 | Liberty Asserted |  |
1
ACT I.
SCENE I.
SCENE, Angie in Canada.SCENE I. Sakia and Okima.
Sak.
Speak on,
Thy Looks seem big with something that's important.
Okim.
Then briefly thus:
Beaufort, that jointly with your valiant Son,
Led forth his English, and our Iroquois,
To stop th' Incursions of the French and Hurons,
Is just from our Confederate Troops arriv'd.
Sak.
Alas! how fares my Ulamar?
Okim.
Before the Sun which now declines is sett,
You may expect to hear it from himself,
For Beaufort left him just prepar'd to follow.
Sak.
Now the great Mind be praised!
My Son has lost then, and the French are Victors.
Okim.
No, my Sakia,
The Ruler of the World is not so partial,
Nor are the Guardian Spirits so remiss,
Which hover with their golden Wings o'er Canada:
Your lovely Son, th' auspicious Ulamar,
No less the Darling is of Heav'n than ours.
A thousand French and Hurons pale and breathless,
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And in the bloody Bus'ness of the Day.
No single Arm dealt Fate so much as Ulamar's.
Sak.
Ah! wretched me! thou hast rowz'd all my Griefs.
Okim.
How, my Sabia?
Is your Son's Triumph then become your Grief?
His Death had been your Joy then?
Sak.
Ah no! thou know'st I dote upon my Ulamar,
And when the Graces of his Mind and Person,
With Reason's Eye severely I survey,
Reason severely judging yet assures me,
That I have cause for all the Mother's Fondness:
Yet know, my Okima,
His Death and Victory I fear'd alike.
Okim.
You utter Mysteries beyond my Reach.
Sak.
Thou know'st my Son, that with the generous Beaufort
Now leads the bloody Iroquois to Battel,
No Iroquois by Birth, no Native is of Angie.
Okim.
I know you both indeed by Birth are Hurons.
Sak.
Hurons we once were call'd, and once were thought
To be descended from no Vulgar Stock,
But now, alas! are sunk to wretched Slaves
Okim.
To Slaves, Sakia!
Your Son at least has other Sentiments.
Sak.
Howe'er alas, my Son may be deceiv'd,
I am a Slave, a miserable Slave;
Who far remov'd from my sweet Native Soil,
Far from the dearer Partner of my Heart,
Have for twelve tedious Years been now confin'd
To drag the galling Yoke of loathsome Life,
In this accursed Place:
A Burthen which I never could support,
But that I had some glimpse of Hope remaining;
That cruel Fortune might at length relent,
And might at length restore me with my Ulamar,
To the dear Partner of my faithful Heart:
Those Hopes have lately been reviv'd and animated
By the prophetick Visions of the Night,
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But this Relation has o'erthrown them all:
My Son's mistaken Valour has undone us,
And thou, O Miramont, art lost for ever!
Okim.
Forget your Hurons and become an Angian.
Sak.
O may the whole accursed Race by Fate
Be rooted ev'n from Human Memory!
Perish their very Names too with their Persons,
Excepting thine, for thou art wondrous good.
Okim.
Sakia, you forget,
To curse your Benefactors thus is impious.
Sak.
To curse our mortal Enemies is just.
Okim.
The Angians are your Friends and your Defenders.
Sak.
My Country's mortal Enemies are mine.
Okim.
Iroquian Angie is your Country now.
Sak.
My Prison never can be call'd my Country.
Okim.
The Angians gave you Liberty at first;
The Hour that made you Captives, saw you free.
Sak.
Why am I then with my unhappy Son
Detain'd e'er since in this detested Clime,
Enjoying nothing but the Name of Liberty,
Which hourly brings the thing to my Remembrance,
And makes the Yoke of Slav'ry wring me more?
Know that I'm not deluded by a Word,
And ev'n this Shadow of the Angians Favour
Is due to the Request of generous Beaufort;
For he the fatal Expedition led,
To which I owe this long Captivity,
To which I owe a twelve Years mortal Woe
Confin'd by barbarous Iroquois to Angie;
Which may just Heav'n by sharpest Plagues revenge!
Okim.
You curse the Victors, Heav'n has curst the vanquish'd.
Sak.
Now they are Conquerors I'll hate them more.
Okim.
Think that our Conquest to your Son we owe,
Then curse us if you can.
Sak.
Therefore the barbarous Iroquois I curse.
Okim.
Upon your Son's account you ought to bless us,
Think on our Bounties heap'd upon his Head.
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Think on the Trophies by his Valour won,
With which tenfold your Bounty he repays.
Okim.
'Tis to our Favour that he owes his Glory,
Which, tho' he scarce has reach'd his twentieth Year,
Surpasses that of all our ancient Warriours.
Sak.
'Tis by his Glory you exist, but he
To Fortune and himself his Glory owes,
And the Instructions of the generous Beaufort.
Okim.
Leading our Forces he acquir'd his Fame.
Sak.
Yes, against the Hurons,
Our Obligations there indeed are great,
For causing him to turn his fatal Sword
Upon the bleeding Bowels of his Country,
And its Confederate Friends the Warlike French;
Who for strong Reasons ought to be most dear to him.
Okim.
Poorly your partial Mind affects the French,
While he detests the false perfidious Race,
And threatens to extirpate all those gay,
But rank and filthy Weeds from Canada;
Which lately crept usurping thro' the Corn,
T'oppress the genuine and the noble Seed.
Sak.
Tho know'st him not, he's ignorant of himself,
And both are blind alike; but one Day Fate
Will dissipate th' impenetrable Cloud
That now obscures his Sight, and then too late
His fond and fatal Error he'll detest.
Okim.
But why!
For he who does his Duty, first must know it.
Sak.
But this he knows at present that the French
Are strictly to his Countrymen ally'd,
Okim.
He owns no Country but Iroquian Angie,
Who to the French must prove eternal Foes.
Sak.
Time will instruct him better.
Okim.
Yes, for our Angie will become to morrow
His Country by a stricter dearer tie.
Sak.
What meanest thou?
Okim.
A Tie that will for ever fix him ours.
Sak.
Explain thy self.
5
To morrow's Sun, will see that Beauty his,
For whom the loveliest of our Indian Swains
Have sigh'd and sigh'd in vain.
Sak.
Thou mean'st the blooming Daughter of Zephario,
Head of th' Iroquian Tribes.
Okim.
Who can be meant but blest Irene, whom
Divided Canada consents to adore,
And they who come from distant Climes admire?
The Adoration of two Worlds, the English,
To whom uncommon Beauty is familiar,
Astonish'd gaze at her amazing Form,
As at a Wonder never seen before.
Sak.
Yes, the brave Beaufort too admires Irene,
And to her lays an equal Claim with Ulamar;
And for that Reason thou art wrong inform'd,
For Angie dares not disoblige the English.
Okim.
But when the rival Friends went out to Battel,
Thus said the wise Zephario,
Ye matchless Friends, thou Beaufort and thou Ulamar,
Ye great and fair Supports of Liberty,
And Canada against a faithless Race,
Who have perfidiously surpriz'd our Angians,
And in full Peace with Sword and Fire attack'd them;
Lead forth our Arms against the perjur'd Foe,
And know that he who for the common Cause,
Against that Foe performs the noblest Deeds,
At his return shall call Irene his.
The Father said, the charming Daughter blush'd,
And to the just Decree the Friends consented.
Sak.
My Ulamar is not return'd from fight,
How can that Diff'rence be determin'd then?
Okim.
By the Relation of impartial Beaufort,
By which he owns that your unequall'd Son,
By his wise Conduct and his brave Example,
Sav'd both his English and our Iroquois.
Sak.
That was the Modesty of generous Beaufort,
But when he own'd this was Irene present?
Okim.
Yes, and in spight of all her shy Demureness,
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Which strugling she supprest and blushing frown'd,
Or I'm mistaken, or she loves your Ulamar.
Sak.
Confusion!
Okim.
Come, she is worthy of the first of Men.
Sak.
'Tis true, so fair a Creature I ne'er saw.
Ev'n I, whom pow'rful Reasons force to hate her,
Ev'n I with Pleasure gaze upon her Face,
And viewing grow insensibly her Friend.
But may she perish e'er she weds my Ulamar,
Nay, may they perish both.
Okim.
To both you're cruel.
Sak.
No, for if once their Hands are join'd he's lost,
To me and to the best of Fathers lost,
Who lov'd him as the Darling of his Soul;
And to restore him to whose tender Arms,
I have endur'd to live thus long a Slave.
Okim.
But see, the noble Beaufort comes to attend you.
SCENE II.
Sakia, Okima, Beaufort.Sak.
You're welcome, worthy Beaufort.
Okim.
They who bring Victory are always welcome.
Sak.
Had he been vanquish'd he had been more welcome.
Is Ulamar arriv'd?
Beauf.
Each Minute he's expected.
Sak.
Well, you have conquer'd then.
Beauf.
Yes; impartial Heav'n has heard our just Appeal,
And has supported Innocence and Faith,
Against Injustice, Treason, Violence,
Against Oppression, Perjury and Fraud,
And all the Crimes of the perfidious French.
Sak.
They needs must conquer for whom Heav'n declares,
In spight of all the Valour of their Foes.
Beauf.
Madam, their Valour much you over rate,
They know themselves, and to themselves are just,
While they are false to all the World beside.
They feel themselves too guilty to be brave.
'Tis a shrewd Sign their Valour they mistrust,
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But against Odds and Treasons both we conquer'd,
Such Force deriv'd we from the just Disdain
That Honour, Innocence, and heavenly Truth,
Should yield to Falshood, and to Hell-born Crimes,
That Thought alone sustain'd our sinking Troops,
That Thought inflam'd them in extreme Distress,
When one of them cried suddenly aloud,
Lifting his wounded, wearied Arms to Heav'n,
Thou Maker of the World to whom we bow,
If it be Thou and not blind Chance that governs,
To thee we appeal, here manifest thy Justice.
Okim.
Now by that Pow'r thou hast set my Soul on Fire,
What follow'd?
Beauf.
Not the last Trumpet that must rowse the dead,
To them more sudden Vigour shall convey,
Than did to ours that animating Voice,
All thought that Heav'n declar'd it self aloud,
Strange Sights were seen, and wondrous Sounds were heard,
'Tis said a Flame descended upon Ulamar,
And round his Temples spread its lambent Glory;
But this is sure, his Deeds were more than Human.
And Conquest lightning in his Eyes, and Thundring in his Arm,
Rows'd all our Vigour in our fainting Troops,
And struck a fatal Damp upon the Foe.
Sak.
Beaufort, thou art too partial to thy Friend.
Beauf.
I am not partial, I am barely just.
Sak.
He who is so magnanimously just,
Must have done greater Wonders of his own:
Do Justice to thy self then.
Beauf.
What I perform'd I did not in the dark,
But Earth and conscious Heav'n were both Spectators,
I therefore need not speak.
Sak.
Remember the Reward.
Think on Irene.
Beauf.
She's always in my Thoughts.
Sak.
And do you love her?
Beauf.
Have I my sight? To see her is to love her.
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And can you poorly quit her to another?
Beauf.
No, nor would I basely win her.
Sak.
Yet you exalt your Rival to the Skies.
Beauf.
That Rival is your Son and is my Friend.
And still is partial when he mentions me.
Sak.
Think of what Love requires.
Beauf.
There is a Duty due to Friendship too;
A thousand Lovers worship fair Irene,
But who but I has such a Friend as Ulamar?
Sak.
The greatest Friendship you can shew my Son
Is to deprive him of this fatal Beauty.
I had rather see him in the Arms of Death,
Than of Zephario's Daughter.
Beauf.
But he had rather die than not possess her.
Sak.
Then let him die, no, let him live, ye Pow'rs!
But let him live without her.
You love Irene, tell me, would you win her?
Beauf.
I would, by Heav'n, but would not loose my Ulamar.
Sak.
Then let us jointly urge him to desist.
Beauf.
On what Pretence?
Sak.
On that of Gratitude.
The strongest in the World to a brave Spirit,
Can he be said to bear a grateful Mind,
Who strives against his Benefactor's Bliss?
Remind him of his Obligations.
Beauf.
What Obligations?
Sak.
He well remembers them tho' you forget,
Too generous Beaufort.
Who snatch'd the Dagger from his Infant Breast,
In that accursed Hour that made us Captives?
When only we of all the Slaves were sav'd.
Who forc'd the Iroquois to give us Liberty,
At least a shew of Liberty?
Who since instructed him in glorious Arms?
Instructed him in European Arts?
To whose dear Friendship is his Glory owing,
His noble Acts, and his accomplish'd Greatness?
Tell him aloud he owes all this to Beaufort.
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Why should I tell him this?
Sak.
To urge him,
By the remembrance of these mighty Benefits,
To quit his fond Pretensions to Irene,
And not impeach his Happiness, to whom,
Whate'er he has, whate'r he is he owes.
Beauf.
He owes his Greatness to himself alone,
And carries an Instructor in his Breast,
Beyond what all the World can e'er supply;
For Ulamar seems sent express from Heav'n,
To civilize this rugged Indian Clime;
But grant to me alone he ow'd his Greatness,
How base, how barb'rous would it be to upbraid him?
Besides all this, how vain? for know your Sons
No vulgar Passion is that force acquires,
By just Degrees, and kindles into Flame;
His the first moment blasted him, like Lightning
That falls from Heav'n when Jove with his own Fire,
That Tree that's sacred to himself consumes.
Sak.
I but too well remember it.
Beauf.
Immediately he had recourse to me,
Who saw, and therefore lov'd Irene first;
Then Sorrow streaming from his humid Eyes,
That sparkled with Desire, my Friend, says he,
I come to take my leave, for I must die,
Since only Death can make me just to Beaufort;
For only his cold Hand can quench the Flame
That is injurious to my Friend, to whom
The best of Mothers and my self I owe,
And then I love, said he, with faltring Tongue,
And with a Heart about to break with Grief,
I love Irene, and for Beaufort die.
Sak.
And how receiv'd you this?
Beauf.
With some Surprise, but yet with firm Resolve,
In height of Friendship not to be surpass'd,
But rather chuse to hazard her than lose
So faithful and so brave a Friend as Ulamar.
Sak.
O noble Friendship! Unexampl'd Rivalship!
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The Sun himself in all his shining Round,
Since first his Progress from the East began,
Would ne'er have seen a greater nobler People.
But still my Soul from this disastrous Love
Forebodes much Mischief.
SCENE III.
Sak. Okim. Beauf. Messengers, Shouts.Beauf.
What Shouts of Joy are these?
Mess.
Just now victorious Ulamar's arriv'd,
And with these Shouts the joyful Angians welcome him.
Beauf.
Kind Heav'n be prais'd!
Mess.
Within an hour the Angians meet in Council,
Mean while your Friend attends you at your House.
Sak.
O Heav'ns, my Son refuses then to see me.
Mess.
The French by Ambassadors now proffer Peace,
Concerning which he would confer with you
Before the Council meets.
Beauf.
Tell him I come.
SCENE IV.
Sak. Okim. Beaufort.Beauf.
This proffer'd Peace shall be refus'd with Scorn,
If I have any Credit with the Angians.
They proffer Peace!
Their frontless European Insolence!
When Heav'n against their Perjuries declares,
And halting Vengeance like a Blood-hound, slow,
But stanch o'ertakes them with his deep mouth'd Cry,
Confounds their Treasure, and their Troops consumes;
First they sing Songs of Triumph for their Losses,
And then, forsooth, they give the World a Peace.
Oh! 'tis a blessed Peace that binds our Hands,
And leaves theirs loose, whom neither plighted Faith,
Nor Vows, nor solemn'st Oaths could e'er restrain,
Strong Bonds, if Bonds perfidious Men could tie!
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Beaufort, To you I now a Suppliant come,
T'a thousand Obligations add one more,
Which if you grant me not, the rest are vain.
Beauf.
But name it and 'tis yours.
Sak.
Provide that I may with my Son confer
Before the Council meet; who will, I know, decide this famous Rivalship.
Beauf.
That, Madam, shall be my immediate Care,
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.
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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.
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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,
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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.
| Liberty Asserted | |