Such I restore it, with a trembling hand, For I am most in thee. Thou know'st my father's hand; observe it well: So does the signet: more I cannot say, Seb. Methinks it owns The black adultery, and Almeyda's birth; Alm. Heav'n cannot be more true than this is false. Seb. O could'st thou prove it, with the same assurance! Speak, hast thou ever seen my father's hand? Alm. No; but my mother's honour has been read By me, and by the world, in all her acts, For know, proud woman, know, in thy despite, With joints so close, as not to be perceiv'd ; Yet are they both each other's counterpart. Her part had Juan inscrib'd, and his had Zayda ; (You know those names are theirs :) and in the midst A heart divided in two halves was plac'd. Now if the rivets of those rings, inclos'd, Fit not each other, I have forg'd this lic: But if they join, you must for ever part. [SEBASTIAN pulling off his ring; ALMEYDA does the same, and gives it to ALVAREZ, who unscrews both the rings, and fits one half to the other. Seb. Now life, or death! for ever! Alm. And either thine, or ours.- -I'm lost [Swoons. [The women and MORAYMA take her up and carry her off. SEBASTIAN here stands amazed without motion, his eyes fixed upward. Seb. Look to the queen my wife; for I am past All pow'r of aid to her or to myself. Alo. His wife, said he? his wife! O fatal sound; So they had still been blest in ignorance, Dor. I knew it, but too late, and durst not Seb. [Starting out of his amazement.] I will not live; no, not a moment more; I will not add one moment more to incest. Take me as you have made me, miserable; Alv. Consider whom you punish, and for what; Yourself; unjustly: You have charg'd the fault On heav'n, that best may bear it. Though incest is indeed a deadly crime, Seb. By heav'n ye're traitors all, that hold my If death be but cessation of our thought, And let 'em see a soul they could not sully: [Struggling again.] Stand off, and let me take For I can hold my breath in your despite, Seb. What! art thou giving comfort? Wouldst thou give comfort, who hast given despair? Thou seest Alonzo silent; he's a man ; Dor. [To ALV. and ANT.] Let him go: Alv. What, to destroy himself! O parricide! Dor. Be not injurious in your foolish zeal, But leave him free; or, by my sword I swear To hew that arm away, that stops the passage To his eternal rest. Ant. [Letting go his hold.] Let him be guilty of his own death if he pleases: for I'll not be guilty of mine, by holding him. The king shakes off ALVAREZ. Alv. [To DoR.] Infernal fiend! Is this a subject's part? Dor. 'Tis a friend's office. He has convinc'd me that he ought to die ; Seb. My last, my only friend, how kind art thou, And how inhuman these! Dor. To make the trifle death, a thing of moment! Seb. And not to weigh th' important cause I had, To rid myself of life. Dor. True; for a crime, So horrid in the face of men and angels, As wilful incest is! Seb. Not wilful neither. Dor. Yes, if you liv'd, and with repeated acts Refresh'd your sin, and loaded crimes with crimes, To swell your scores of guilt. Dor. I said so, if you liv'd. Seb. For hitherto 'twas fatal ignorance, And no intended crime. Dor. That you best know; But the malicious world will judge the worst. Dor. Peace, old dotard! Mankind, that always judge of kings with malice, Will think he knew this incest, and pursu'd it. His only way to rectify mistakes, And to redeem her honour, is to die. Seb. Thou hast it right, my dear, my best And that, but petty reparation too; But all I have to give. Dor. Your pardon, sir; You may do more, and ought. Dor. Death? Why that's children's sport: a We act it every night we go to bed. Shake heav'n's eternal pavement with their trembling, To view that act, would you but barely die? You must be damn'd to all eternity; Dor. Why, is that news? Dor. What, thou a statesman, Seb. O thou hast giv'n me such a glimpse of hell, So push'd me forward, even to the brink, That looking in th' abyss, I dare not leap. Dor. 'Twas the last remedy, to give you lei sure: For, if you could but think, I knew you safe. Seb. O, palliate not my wound! When you have argued all you can, 'tis incest. Dor. Mean you to turn an anchoret? The world was once too narrow for my mind, Seb. O never, never: I am past a boy; A soul fix'd high, and capable of heav'n. him. Seb. To please him more, let him believe me dead, That he may never dream I may return. But fear not Muley-Zeydan: his soft metal Seb. See where she comes again! By heav'n, when I behold those beauteous eyes, Repentance lags, and sin comes hurrying on. Alm. This is too cruel! Seb. Speak'st thou of love, of fortune, or of death, Or double death? for we must part, Almeyda. For all things that belong to us are cruel ; No, I must love you: Heav'n may bate me that, Nay, then there's incest in our very souls, Alm. Too like indeed, And yet not for each other. Sure, when we part (for I resolv'd it too, Alm. It would do well to curb it, if we could. If still you lov'd? you gave it air before me. Sister and wife are the two dearest names; Alm. To love, and be belov'd, and yet be Seb. To have but one poor night of all our lives! It was indeed a glorious, guilty night; With all its guilt, it were to come again. Why did we know so soon, or why at all, That sin could be conceal'd in such a bliss ? Alm. Men have a larger privilege of words, Else I should speak: but we must part, Sebastian; That's all the name that I have left to call thee: I must not call thee by the name I would; But when I say Sebastian, dear Sebastian, I kiss the name I speak. Seb. We must make haste, or we shall never part. I would say something that's as dear as this; Nay, would do more than say: one moment longer, And I should break through laws divine and hu man, And think 'em cobwebs, spread for little man, Re-enter DORAX. Alm. Here comes the sad denouncer of iny fate, To toll the mournful knell of separation: Seb. [To DOR.] Now be brief, And share the minute that remains betwixt Dor. Your fate has gratified you all she can, Unvex'd with noise, and undisturb'd with fears: Alm. O do not tell me where ! Seb. Ev'n past redemption : Alm. Tell me not that: for I must boast my Cut in the living rock, by Nature's hands, crime. Dor. Your subjects, conscious of your life, are few, But all desirous to partake your exile, Alm. But how am wretched I to be dispos'd? Dor. I have a sister, abbess in Terceras, Who lost her lover on her bridal day.— Alm. There fate provided me a fellow-turtle, To mingle sighs with sighs, and tears with tears. Dor. Last, for myself, if I have well fulfill'd My sad commission, let me beg the boon, To share the sorrows of your last recess, And mourn the common losses of our loves. Alv. And what becomes of me? must I be left, As age and time had worn me out of use? These sinews are not yet so much unstrung, To fail me when my master should be serv'd; And when they are, then will I steal to death, Silent, and unobserv'd, to save his tears. Scb. I've heard you both: Alvarez, have thy wish; But thine, Alonzo, thine, is too unjust. I charge thee with my last commands, return, And bless thy Violante with thy vows. Antonio, be thou happy too in thine. Last, let me swear you all to secresy; cannot. It would be still farewell, a thousand times, [She staggers, and her women hold her up. Seb. Help to support this feeble, drooping flower; This tender sweet, so shaken by the storm; For these fond arms must thus be stretch'd in vain, And never, never must embrace her more. 'Tis past my soul goes in that word;farewell. [ALVAREZ goes with SEBASTIAN to one end of the Stage; women with ALMEYDA to the other. DORAX, coming up to ANTONIO and MORAYMA, EPILOGUE. SPOKEN BETWIXT ANTONIO AND MORAYMA. Mor. I QUAK'D at heart, for fear the royal fa- | And sinn'd till we repented of each other. shion Should have seduc'd us two to separation : Ant. I trembled when the old man's hand He would have prov'd we were too near of kin: Betwixt your mother and my Mufti father; Ant. Suppose us two, Almeyda and Sebastian, With incest prov'd upon us Mor. Without question, Their conscience was too queasy of digestion. Ant. Thou wouldst have kept the counsel of thy brother, Mor. Beast as you are, on nature's laws to trample! 'Twere fitter that we follow'd their example; And since all marriage in repentance ends, 'Tis good for us to part while we are friends. To save a maid's remorses and confusions, E'en leave me now before we try conclusions. Ant. To copy their example, first make certain Of one good hour, like theirs, before our parting; Make a debauch o'er night of love and madness, And marry when we wake in sober sadness. Mor. I'll follow no new sects of your inventing, One night might cost me nine long months repenting: First wed, and if you find that life a fetter, Die when you please, the sooner, sir, the better: My wealth would get me love ere I could ask it: Oh, there's a strange temptation in the casket! All these young sharpers would my grace impor tune, And make me thund'ring votes of lives and for tune. THE ORPHAN; OR, THE UNHAPPY MARRIAGE. BY OTWAY. PROLOGUE. Nay, never once lampoon'd the harmless life Oft has he plough'd the boisterous ocean o'er, DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. MEN. ACASTO, a nobleman retired from the court, and living privately in the country. CASTALIO, sons.} POLYDORE, his sons. in Page. Chaplain. Servant. WOMEN. CHAMONT, a young soldier of fortune, brother to MONIMIA, the Orphan, left under the guardian Monimia. ship of old Acasto. SERINA, Acasto's daughter. FLORELLA, Monimia's woman. SCENE, Bohemia. · |