Till grown more strong, it thrusts and stretches out,
And elbows all the kingdoms round about:

The place thus made for its first breathing free,
It moves again for ease and luxury:

Till, swelling by degrees, it has possess'd
The greater space, and now crowds up the rest.
When, from behind, there starts some petty state,
And pushes on its now unwieldy fate:

Then down the precipice of time it goes,
And sinks in minutes, which in ages rose.

Zul. True, they have pardon'd me; but do they know
What folly 'tis to trust a pardon'd foe!
A blush remains in a forgiven face;
It wears the silent tokens of disgrace:
Forgiveness to the injur'd does belong;

But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong.
My hopeful fortune's lost! and, what's above

All I can name or think, my ruin'd love!
Feign'd honesty shall work me into trust,
And seeming penitence conceal my lust.
Let Heaven's great eye of Providence now take
One day of rest, and ever after wake.

Boab. Of all mankind, the heaviest fate he bears,
Who the last crown of sinking empire wears.
No kindly planet of his birth took care:
Heaven's outcast, and the dross of ev'ry star!

[A tumultuous noise within.

Enter ABDELMELECH.

What new misfortune do these cries presage?

Abdelm. They are th' effects of the mad people's rage.

D.

All in despair tumultuously they swarm;
The fairest streets already take th' alarm;
The needy creep from cellars underground,
To them new cries from tops of garrets sound:
The aged from the chimneys seek the cold;
And wives from windows helpless infants hold.

Boab. Almanzor has th' ascendant o'er my fate:
I'm forc'd to stoop to one I fear and hate.
Disgrac'd, distress'd, in exile, and alone,
He's greater than a monarch on his throne.
Without a realm a royalty he gains;

Kings are the subjects over whom he reigns.

Aben. I found him, like Achilles on the shore, Pensive, complaining much, but threat'ning more. And, like that injur'd Greek, he heard our woes: Which, while I told, a gloomy smile arose

From his bent brows: and still, the more he heard,

A more severe and sullen joy appear'd.

But, when he knew we to despair were driv'n,
Betwixt his teeth he mutter'd thanks to Heav'n.

Abdelm. On this assault, brave sir, which we prepare, Depends the sum and fortune of the war.

Encamp'd without the fort the Spaniard lies;

And may, in spite of us, send in supplies.
Consider yet, ere we attack the place,

What 'tis to storm it in an army's face.

Almanz. The minds of heroes their own measures are,

They stand exempted from the rules of war.

One loose, one sally of the hero's soul,

Does all the military art control.

While tim'rous wit goes round, or fords the shore,
He shoots the gulph, and is already o'er.
And, when th' enthusiastic fit is spent,
Looks back amaz'd at what he underwent.

Abdal. Turn, cowards, turn; there is no hope in flight; You yet may live, if you but dare to fight.

Come, you brave few, who only fear to fly:
We're not enough to conquer, but to die.

Abdelm. No, prince; that mean advantage I refuse:
'Tis in your power a nobler fate to choose.
Since we are rivals, honour does command
We should not die, but by each other's hand.
Retire; and if it prove my destiny

To fall, I charge you let the prince go free.

Abdelm. Now ask your life.

Abdal.

'Tis gone, that busy thing, The soul, is packing up, and just on wing,

[To his men.

Like parting swallows, when they seek the spring.
Like them, at its appointed time, it goes;

And flies to countries more unknown than those.

Abdelm. No, you shall stay, and see a sacrifice;
Not offer'd by my sword, but by your eyes.
From those he first ambitious poison drew;
And swell'd to empire for the love of you.
Accursed fair!

Thy comet blaze portends a prince's fate;

And suff'ring subjects groan beneath thy weight.

Lyndaraxa. All arts of injur'd women I will try:
First I will be reveng'd; and then I'll die.
But like some falling tow'r,-

Whose seeming firmness does the sight beguile;
So hold I up my nodding head a while,
Till they come under; and reserve my fall,
That with
my ruins I may reach them all.

Hamet. I thought your passion for the queen was dead:
Or that your love had, with your hopes, been fled.
Zul. 'Twas like a fire within a furnace pent:

I smother'd it, and kept it long from vent.
But (fed with looks, and blown with sighs so fast)

It broke a passage through my lips at last.

Hamet. Where found you confidence your suit to move? Our broken fortunes are not fit to love.

Well; you

declar'd your love;-what follow'd then? Zul. She look'd as judges do on guilty men:

When big with fate they triumph in their dooms,
And smile before the deadly sentence comes.
Silent I stood, as I were thunderstruck;

Condemn'd and executed with a look.

Almanz. A hollow wind comes whistling through that door;

And a cold shiv'ring seizes me all o'er:

My teeth, too, chatter with a sudden fright:
These are the raptures of too fierce delight!
The combat of the tyrants, hope and fear;
Which hearts, for want of field-room, cannot bear.
I grow impatient; this, or that's the room:
I'll meet her; now, methinks, I hear her come.

Almanz. Again! by Heav'n I do conjure thee, speak. What art thou, spirit? and what dost thou seek?

[The Ghost comes on softly after the conjuration; and ALMANZOR retires to the middle of the stage.

Ghost. I am the ghost of her who gave thee birth; The airy shadow of her mould'ring earth.

Love of thy father me through seas did guide;
On seas I bore thee, and on seas I died.
I died; and for my winding sheet a wave
I had; and all the ocean for my grave.
But when my soul to bliss did upward move,
I wander'd round the crystal walls above;
But found th' eternal fence so steeply high,
That, when I mounted to the middle sky,

I flagg'd, and flutter'd down, and could not fly.
Then, from the battlements of th' heav'nly tow'r,
A watchman angel bid me wait this hour;
And told me I had yet a task assign'd,
To warn that little pledge I left behind;
And to divert him, ere it were too late,

From crimes unknown, and errors of his fate.

Ghost. Once more I'll see thee: then my charge is done. Far hence, upon the Mountains of the Moon, Is my abode; where Heav'n and nature smile, And strew with flow'rs the secret bed of Nile. Bless'd souls are there refin'd, and made more bright; And, in the shades of Heav'n, prepar'd for light.

[Exit Ghost. Almanz. O Heav'n, how dark a riddle's thy decree, Which bounds our wills, yet seems to leave them free! Since thy fore-knowledge cannot be in vain,

Our choice must be what thou didst first ordain.

Thus, like a captive in an isle confin'd,

Man walks at large, a pris'ner of the mind.

Almah. Then know, I from your love must yet implore One proof:—that you would never see me more.

Almanz. I must confess,

For this last stroke I did no guard provide;

I could suspect no foe was near that side:

[Starting back.

From winds and thick'ning clouds we thunder fear:
None dread it from that quarter which is clear.