University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

RODRIGO, ALVAREZ.
ALVAREZ.
Health to your highness!

RODRIGO.
Brave Alvarez, welcome.
This long-expected, this auspicious morn
Will see confirm'd the league of amity
Betwixt Castile and Portugal. You time
Your wish'd arrival well; to be at once
The witness and partaker of our joy.

ALVAREZ.
My absence, and th'unceasing cares of war
On Afric's plains, against her swarthy sons,
Where, till Don Pedro, our brave prince, return'd,
The chief command was mine; that tedious absence
Has left me ignorant, or ill-inform'd,
Of most particulars.

RODRIGO.
Then know, my Lord,
Our present queen, the mother of Almeyda,
Brought with her from Castile that blooming princess,
The wish of all beholders! And, no doubt,
You must have often heard her lover's voice
Most lavish in the praises of the fair one,
Whom he this day espouses, and in her
Whate'er is excellent or lovely.

ALVAREZ.
Never!
Don Pedro, with that chaste reserve and caution
Which would become the coldest virgin's fear,
Even on a theme so pleasing still was silent;
Or only, when alone, indulg'd his rapture.

RODRIGO.
So cold a lover, and so warm a hero,
Are contraries that seldom blend in youth.
'Tis most suprizing! for, as we have heard,
His heat of valor is a rapid flame,
Encreasing as it spreads—

ALVAREZ.
And yet his prudence,
Serenely cool, keeps measure with his fire.
Had you, in this last battle with the Moors,
Had you beheld the mutual poize of each,
As either was call'd forth by fair occasion,
Your praises would be transport!—but proceed.

RODRIGO.
The sum of all is this. To-day he weds
The bright Castilian princess; and this hour
Her brother Ferdinand's ambassador
Has audience of our King—

[Trumpet sounds.
ALVAREZ.
That trumpet speaks
The happy moment come. May peace, my lord,
A long, a glorious peace be the fair issue!