University of Virginia Library

ACT III.

(Lamp-light.) The bridge over the Tygris—The outside of Salma's cot, in the suburbs of Bagdad. Ariel and Fairies enter, with baskets of fruit.
ARIEL.
Spirits! here Huon comes—here rests at night
In Salma's straw-thatch'd cot—breathe o'er your fruits
Pure fragrance from the bow'rs of fairy land—
So deck her board—then in rich trappings grac'd
Caparison the barb, and from the woof
Of elfine looms, bring Huon's robe of state,
Fit robe for royal guest at bridal feasts.

Chorus of FAIRIES.
We breathe, and o'er these fruits expand
Fragrance stol'n from fairy land.

Solo—1st. FAIRY.
These grapes, where liquid rubies glow,
And amethysts of purple hue,
To autumn suns no color owe:
Beneath the fairy glance they grew.
I saw them linger in the barren shade,
And on their clust'ring orbs new life and lustre ray'd.

Solo—2nd. FAIRY.
And o'er this peach the down I spread
From fleeces spun in fairy loom,
And o'er the plumb its azure shed
Dropt from the dust that shades my plume,
That when young Zephyr woo'd me to his bow'r,
Stream'd from my ruffled wing, and fell in feathery show'r.

CHORUS.
We breathe, and o'er these fruits expand
Fragrance stol'n from fairy land.

(Fairies go into Salma's cot.
SALMA
enters.
It was the Tartar king—swift from my sight
He vanish'd like a spectre—yet I knew him.
And had not this good crutch thus propt my limbs,
Here had I fall'n, without a friend to aid,
So rudely he brush'd by me—well—'tis late—
I'll to my cot—no stranger youth this night
Will cross my threshold— (as Salma is going to her cot, Huon and Eustace enter from a different part.)


EUSTACE.
Welcome, Knight! to Bagdad!
Heav'n knows what other voice shall bid you welcome!
(seeing Salma)
—Ha! 'tis a female—not in form inviting:
Yet will I greet the dame with courteous speech.
Most gracious lady!

SALMA.
Speak you, Sir, to me?

EUSTACE.
I see none but yourself, and your sweet shadow
Reflected by the lamp-light—pity us,
Fair lady! here, unknowing, and unknown,
We roam.

SALMA.
A civil gentleman, forsooth—
Yet—by his garb, no courtier. Sir, what want you?

HUON.
We are benighted strangers, tir'd with travel—

SALMA.
How! strangers! ah, perchance, the expected knight!
Come to my cot: and on the morrow seek
More suited quarters—

HUON.
None more grateful, trust me,
Than yours so kindly offer'd. 'Tis the welcome,
And not the cost that makes the cheerful guest.

SALMA
—(seating them in her cot.)
What tempting fruit! no doubt my Mirza's gift—
Take them—their very fragrance feasts the sense—
Nay—take them—be at home: 'tis but a cottage,
Yet dear to Salma. Here I live unvext.
Day after day glides o'er me, while I hum
Tunes of my youth. Aye, Sirs, while here I press
My straw with brow unruffled, many a heart
Sighs beneath golden roofs.

EUSTACE
—(aside.)
She's not mistaken.

SALMA.
I guess what brings you hither—here you swarm,
All for one object. What a hive of strangers!
The caravans to Mecca are less crowded.
All for the morrow's feast—good fortune guides you.
Our Sultan's daughter weds: to-morrow weds.
(aside)
—He seems most strangely mov'd.— (To Huon)
I like your looks,
Such looks hide no false heart—discreet I'll warrant.

HUON.
Nay—tell me all—

EUSTACE
—(aside.)
Sir, interrupt her not—

SALMA.
I promis'd not to tell: never reveal it.
The princess loathes the man. She'd rather clasp
A dragon, than the Tartar, in her arms.

HUON.
Why weds she whom she loathes?

SALMA.
The Tartar Conqueror
O'er-ran our realm, and as the price of peace,
Demanded Rezia's hand. Who could resist?
With fierce Horasbec march'd Circassia's Prince
Of giant strength and size: throughout the East
Fam'd for his beauteous sister; and more fam'd
For his enchanted bracelet. He, who wears it,
Conquers without a blow. 'Tis strange, you say:
Yet I have stranger news—guess why fair Rezia
Detests this king—

HUON.
Oh say—

SALMA.
She dies—for love—

HUON.
For love—of whom?

SALMA.
Alas! she ne'er beheld him,
Save in a dream—

HUON and EUSTACE.
A dream! a dream!

SALMA.
Nay, hear it.
That fierce Horasbec follow'd her, on sudden
Chang'd to a roe, o'er dreary solitudes:
And when his hand was stretch'd, in act to seize her,
At once within a car by lions drawn
A beauteous boy appear'd—at sight of him
The Tartar monarch fled—On drove the boy,
And by a touch of his rais'd lily-wand
Restor'd our Rezia to her native charms—
Then—

HUON.
A fair boy! by lions drawn!

EUSTACE.
By lions!

SALMA.
He bad her mount the car, where by his side
A lovely stranger sat, with golden locks,
And eye—like yours—blue as the cloudless heav'n.
At once their mutual glances mixt their hearts.
Then suddenly the car against a stone
Struck, and the enchanted vision fled away.
But from her heart he never fled, the Knight
With eye of blue, and locks of golden wave.

HUON.
Oh my prophetic spirit!

SALMA.
From that time
The Princess scorns the king; and lonely weeps
In secret: nor can ought relieve her woe
Save what augments her love—yet what avails it?
To-morrow Rezia sinks a breathless corse
In the fierce Tartar's arms—

HUON.
No—first the globe
Crumbles to atoms—there, the Knight himself
Shall share the feast, and claim the promis'd bride.

SALMA.
Aye—say you so—'tis strangely marvellous—
His eye—complexion—hair—speak favor'd youth!
Tell me—

HUON.
O'ertir'd with long fatigue I faint—
To-morrow, my kind hostess—oh, to-morrow!
Each moment is eternity—farewell—
I must retire to rest.

SALMA
—(pointing to a chamber.)
There—angels guard you!
Good night! and may such dreams as love inspires
Steal time away, then wake, and find them true—
(shewing a place to Eustace.)
Here rest your limbs.

EUSTACE.
Thanks, gentle dame—fatigue
Seeks not a couch of down— (going)


SALMA.
Tho' late the hour,
Fast as this crutch can aid my feeble limbs,
I'll bear the won'drous tale to Rezia's ear.

(Exit.
SCENE changes to Rezia's apartment.
REZIA
—rising from her couch.
Ah! whither art thou fled, enchanting youth?
To these fond arms, that clasp thy shade, return!
Hear, while my lip now plights eternal truth,
Breathe on my cheek where virgin blushes burn.
Yet if alone a vision of the night
Thou glide to charm in sleep my tear away,
Come as I close my eyes, and loathe the light,
Here, on my heart thy hand sweet spirit! lay,
And say, as at thy touch its pulses move,
“So never bosom beat for earthly love.”

MIRZA
enters.
Methought I heard your voice—sweet Rezia soothe
Your woe in sleep.

REZIA.
Enchanting shade! return!
Ah whither art thou fled—return once more!

MIRZA.
Oh tell me, why that cheek, which late so pale
Droop'd like a lily broken by the storm,
Glows with the blush of health: and why those eyes,
Long clouded o'er with tears of hopeless woe,
Sparkle, as if some vision in the air
Flew, rob'd in bliss before you.

REZIA.
I beheld him.
It was no phantom of the night—I saw him
More beauteous than a God—his tender lip
Kist off the tear that on my eye-lid hung—
I fain had fled, but his melodious voice
Breath'd witchery on mine ear. You turn away—
You sigh—you will not speak—that sigh, that silence
I will interpret—

MIRZA.
Could I breathe a sound
That utter'd might console you, then these lips
Had not been mute—

REZIA.
Oh! if you love me, Mirza,
Oh rend not with rude hand the shadowy veil
That hides with show of bliss, the precipice
O'er whose steep brink I bend—I have but hope—
Why, why resign it? soon the silver cymbals
Ring with shrill clang, and echoing thousands rend
The sky with joyful shout—I, I, the victim
Must hasten to the sacrifice.

MIRZA.
Sweet Rezia!
She hears me not—it is your Mirza speaks—
Look on me, by these tears I do conjure you!
Despair in each fixt feature seems to brave
The dangers that surround her—

REZIA.
On they float,
Gay thousands shouting to the bridal feast:
The bride prepares her for the funeral.
The voice of death has called me, and my soul
Echoes the summons—if th'expected knight,
My plighted lord, heav'n-destin'd, fail to shield me,
Horasbec clasps a corse.

MIRZA.
Prevent it, heav'n!
(a loud knocking at the door)
—What sudden noise?

(Mirza goes.
REZIA.
Haste Mirza—shadowy dream!
If with delusive charm thou has beguil'd
My fascinated fancy: if thy hues
Melt like the clouds whose transient colors fade
Before the sun that gilds them, what remains
But death to rescue me?

MIRZA
running in with Salma.
Joy! Princess, joy!
He's found, the Knight is found.

REZIA.
Delightful Mirza,
Where is my brave deliverer?

MIRZA
—to Salma.
Tell the tale—
Aye, o'er and o'er repeat each joyful word.

REZIA.
Speak, speak, good Salma!

SALMA.
Thus 'tis with you all—
A princess, or a peasant, no distinction—
All ear when love's the subject—first, he came

REZIA.
Who came?

SALMA.
In my lone cot but now I left him.

REZIA.
Left whom?

SALMA.
The Knight, the Knight—eye, hair, shape, all—

MIRZA.
It tallys with the dream—

SALMA.
Yes—eye of blue—
And long long locks that float like waves of gold—
Shape—oh your Bagdad courtiers show like boors
Before this foreign God—now you must know,
It chanc'd, I know not how, the youth bewitch'd me,
Or I had ne'er let slip the slightest hint
Of your prophetic dream—but when I told it,
In confidence—oh had you seen the youth—
His eye struck fire, and in his cheek the blood
Rush'd—like—your own—aye, aye, you're pair'd in heav'n.

REZIA.
Haste, Salma, tell the Knight his bride awaits him.

(They all depart.
SCENE changes to Salma's cot.
Ariel and Fairies enter, displaying different parts of a magnificent Eastern dress.
ARIEL.
Say, Fays, are your charges in all featly done?
To my wand, as I wave, duly nod, one by one.

1st. FAIRY.
Hark! hark, to that neigh—'twas the wing'd Arab steed.
Not the rack of the night-storm out-races his speed.

2nd. FAIRY.
With sapphires and emeralds his trappings I grac'd.

3rd. FAIRY.
And he foams upon gold by my hand quaintly chas'd—

4th. FAIRY.
In eve's glowing mantle at sweet summer tide,
Two pages

1st. FAIRY.
I prank'd them,

4th. FAIRY.
parade at each side.

1st. FAIRY.
Look, look on this sabre.

ALL.
One diamond it shines.

1st. FAIRY.
I forg'd it unheard in the Gnome's central mines.

2nd. FAIRY.
The gems on this turban, I fill'd, one by one,
With light from noon-beams of the tropical sun.

3rd. FAIRY.
And the tints on this robe that gleam changeful in hue,
From the rain-bow I caught, as it vanish'd from view.

ARIEL.
These, on yon couch in order lay,
And weal or woe betide,
When Huon goes to greet his bride,
Fays! viewless tend him on his way.

CHORUS.
Pleas'd thy order we obey,
And viewless tend him on his way.

(Fairies vanish into Huon's apartment.