University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

A Wood.
Enter Durazzo.
DURAZZO.
Methought I heard the voice of Perez call me;
But, 'twas so mingled with remember'd groans,
And now and then the summons of the drum
Beating to arms, I could not follow it.
[Noise without.
What noise was that?

Enter Perez.
PEREZ.
My Lord! my Lord Durazzo!
'Tis Perez calls.

DURAZZO.
Ah! Perez, have I still
A friend in thee?

PEREZ.
My Lord, a faithful servant:
But you are wet and cold.—Where did you sleep
Last dreadful night?

DURAZZO.
In Hell.

PEREZ.
For pity's sake,
Fix not your eyes thus on the vacant air,
Or rather on a point whereto your fancy
Hath led some monstrous image. Look on me;
Nay, on the ground, the herbage, or the trees,
On any living or material thing,
Rather than thus.

DURAZZO.
I see him every where.

PEREZ.
'Tis weakness to be moved in this extreme;
If, as I hold most likely, he provoked
His fate.

DURAZZO.
He did. You know he struck me once—
He struck again. I bade him arm against me;
He arm'd him; but the fury in my soul
Had broken through a guard of Hercules:—
My blow was death:—he fell.

PEREZ.
Then learn to think on't
But as the fatal issue of a quarrel;—
You see it was no more.

DURAZZO.
But then the shame—
The pity too,—but more, the shame,—the shame:
An old man's blood upon a young man's hand!
Zelinda's father's blood upon Durazzo!
Oh! when he dropp'd, his head was white as snow:
Could I have breath'd my own life into him,
He should have lived to see his child again.

PEREZ.
Unhappy lady!

DURAZZO.
What of her?—I charge you—

PEREZ.
The shock bereaved her mind. She went distracted—
Past hope of medicine's healing.

DURAZZO.
Did she then
Suspect my hand?

PEREZ.
A ring you dropp'd betray'd you.

DURAZZO.
That ring she gave me with a smile so sweet,
You 'd think the soul it shone upon could ne'er
Be touch'd with anger more. She gave it me
In love: I dipp'd it in her father's heart,
And sent it back in blood. But, if I live,
For th'ungrateful deed she shall have justice,
That, like the terror of a prodigy,
Shall wake the death within her mind, to look
And tremble at it.

PEREZ.
Oh! my Lord, your speech
Is wild on this afflicting theme. 'Twere best
Consider how to meet the charge, than thus
Unfit yourself.

DURAZZO.
Peace! I fear not the law,
As thieves and plunderers fear it, for its pains—
Its penalties. 'Tis not the body's fall,
Nor the mind's flight; but the dishonour stamp'd
Upon the memory, that shakes my nature.

PEREZ.
Consider, therefore, what had best be done.

DURAZZO.
The noblest course is action. All night long
I heard the martial preparations which
Denote a coming siege. Methought I heard
The death-drum, too, at the first dawn. Was 't fancy?

PEREZ.
'Twas true, my Lord; for Garcia and Anthonio
Were executed then by the King's order.

DURAZZO.
I thought as much. Well; they deserved to die:
Yet, though I was no party to their treasons,
I feel a thrill of sympathy for pride
Sealing its moral thus.—How did they suffer?

PEREZ.
With solemn firmness they shook hands together,
And when upon the block one laid his head,
The other seem'd to smile, and follow'd him.
I saw no tears, but in the crowd.

DURAZZO.
I'm glad on't;
One feels a wish man should, to the last, be man:—
But to our purpose. I was planning how
To join the approaching conflict.

PEREZ.
You! my Lord.

DURAZZO.
Find me some fit disguise. Nay, look not doubting:
The King has been my friend; the people's love
Has follow'd me in days of scorn, and cheer'd
My heart when great ones chill'd it. I would pay
Those favours, both at once; find the disguise.
What tongue can say, but fortune may confer
One boon at parting; some illustrious feat—
Some gallant rescue? Death 's a formal thing
In jails, on scaffolds, or on beds of down;
But in the field—there he throws off his shroud,
And full of mettle as a courser, starts
The comrade, not the tyrant, of the brave!

PEREZ.
You mean to seek for death, not risk it merely?

DURAZZO.
Ay, ay, to knock for entrance at the grave.

PEREZ.
I'll do your bidding straight; and the design,
Though terrible to thought, I grieve to say,
I cannot wish abandon'd. Since we parted,
My tongue, the bearer oft of heavy news,
Has learnt another tale I now may speak of.

DURAZZO.
Now, or at any time. Combine the whole
Into one thunderbolt, and strike it at me,
You'll find me firm.

PEREZ.
Vincenzo—

DURAZZO.
Ha!

PEREZ.
Is living—
Here in Grenada living. His return
Belies the letter that condemn'd Alonzo,
And thus o'erthrows your credit with the King.

DURAZZO.
That I must feel, for that affects my fame.
The herald from the camp deceived us then?

PEREZ.
He was himself deceived, and all. A trance,
The image of the great forgetfulness,
Long held Vincenzo in its cold embrace!
And wounds and gashes, in the fight received,
Gave countenance to the belief of death,
Whose outward shape he wore to all observers.

DURAZZO.
Hath chance a soul, that it should hate me thus?
But 'tis too late to vent complaints. Begone!
I'll wander hereabout 'till you return
With the disguise, and then I've done commanding.

[Exeunt.