] Your Pardon, Sir, if I presume so far,
As to remind you of your gracious Promise.
KING. Rise, Garcia- I forgot. Yet stay, Almeria.
ALM. O my boding Heart- What is you Pleasure, Sir?
KING. Draw near, and give your Hand; and, Garcia, yours:
Receive this Lord, as one whom I have found
Worthy to be your Husband, and my Son.
GAR. Thus let me kneel to take- O not to take,
But to devote, and yield my self for ever
The Slave and Creature of my Royal Mistress.
GONS. O let me prostrate, pay my worthless Thanks
For this high Honour.
KING. No more; my promise long since pass'd, thy Loyalty,
And Garcia's well-try'd Valour, all oblige me.
This Day we Triumph; but to morrow's Sun
Shall shine on Garcia's Nuptials.
ALM. Oh!- [Faints.
GAR. Alas, she faints! help to support her.
GONS. She recovers.
KING. A Bridal Qualm; soon off. How is't, Almeria?
ALM. A sudden Chilness Seizes on my Spirits.
Your Leave, Sir, to retire.
KING. Garcia, Conduct her. -
[GARCIA leads ALMERIA to the Door, and returns. -
This idle Vow hangs on her Woman's Fears.
I'll have a Priest shall preach her from her Faith,
And make it Sin, not to renounce that Vow
Which I'd have broken. [Trumpets. -
Enter ALONZO. -
OFFIC. The beauteous Captive, Zara, is arriv'd,
And with a Train, as if she still were Wife
To Albucacim, and the Moor had conquer'd.
KING. It is our Will she should be so attended.
Bear hence these Prisoners. Garcia, which is he,
Of whose mute Valour you relate such Wonders?
[Prisoners led off.
GAR. Osmyn, who led the Moorish Horse; he does,
Great Sir, at her Request, attend on Zara.
KING. He is your Prisoner, as you please dispose him.
GAR. I would oblige him, but he shuns my Kindness;
And with a haughty Mien, and stern Civility,
Dumbly declines all Offers: If he speak
'Tis scarce above a word; as he were born
Alone to do, and did disdain to talk;
At least, to talk where he must not command.
KING. Such sullenness, and in a Man so brave,
Must have some other Cause than his Captivity.
Did Zara, then, request he might attend her?
GAR. My Lord, she did.
KING. That, join'd with his Behaviour,
Begets a Doubt. I'd have 'em watch'd: perhaps
Her Chains hang heavier on him than his own. -
Flourish; and Enter ZARA and OSMYN bound; conducted by PEREZ and a Guard, and attended by SELIM and several Mutes and Eunuchs in a Train. -
KING. What Welcome, and what Honours, beauteous Zara,
A King and Conquerour can give, are yours.
A Conquerour indeed, where you are won;
Who with such Lustre strike admiring Eyes,
That had our Pomp been with your Presence grac'd,
Th' expecting Crowd had been deceiv'd; and seen
Their Monarch enter not Triumphant, but
In Triumph led; your Beauty's Slave.
ZARA. If I on any Terms could condescend
To like Captivity, or think those Honours,
Which Conquerors in Courtesie bestow,
Of equal Value, with unborrow'd Rule,
And Native Right to Arbitrary Sway;
I might be pleas'd, when I behold this Train
With usual Homage wait. But when I feel
These Bonds, I look with Loathing on my self;
And scorn vile Slavery, tho' doubly hid
Beneath Mock-Praises, and dissembled State.
KING. Those Bonds! 'Twas my Command you should be free.
How durst you, Perez, disobey me?
PEREZ. Great Sir,
Your Order was, she should not wait your Triumph;
But at some distance follow, thus attended.
KING. 'Tis false; 'twas more; I bad she should be free:
If not in Words, I bad it by my Eyes.
Her Eyes did more than bid- Free her and hers
With speed- yet stay- my Hands alone can make
Fit Restitution here- Thus I release you,
And by releasing you enslave my self.
ZARA. Favours conferr'd, tho' when unsought, deserve
Acknowledgement from Noble Minds. Such Thanks
As one hating to be oblig'd-
Yet hating more, Ingratitude, can pay,
I offer.
KING. Born to excel, and to command!
As by transcendent Beauty to attract
All Eyes, so by Preheminence of Soul
To rule all Hearts.
Garcia, what's he, who with contracted Brow,
[Beholding OSMYN, as they unbind him.
And sullen Port, glooms downward with his Eyes;
At once regardless of his Chains, or Liberty?
GAR. That, Sir, is Osmyn.
KING. He answers well, the Character you gave him.
Whence comes it, Valiant Osmyn, that a Man
So great in Arms, as thou art said to be,
So ill can brook Captivity,
The common Chance of War?
OSM. Because Captivity has robb'd me of a just Revenge.
KING. I understand not that.
OSM. I would not have you.
ZARA. That Gallant Moor, in Battle lost a Friend,
Whom more than Life he lov'd; and the Regret,
Of not revenging on his Foes, that Loss,
Has caus'd this Melancholy and Despair.
KING. She does excuse him; 'tis as I suspected. [To GONS.
GONS. That Friend may be her self; show no Resentment
Of his Arrogance yet; she looks concern'd.
KING. I'll have Enquiry made; his Friend may be
A Prisoner. His Name?
ZARA. Heli.
KING. Garcia, be it your Care to make that search.
It shall be mine to pay Devotion here;
At this Fair Shrine to lay my Laurels down,
And raise Love's Altar on the Spoils of War.
Conquest and Triumph, now, are mine no more;
Nor will I Victory in Camps adore:
For, ling'ring there, in long suspence she stands,
Shifting the Prize in unresolving Hands:
Unus'd to wait, I broke through her Delay,
Fix'd her by Force, and snatch'd the doubtful Day.
But late I find that War is but her Sport;
In Love the Goddess keeps her awful Court:
Fickle in Fields, unsteadily she flies,
But Rules with settled Sway in Zara's Eyes. [Ex. OMNES. -
