Almida :: :: University of Virginia Library

Tancred, follow'd by two Squires who bear his lance, buckler, &c. Aldamon. Soldiers.
TANCRED.
Hail to these native shores! Immortal powers!
How my heart glows with rapture at their sight!
O Aldamon! 'tis heaven itself has planted
Deep in each gen'rous breast, our country's love,
Mix'd with, nay stronger than the love of fame,
Or liberty, or life—to thy kind zeal,
I owe my safe return. From this blest hour,
Fortune shall smile, shall crown my rising hopes;
Thou worthy friend! thou know'st not all I owe thee.

ALDAMON.
Your goodness rates my services too high;
I'm but a soldier, a plain citizen.

TANCRED.
As thou I am, for citizens are brothers;
Long have I prov'd thy faith.

ALDAMON.
My only merit,
Is to have follow'd you with zeal sincere;
Taught by your bright example, I too learnt
To tread the path of glory. By the ties
Of love and duty, to your house devoted,
All that warm gratitude can pay, I owe.

TANCRED.
Thou kindest friend! thou ow'st me only friendship.
Behold these sacred ramparts; how my soul

Pants to defend 'em! Venerable walls,
Dear to my heart, which here first beat with life,
Am I then banish'd from ye! Say Aldamon,
What happy spot contains the fair Almida?

ALDAMON.
That ancient building is her father's palace:
This street leads to it: further yon' behold,
Th'august tribunal, where our warrior knights,
And awful senate meet; the public law,
Equal and firm to fix; the commonwealth
To govern and protect; and long ere now
The faithless Mussulman had met his fate,
Had not their best support in you been absent.
There hang their bucklers, cyphers, and devices,
Which to the world, the splendor of their deeds,
With warlike pomp proclaim; amidst these names
To glory sacred, Tancred's name is wanting.

TANCRED.

Let it be still conceal'd, for hatred waits it;
Elsewhere perhaps 'tis known enough to fame.
Suspend on these lone walls my cancell'd cyphers,
Unknown they may escape the rage of faction;
Place here my arms, simple and unadorn'd,
The emblem of my sorrows: this plain buckler;
This hemlet honour'd by no graceful plumage.

'Twas thus I wore them in the field of glory,
Of my device be careful: to my breast
Dear and auspicious in the fight it chear'd me;
The words emphatical, are love and honour.
To these brave knights who hither bend their steps,
Say that a warrior, by his choice unknown,
Is here arriv'd, to follow them to war,
And bounds his hopes to imitate their glory.
Who is their chief?

ALDAMON.
My lord, 'twas Arnolph.

TANCRED.
The father of Almida!

ALDAMON.
Long he suffer'd
The hate injurious of an odious faction;
But now his just authority regain'd,
His name and probity by all are cherish'd.
By age enfeebled—Orbassan succeeds him.

TANCRED.
Ha! my dire foe. He whose unmanly rage
Pursued my infant years, with deadliest hate;
To whom I owe the ruin of my house!
What rumour too is that, which fame has spread
Of his audacious rashness? Is it true,
That he has practis'd on a father's weakness?
Nay more, obtain'd the hope of his alliance,
And rais'd his wish presumptuous to his daughter?

ALDAMON.
Confus'dly yesterday, I heard it murmur'd.
Far from the town, retir'd within that fort
Where I receiv'd you, little do I know
What in these walls has past; I love them not,
They hold your persecutors.

TANCRED.
In thy bosom
My heart reposes with unbounded trust;
Fly to Almida: tell her an unknown,
From his first years devoted to her mother,
A friend to all her race, with ardent pray'r,
Entreats a secret interview.

ALDAMON.
I go;
Nor in her family am I a stranger;
Ought that belongs to you, will there be welcome.
I fly to serve you, and I hope success.