University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

Sakia, Okima.
Sak.
Ah! Okima! I sink, I die with Grief,
On this Important now depends my all;
For should my Ulamar obstruct this Peace,
And obstinately should espouse Irene,
Then name a Wretch that's so accurst as I.

Okim.
Come, you provoke th' indulgent Powers to leave you,
And lose your Sons Advantage and your own;
For both you'll in this happy Marriage find.

Sak.
Once more thou know'st him not, nor he himself,
For hitherto within this wretched Breast,
From all the World I've kept th' important Mystery.
But now my Spirit groans beneath its Load
And I would ease my over-burthen'd Soul.

Okim.
Discharge it then upon this faithful Breast.

Sak.
But first by that eternal Spirit swear,
Swear by that awful, that all-seeing Mind,
That conscious is alone to the dread Secret,
To let no Time, nor Art, nor Force
Extort it from thy Mind.

Okim.
By that eternal conscious Pow'r I swear.

Sak.
Know then my Son, who thinks himself a Huron,
And whom too thou believ'st of Indian Birth,
No Huron is, nor of Canadian Kind;
Know he descended of a Christian Sire,
Young, valiant, beautiful, of noble Race.

Okim.
A Christian! you amaze me! of what Nation?

Sak.
Consult my Passions, and let those inform thee.

Okim.
What say'st thou? Then by Nation he is French.

Sak.
French is his Nation, Miramont his Name.

Okim.
Why is this Secret from your Son conceal'd?

Sak.
Let Time and Fate reveal it to him.

Okim.
Why not his Mother?

Sak.
I dare not.

Okim.
What should deter you?

Sak.
Know that my Guardian Spirit in my Dreams
Has more than once with fearful Threats forbid me.
Besides, th' important Secret should I tell,
Before my Son has seen and known his Father,
So deadly is his Hatred to the French,
The which, together with his Years grew up,
It might a criminal Aversion cause
To him who gave him Being; and besides,
All hopes of Peace it surely would destroy:
For that upon his Sentiment depends,
But he who Angie to the World prefers,
Will do his utmost to obstruct a Peace,
That needs must tear him from this cursed Clime.
He'll know that Peace will soon divulge his Birth,
And knows the Angians never will endure
To have a Frenchman lead their Troops to Battel.
Besides, should Ulamar this Secret hear
Before he sees and knows his noble Father,
It might produce an impious Thought of me.

Okim.
This is but one of those fantastick Fears
To which long Melancholly makes you subject;
For why should it produce that impious Thought?

Sak.
In secret Miramont and I were match'd,
And thrice three Years in Bonds clandestine liv'd;
In secret too I brought forth Ulamar;
And for three Years in private was he nurst,
And five I bred him with me as my Slave,
By Miramont presented to my Father,
And then your Angians made us real Captives.
When first my Husband's Hands and mine were join'd,
No Soul was conscious to my plighted Troth,
But Heav'n, and Miramont, and the poor Priest.
That kindly tied th' indissoluble Bond.
Should Miramont, avert it Heav'n, be gone
To that strange Land where Souls departed dwell,
What Thoughts might such a Tale produce in Ulamar?

Okim.
The Priest who join'd you might attest your Marriage.

Sak.
Long since, alas! that faithful Friend is dead.

Okim.
But why that tedious nine Years Mystery?

Sak.
Know that my Miramont, of noble Race,
Was yet a younger Brother of his House,
And therefore he depended on his King,
Now with that King those haughty Priests have Pow'r,
Who stile themselves Companions of their God,
And they, unless I would embrace their Faith,
Forbad all Nuptial League 'twixt me and Miramont,
Upon the penance of his King's Displeasure.

Okim.
When you were taken where was Miramont?

Sak.
He then was in a distant Fort besieg'd,
Which for his Monarch bravely he maintain'd.

Okim.
Have you ne'er since had Tidings of him;

Sak.
Ah! there thou prob'st me to the very Heart,
I since have never, never heard of him.

Okim.
Perhaps by Fortune of that War he fell.

Sak.
Should I believe thee my sad Heart would break,
And I, dear Miramont, once more should join thee;
But the great Mind is merciful and good,
And may have Comfort yet for poor Sakia.
That I from Miramont have never heard,
Proceeds from the vast Tract of Land between us,
Or want of Commerce 'twixt the French and you,
Or from th' unusual Names your Nation gave us,
When first they brought us mourful Slaves to Angie;
For I whom th' Angians now Sakia call,
Nikaia was thro' all th' Huronian Land,
And Ulamar young Miramont was there.

Okim.
But should he live, you three can never meet,
For as this Secret to the World divulg'd,
Ruins your Son with these five Warlike Nations;
So 'twill disgrace your Husband with the French,
Their Priests offended would incense their King.

Sak.
My Okima, know things are alter'd much!
For by long Conferences here with Beaufort,
My Son and I both strongly are inclin'd
T'embrace the Christian Faith.

Okim.
Ye Pow'rs! who ever in so short a time
Display'd such various Wonders?
Yet Miramont by strong Presumptions dead,
And 'tis your Safety to promote this Match.

Sab.
What! with my Husband's mortal Enemies?

Okim.
The dead have none, Death reconciles us all.

Sak.
But know that once
My Miramont, when in a dangerous State,
Upon the Bed of Languishment he lay,
Caus'd me to swear by all that I rever'd,
Even by the sacred Bond that join'd our Hands,
By Love, the sacred Tie that join'd our Souls,
And by the bright eternal Source of Love;
That when my Ulamar arriv'd to Manhood,
I ne'er would wed him to an Indian Maid;
But would transport him to those happy Climes,
That th' Ocean from our Canada divides.
Besides, in the dread Visions of the Night,
I now for three successive Nights have seen
Miramont threatning with a dreadful Frown
Irene, and the Love-sick Ulamar.
These Dreams are to my Son of dire Presage,
And here remind me e'er it be too late,
To run and tear him from impending Fate.