University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

The Court.
Enter King, Alonzo, and Nobles.
KING.
Benducar's murder shall be well avenged;
But, good Alonzo, 'tis no time for mourning,
When at our very gates the enemy
Makes bold to knock.

ALONZO.
He shall be answer'd quickly.
My soul, indeed, is sad; yet argue not,
Because my soul is sad, my passion feels
The less disposed to combat. Grief, grown savage
From lack of tears, consorts with slaughter well,
And makes a lion of calamity.

KING.
Are all our faithful citizens in arms
To aid the troops?

LORD.
All, all:—they flock in crowds;
And from the rampart heights, with brandish'd blades,
Beckon the foe in their impatience.
I saw a mother set her child astride
A howitzer; and, when the infant smiled,
Call on the men to smile like him in action.

KING.
Whether by force, or fraud, the wily Moor
Hath overreach'd our army, to arrive
And give us fight beneath our very walls,
Appears not yet from our advices.

Enter an Officer.
KING.
Say,
What news report you now?

OFFICER.
The enemy
Is in the plain, and forming to assail us.

KING.
Ourself will join the fray. To you, Alonzo,
Our young patricians look: the noblest blood
In Spain shall make your charge invincible.

ALONZO.
Now, Lords, prepare! The Moor, the Moor is come
To beard us in our streets: Grenada blushes,
But trembles not. You, the nobility,
Have interest in peril to assert
Your right to honours, by your worth to wear 'em:
Come, fling your coronets into the field,
And win them back again, that none may say
Your titles rusted from inaction.
Zeal you shall have, and numbers at your nod:
The common pride that every burgher feels
Will make him straight a soldier, and our houses
Will pour their populace into the lines,
Until they swell with victory: wherefore, Lords,
For honour's sake, stand out the foremost rank
In deeds and danger, as you are in name.
Haste to your horses: mount—the battle waits;
'Tis tumult, and not war, 'till you are there.

[Exeunt.—Flourish of Trumpets.