And till my ghastly tale is told I pass, like night, from land to land; What loud uproar bursts from that door! O wedding-guest! this soul hath been O sweeter than the marriage-feast, With a goodly company:— To walk together to the kirk, And altogether pray, While each to his Great Father bends, Old men, and babes, and loving friends, And youths, and maidens gay. Farewell, farewell; But this I tell He prayeth best who loveth best, The Mariner whose eye is bright, He went like one, that hath been stunned, And is of sense forlorn : A sadder and a wiser man He rose the morrow moru. REMORSE; A TRAGEDY, IN FIVE ACTS. DRAMATIS PERSONE. Marquis Valdez, Father to the two brothers, and Donna Teresa's Guardian. Don Alvar, the eldest son. Don Ordonio, the youngest son. Monviedro, a Dominican and Inquisitor. Zulimez, the faithful attendant on Alvar. Isidore, a Moresco Chieftain, ostensibly a Christian. Familiars of the Inquisitim. Naomi. Moors, Servants, &c. Donna Teresa, an Orphan Heiress. Alhadra, Wife to Isidore. Time. The reign of Philip II., just at the close of the civil wars against the Moors, and during the heat of the persecution which raged against them, shortly after the edict which forbade the wearing of Moresco apparel under pain of death. REMORSE. ACT I. SCENE I.-The Sea Shore on the Coast of Granada. DON ALVAR, wrapt in a Boat-cloak, and ZULIMEZ (a Moresco), both as just landed. Zul. No sound, no face of joy to welcome us! Alv. My faithful Zulimez, for one brief moment Let me forget my anguish and their crimes. If aught on earth demand an unmix'd feeling, "Tis surely this after long years of exile To step forth on firm land, and gazing round us, To hail at once our country, and our birth-place. Hail, Spain! Granada, hail! once more I press Thy sands with filial awe, land of my fathers! Zul. Then claim your rights in it! O, revered Don Alvar, Yet, yet give up your all too gentle purpose. It is too hazardous! reveal yourself, And let the guilty meet the doom of guilt! Alv. Remember, Zulimez! I am his brother: Injured, indeed! O deeply injured! yet Ordonio's brother. Zul. Nobly-minded Alvar! This sure but gives his guilt a blacker dye. Alv. The more behoves it, I should rouse within him Remorse! that I should save him from himself. Zul. Remorse is as the heart in which it grows : If that be gentle, it drops balmy dews Of true repentance; but if proud and gloomy, And of a brother, Alv Dare 1 hold this, unproved? nor make one effort To save him?-Hear me, friend! I have yet to tell thee, That this same life, which he conspired to take, Himself once rescued from the angry flood, And at the imminent hazard of his own. Add too my oath Zul. The years You have thrice told already of absence and of secrecy To which a forced oath bound you: if in truth Alv. My long captivity Left me no choice: the very Wish too languish'd Zul. Heavy presumption ! Alv. It weigh'd not with me— -Hark! I will tell thee all: As we pass'd by, I bade thee mark the base |