 | The Apostate |  |
5
SCENE II.
A Street in Grenada.Enter Alvarez, supported by two Servants.
Alv.
Where is my child? where is my child, Florinda?
Where do you drag me? Let me go!—unhand me!
Let me go back and die! Unnatural men,
You should not force the father from the child.
1st Serv.
The thought is phrensy!—from the rolling smoke
You scarce were ta'en alive; and here we lead you
To breathe the fresh'ning air—You shall not go,
For, should you pass the flaming gates again,
They would swallow you for ever.
Alv.
Oh, my daughter!
Enter a Spaniard.
Speak—tell me—speak!
Span.
Your daughter has appear'd
Amid the flames at last, and at her casement
Stands with her face and arms to heaven uplifted,
And seems a suff'ring angel—while below
The multitude in speechless horror stand.
Alv.
(Kneeling.)
Hear, and record my oath! He that shall bear
Florinda to my arms shall win her hand,
And be inheritor of all my treasures;
6
Fall on my head!
(A loud shout is heard.)
What is it that I hear?
(Enter a Spaniard—after a short pause)
Span.
My lord, a desp'rate man with furious force
Bursts thro' the gather'd thousands, scales the walls,
And plunges thro' the flame.
Alv.
Oh, Heav'n reward him!
(Another shout.)
That sound sends life again thro' ev'ry vein,
And my heart bounds—
Voices
without.
She is sav'd! she is sav'd!
Alv.
O heaven!
Lead me from hence, and let me see my child.
[Exeunt.
| The Apostate | |