 | The Viceroy |  |
SCENE IV.
THE VICEROY, VELORA; GARCIA enters with an Officer.THE VICEROY.
O! Garcia, what inspires
This bold contempt?
GARCIA.
Thy danger, with a sense
Of honor, and attachment still remaining
To one, who little has deserved my friendship;
Whose fatal passions have at length produced
The dire effects proportioned to their guilt—
But 'tis no time to parley; thro' the city
All is confusion, anger, and revenge:
The swarming Indians, with religious fury,
Call on their murdered Bramin: all our troops,
With spirits ripe for mutiny, demand
Sylveyra's freedom. O! unhappy Castro,
If justice, glory, and our country's welfare
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Haste! re-assume thy better self, and rush
To quell these tumults, ere they rise to crush thee.
THE VICEROY.
By hell's dark powers the tidings, thou hast brought,
Suit the wild tempest in my tortured brain:
Lead to the fiercest terrors of the storm!
I'll gladly meet them; for my soul's prepared
To rush upon the lightning's keenest flash,
And bless the thunders, that are launched against me.
GARCIA.
Come! my brave friend, let me but soothe thy spirit,
And lead thy virtue to a just atonement,
We yet may stop the ruin, that impends.
THE VICEROY
turning back, as he and GARCIA are quitting the stage.
But my Velora!—mark me Officer!
Let her be treated with most humble duty!
Nor be her steps confined, except within
The utmost limits of our castle wall!
But place a double guard at every gate!
Farewell! thou matchless, dear, destructive beauty!
(Exit with Garcia.
VELORA.
(alone.
Ye generous men! who strive to terminate
The base enthralment of our dear Sylveyra,
Still may the sense of all his bright perfections,
His great achievements, and his galling wrongs
Feed the just anger of your noble minds!
| The Viceroy | |