University of Virginia Library

SCENE VIII.

ELVIRA, DON PEDRO, RAMIREZ.
DON PEDRO.
Elvira! my soul's happiness—

ELVIRA.
Ah! Prince!
I have to tell—O heaven!—But look that none,
No eye may here surprize us.

DON PEDRO.
You, Ramirez,
Will watch without. Now, in the name of love,
What mean these streaming eyes? this face o'ercast
With dark despair? Speak, save me from my fears.
Suspence is torture!

ELVIRA.
And discovery, death!
My Lord! my husband! now the hour is come,
The fatal moment my sad thought presag'd!
Even at the sacred altar, when our hearts
Were wedded with our hands, even then I fear'd it—
O were the threaten'd ruin all my own!

DON PEDRO.
Our fate is one; our happiness or woe
Inseparably link'd—But whence, my love,
This deep alarm?

ELVIRA.
Your marriage with the Princess—
O thence it springs! Alonzo too has nam'd
Th'approaching hour to tell you, it is fix'd!
Yet more, th'offended Queen suspects our loves!
Had you beheld the rage to which her soul
Abandons all its faculties!—And now,
Made furious by despair, to what a height
Will jealousy transport her, when its eye,
In this suspected mistress, finds a wife!

DON PEDRO.
Yet, calm thy fears. Since on Don Pedro's faith
Depends the sacred charge of saving thee,
His sum of bliss! what anger, whose revenge
Should wake such tempest in Elvira's bosom?

ELVIRA.
Prince, judge more nobly of me. This alarm
Is all for him, whose every pain is mine.
My dangers touch me, but as your distress;
As they must wound—for Oh too sure they will!
Thy generous breast. And it will witness for me,
The splendor of a crown, that worship'd sun
Of vulgar eyes, could never dazzle mine:
For when I dar'd, in giving you my hand,
To violate the law, the rigid law,
That makes a marriage, such as mine, rebellion;
I came the willing victim of your love,
Resign'd, devoted to whatever fate
Heaven may reserve for either!

DON PEDRO.
Yes, Elvira,
Thy generous virtue was the charm supreme
That made me first, and binds me thine, for ever!

ELVIRA.
Nor do I now repent me. No, my Lord:
Even on the scaffold, at the lifted ax
My heart could smile; remembring it had once,
By being yours, brought happiness to both.

DON PEDRO.
The same bright flame, which angels might avow,
Inspires thy lover's breast—for such I am,
Such will to death be found. The name of wife,
While it refines this passion, makes it duty:
And if I needs must tremble for thy days,
All other names, however holy deem'd,
Son, subject, father, king, are light as air,
When in the ballance laid to counterpoise
Those, still more sacred, that connubial love
Has rais'd, has sanctify'd—

ELVIRA.
My soul shrinks back
With horror from these transports. O remember,
When Hymen's secret rite first join'd our hands,
Remember what my tenderness exacted,
And what your vows assur'd me—still to hold
Elvira dear; but still, as death, to shun
The crime of civil war! and O what doom,
What fate soever heaven may have in store
For her you honor'd, never to forget,
Your father is your sovereign!

DON PEDRO.
By the Power,
Whose primal law has made our being one!
No promises shall stay a husband's arm
From sheltering thee. There is on earth no claim,
No tie of duty strong enough to hold
My fierce impatience. Thou to me art all,
Faith, virtue, honor: or these shadowy names
All vanish at the brightness of thine eye!

ELVIRA.
My Lord, I must not hear you—

DON PEDRO.
Then—retire:
Fly, if it must be, this tumultuous court,
This scene of storm and danger. To the shade,
To that sweet solitude where first our loves
Were ratify'd and blest, where calm Content
And true Repose have fix'd their soft abode,
Return, Elvira: safety there awaits thee.

ELVIRA.
O dear remember'd scene! O hours of peace
That are no more! Beneath its pensive pines,
And by the murmurs of its mazy stream
That breath'd out freshness on our secret walk,
The morn arose, the peaceful evening clos'd
On our united hearts! All fear was far,
All jealousy of courts; for Love himself
Stood guardian of the shade!

DON PEDRO.
No more, no more:
These thoughts but soothe, but soften both to weakness.
For me, no color of delay remains.
I know Alonzo well; his eye severe,
His breast inflexible: and I this hour
Must meet their utmost terror. Then the Queen—
Should her unsleeping jealousy at last
Surprize the dangerous secret of our loves,
The King, most sure, to her insulted pride,
And to the voice of Justice, would give up
Elvira's head—O fly, and guard my soul
From this distracting fear!

ELVIRA.
It must not be.
For me to fly at present would be fatal:
At once disclosing what with all our care
We should conceal. 'Tis safer to remain;
To guide our steps with prudence, and our breasts
With firmness arm. From this alarming hour,
We meet no more—and is it I, O heaven!
Who give the hard advice?—no more exchange
A look, a smile, where other eyes are present;
For all around are hostile!

DON PEDRO.
Be it so.
I go resolv'd—But, O my soul's best treasure!
O'er every motion, every look and word,
Let close-ey'd Caution watch.

ELVIRA.
Alas, my Lord!
All that a woman's feeble reason can,
Elvira will attempt. Ye pitying powers,
Who see with what reluctance from his sight
I turn my parting steps, around his head
Spread your protecting wings! for oh! who knows
What can assure us, but we both receive,
And both an everlasting farewel give!