University of Virginia Library

ACT IV.

SCENE—Salma's cot.
SALMA.
'Twas shrewdly said that wonders never cease—
Yet this surpasses thought—a lovely youth,
Destin'd for Rezia—yet there are forsooth,
Who laugh at dreams, and call us fools who trust them.
Yet sure 'tis time to rouse th'expected knight.
I am no witch, not I, yet well I know
What vision charms his sleep. Yet ah, 'tis late.
At mid-day Rezia weds—scarce two hours hence—
'Twere sin to let him clasp th'unreal shade,
And that stern king the substance.

EUSTACE
enters.
My kind hostess
Know you yon pretty pages, spangled o'er
With liveries like the light! proudly they hold
A neighing barb, richly caparison'd,
Close at your cottage door—now, as I enter'd,
They bade me seek my lord.

SALMA
—(looking out and returning.)
I know them not,
Sweet beauteous pages! such a steed! all fire—
Gold bit, and housings wreath'd with sparkling gems!
Our Caliph owns not such.

EUSTACE.
Well—I will rouse him.
Come forth, my lord—

SALMA
—(as Huon enters magnificently robed in an Eastern dress.)
Oh Mahomet! defend me!
It is the Sultan's self—

HUON.
Fear not, kind hostess!

SALMA.
There's witchery here—I never brought the robe—
Fair Rezia sent it not.

EUSTACE.
Aye, aye, no doubt,
'Twas he, the giver of the golden bowl—

HUON
—(to himself).
'Tis now the destin'd time.

SALMA.
It suits you rarely:
Fits like a charm: from head to foot, all right.
All, save these locks of gold that loosely wave:
They must not float thus—Knight! give me the turban.
So hide these ringlets— (she puts it on Huon's head.)


HUON.
Eustace, my soul glows—
Hostess! farewell! let these rich jewels thank thee—
One moment leave us.

SALMA.
Heav'n preserve your life!
Farewell—the bride expects you.— (Salma goes.)


HUON.
On I haste— (to Eustace.)

To death, or bliss immortal—rest thou here.
These gems of rarest value ill express
My grateful heart.

EUSTACE.
Bribe me to stay, Sir Huon!
Old Eustace like a coward hide his head
When you encounter danger, face to face!
No—if you live, I live; if there you fall,
At once the welcome wound shall rescue Eustace
From the keen anguish of long-lingering woe.
Lead on—

HUON.
What gift can pay thee?

EUSTACE.
What I feel:
Fond hope to guard brave Segŵin's honor'd son—
Lead on—kind Oberon protect thy friend!

HUON.
Death, and mail'd Chiefs in vain the bride enclose.
Love, Vengeance, Fame, rebuke my long delay.

(Exeunt.
SCENE—Banquet-Hall in the Sultan's Palace.
Enter on one side, Horasbec, Almansor, Almansaris, with their suite—on the other the Sultan and Rezia, with their attendants—Priests, Emirs, Slaves, Guards, &c.
CHORUS.
Bagdad! rend with joy the air!
Asia! thy peopled empires o'er,
Echo the hymn from shore to shore:
While heav'n, consenting to our pray'r,
With glory crowns Horasbec's brow,
And seals with Houri bliss, fair Rezia's nuptial vow!

(At the conclusion of the Song, as the Sultan leads Rezia to give her hand to Horasbec, Huon and Eustace enter.)
HUON
—(on seeing the Bridegroom.)
Ah! 'tis the vile blasphemer! fell assassin
Behold the son of Segŵin—face to face
To proof of arms I dare thee—

ALMANSOR
—(shewing his arm with the magic bracelet.)
Tartar monarch!
This arm defends thee.

HORASBEC
—(stopping Almansor.)
'Tis a beardless boy.
Thus I chastise thy insolence.— (They fight—Huon is victorious.)


HUON.
Die, murderer!
'Tis Rezia—tis herself— (seeing the Bride, who recognises his likeness to the vision as his turban falls off.)


REZIA.
Oh wondrous sight!
'Tis he—th'enchanting dream deceiv'd me not.

ALMANSARIS.
What grace! what dignity! no mortal form!
Sure fabling poets, from such visions, shap'd
The God of love—

HUON
—(embracing Rezia, and slipping a ring on her finger.)
With this I join our hands:
And, heav'n-united, thus before the world,
Huon proclaims his bride.

CALIPH
to Rezia.
Thou suffer this!
A Christian Knight stain'd with the bridegroom's blood,
To clasp thee in his arms!

(The Emirs, Guards, &c. rush on Huon and Eustace, who defend themselves.)
EUSTACE
—(advancing before Huon, and striking on every side with his cedar club.)
Now, son of Segwin!
Thus shall they fall before you.

CALIPH.
Seize them, slaves!

ALMANSOR.
Let me approach—

EMIRS
—rushing before him.
Thou Christian dog!—Our Prophet
Thus roots you from the earth.

HUON.
Bite thou the ground!

ALMANSARIS
—(seising Almansor's arm.)
Slay not that Knight!

EMIRS.
Die, wretch!

REZIA
—(darting thro' the throng, and throwing her arms round Huon.
He bleeds, he falls!
Back slaves! I aid the hero—to his breast
Behold the passage. Rezia's heart his shield.
Strike here—so slaughter him—death, death unites us.
Spare him, my Sire. He comes, by heav'n ordain'd
To claim my nuptial vow.

EMIRS
—(rushing on)
Root him from earth.

REZIA
—(swoons in Huon's arms.)
Farewell—farewell—a thousand weapons smite us.

EUSTACE
—(seising the horn round Huon's neck, and violently blowing it.)
Now blast of thunder! hear it, Elf-king! hear!

(Oberon descends from a cloud—the adversaries of Huon fall motionless.)
OBERON.
Thus far success is thine, intrepid Huon.
And matchless the reward. Behold the bride;
Best gift of heav'n. Yet never may thy hand
Lead her in triumph to thy native realm,
'Till direst proofs confirm your mutual faith
Fixt on the base of virtue. Thou, too, Rezia,
Pause, lest in after time, thou, hapless, mourn
A fleet delusion, and with vain regret
Weep, void of hope. Can Rezia, then, forego
Pow'r, and the imperial pomp of Bagdad's throne;
And stand the dread vicissitudes of fate?
Reflect fond maid! if these thy soul appall,
Oh heed my warning voice! renounce the Knight.
These, seeming breathless, as I wave my wand
Arise. The Caliph shall forgive his child,
The past no more remember'd. Now, decide,
Now free, and never more.

REZIA
—(sinks in Huon's arms.)
Oh! bid me not again decide!
When on my dream the vision play'd,
Fondly I clasp'd his plighted shade:
Not death itself shall now divide.
The throne of Asia I resign:
Huon, my soul is pledg'd to thine.

OBERON.
Oh be ye blest!
Yet, ah! this heart-felt sigh marks Oberon's fear.
Huon of Bourdeaux! thou hast dauntless stood
The test of valour. Youth, now arm thy soul
For conflict where seductive passion views
The conqueror that has smil'd on death's mail'd brow,
Melt, and bow down in willing bondage chain'd.
Such, thou must now withstand.— (looking on the adversaries of Huon.)

Their trance dissolves.
Brave Knight! before Almanzor's magic bracelet,
Withering the arm of valour, thine must droop
Infirm to ward or wound. My pow'r avails not:
Virtue alone can aid thee. In dread silence
Fate seals my lip. Be virtuous. Bliss is thine.

(As Oberon ascends his aerial car and vanishes in thunder and lightening, the adversaries of Huon start

---

78

from their trance. Huon and Eustace fall motionless, as Almansor stretches towards them his arm girt with the enchanted bracelet.—Rezia swoons on Huon.)
CALIPH.
Force Rezia from his arms—Guards! seize those slaves!
Ere long their limbs shall feed the funeral pyre.

Exeunt omnes.
SCENE changes to the enchanted Wood, Oberon lying restless on a rocky ledge, overshaded by gloomy mountains.—Fairies floating in airy dance round him.
ARIEL.
Soft as the moon at midnight still,
Or shades that sweep a sunny hill,
Or a night-spirit slides away,
When the first cock calls up the day,
Float in light ring his couch around,
And sleep entice with soothing sound:
While at each measur'd pause I call
The music of the waterfall,
And low airs from the leafy dell,
When meek eve bids the sun farewell.

OBERON.
Sweet Ariel! sooth my soul with gentle song!

ARIEL.

OBERON.
Cease, cease the song—'tis vain—all harmony
Is discord to my ear—my soul is sad,
And such to me all nature—whate'er tempts
Of soft or smooth the touch: sounds sweetest heard,
From night's lone warbler, or melodious strain;
Whate'er of nature's scenes, sublime or mild:
And all that charms the sense in fruit and flow'r,
Delight by native excellence the mind
Pleas'd with itself—but to the mind diseas'd
All outward objects seem to change their nature;
Reflecting but the hue, and gloomy colour
Caught from the soul—away, and leave me here,
To brood in viewless misery.

ARIEL.
Say not so!
I long have serv'd thee, in the earth and air,
Nor fear'd in briny floods to wet my wings,
Nor singe my ringlets where the roaring flames
Clos'd on my passage—do not bid me leave thee;
But to a soul in smpathy with thine
Confide thy sorrow.

OBERON.
Thou hast serv'd me well,
And more from love than duty—Ariel! stay—
Yet—these sad thoughts—

ARIEL.
Brood not in silence o'er them.
'Twill but increase the suffering. Grief, that vents
Th'entrusted sorrow on some friendly breast,
Feels lighten'd of a load.

OBERON.
My Ariel!
Persuasive is thy voice of sympathy.
'Twere vain to hide my woe. On yonder cloud
That, dark as starless night, o'er-canopys
The rock on which I weep, behold imprest
What weighs upon my heart.— (A vision on the cloud represents Huon chained in prison.)


ARIEL.
On yon dark cloud,
As if some pencil dipt in Stygian hue
Had trac'd the portraiture, I see a youth
Chain'd in a loathsome dungeon.

OBERON.
Closer look.

ARIEL.
It bears the semblance of that gallant Knight.
Alas! that sight may swell e'en Oberon's fear.
Oh! let me loose his chains, and I will bear them
Gladly, nor shrink while the revolving sun
Toils round his yearly course.

OBERON.
No, gentle Ariel:
Fate wills not so. Severest trials wait him.
The Knight has look'd on death, nor chang'd his hue:
Now beauty's tempting witcheries assail him.
The wonder of the world, the fair Circassian
Lives but for him. Ah! tho' my wish at once
Could waft the youth beyond this visual world,
He must withstand the enchantress, or thy king
No more shall fix Titania on his throne.
What means that dreadful portent? lo! the form
(The vision on the cloud vanishes.)
Now vanishes; and thro' the severing clouds
Yon star of evil aspect glares on me.

TITANIA
—(unseen.)
Oberon!

OBERON.
Ha! 'tis Titania's voice.

TITANIA
enters, and swoons in Oberon's arms.
Oh Oberon!
One last farewell. Fate severs us for ever.

OBERON.
For ever! oh that death had empire o'er us!
(To Ariel.)
Wave round her brow reviving airs.

TITANIA
—(recovering.)
Farewell!
We meet no more.

OBERON.
Ah whence this deep despair?
Huon is rarely temper'd.

TITANIA.
None of earth
Can stand this trial. Hear, and hopeless mourn.
Late, as I lonely wept, on sudden heard,
A summoning voice thus rous'd me.—Yet I hear it.
“Thou! that hast sully'd thy once spotless soul
“With jealous taint, polluting thy pure nature
“With frailties of the race of earth-born man,
“Go, expiate thy offence, in guise and mood
“Most loath'd by elfine purity. Assume
“Semblance of one by lawless love enflam'd:
“And with that lip whose native innocence
“Immingled soul with soul in elfine bliss,
“Like a seductress woo. While magic dreams
“Entrance Almansaris, bear thou her form
“Gifted with every grace of fairy charm.
“Call in the aid of dance and melody,
“And lure of royal sway: nor fail to urge
“Death's dire alternative. So tempt the Knight.
“And, if he yield—I swoon'd, and heard no more.
I woke, and call'd on thee.

(A voice from one unseen.)
—Titania.

TITANIA.
Ha!
It is the summoning voice.

(The Voice.)
Come forth—


'Tis now the destin'd time.
(Oberon and Titania embracing.)
Farewell! Farewell!

Exeunt omnes.
SCENE changes to an apartment in the Caliph's palace.
Rezia—Almansor—Nadina.
ALMANSOR
—(to Nadina.)
This signet take—at sight of it, the guards
Unbar the prison gates—o'er Huon cast
Robes fit for royal suitor—so attend him
Usher'd in pomp and splendor to the palace
Of fair Almansaris—hence—

NADINA.
I obey— (Exit.)


ALMANSOR.
Rezia! thou must forget him—

REZIA.
Never—never.

ALMANSOR.
Almansor long has loved thee, long concealed
The passion that consum'd him—ah! beware,
Urge not by unavailing scorn my soul
To ruthless violence.

REZIA.
Cease, cease, Almansor.
My soul is wedded to another.

ALMANSOR.
Hear me—
No earthly force withstands my magic pow'r.
Rezia I all command.

REZIA.
Not Rezia's heart—
Pure love, and spotless faith that grav'd in heav'n
My witness'd vow, shall triumph o'er the pow'r
Of spell, and breath'd enchantment—

ALMANSOR.
Dost thou scorn me?
I will not waste vain words to soothe thy pride—
Consent—or force—

REZIA
—(drawing a dagger.)
Behold this listed dagger—
Advance, I fall a breathless corse before thee—
Why should I live? Ah, haply, thou, lov'd Huon,
Art mine no more.

ALMANSOR.
Live, Rezia, live for vengeance—
Oh come, and I will force him from the arms
That clasp his neck—he dyes in torturing pangs.

REZIA.
No—if false Huon in another's arms
Can taste of bliss, be Rezia's silent tear
His only torture.
False youth! for whom I die, still lov'd in death,
Catch the last whisper of my less'ning breath;
Its prayer shall soothe thy pang at life's decline.
Oh come! and ere my spirit pass away,
Kiss my cold lip, and bending o'er me, say,
“Peace to thy soul, wrong'd maid! that pardon'd mine!”

ALMANSOR.
Rezia! thou hast a father. On thy word
His life depends—beware—when next we meet,
Consent, or view thy sire in tortures dye.

Exeunt.
SCENE changes to a gloomy dungeon.
Huon and Eustace in chains.
EUSTACE.
Not for myself I grieve—distress and Eustace
Have long held fellowship—slow years on years
Have turn'd these hairs to grey; nor seen a smile
Steal o'er my furrow'd cheek, but yours has been
Sun'd by unceasing joy—it will have vent,
Pardon me, master—thou, in bloom of youth,
In the fair season when each day is summer!
And the sweet Princess—

HUON.
Eustace—name her not,
Or grief will swell to frenzy.

EUSTACE.
Hark! what sound?
The pond'rous gate rings on its jarring hinge.
Look, Sir, a female form— (Nadina, and slaves enter.)


NADINA
—to the slaves.
Unlink these fetters—
Knight! follow me—

HUON.
Fair visitant! whoe'er—

NADINA.
Haste, haste, and follow me—

HUON.
I stirr not hence,
'Till this, my other self, is free as I am—

EUSTACE.
Think not of me—oh anger not the lady.

HUON.
Our fate is one—we live or die together.

NADINA
—to the slaves.
Free him— (to Huon.)
—thy will is law—we but thy slaves—
Away—to happiness I guide thy step.

Exeunt.
SCENE changes to the palace of Almansaris, decorated with the utmost magnificence—Titania in the form of Almansaris, on a throne, surrounded by female dancers and musicians; and beautiful girls weaving wreaths of roses.
Nadina enters, leading in Huon—at his entrance they sing and dance.
HUON
—(starts back.)
What may this mean?

NADINA
—(leading him forward.)
To happiness I guide you.

HUON.
'Tis Rezia's self—no other form on earth
Boasts such resistless charms—strange wonder awes me—
Methinks some hand invisible restrains
My lingering footsteps—

TITANIA.
Fear not, lovely youth!
Thou art not come an uninvited guest.

HUON.
I see, yet doubt my sight—delusive visions
Gild fancy's transient day-dreams—

TITANIA.
Look around thee—
What show of false presentment mocks thy sight?
These are thy slaves that hail their lord's approach:
The roof yet echoes with the song of welcome.
Fear not the form that beckons thee—approach—

HUON.
Ah, no—it is not Rezia—walls of gold,
The diamond-studded throne, yon pendent lights,
Each brilliant as a planet in its course,
Deceiv'd my dazzled sight—oh pardon me,
Fair lady! speak thy will—

TITANIA.
Say, lovely knight!
Hast thou forgotten me?

HUON.
I, ne'er till now
Gaz'd on thy won'drous charms.

TITANIA.
Yet, beauteous youth!
This hand preserv'd thy life, this breast thy shield,
When o'er thy brow a thousand scymetars
Flash'd instant death—

HUON.
I saw but one alone
Who still at hazard of her life, sav'd mine—
Oh pardon! lady, that a lover's eye
Sole fixt on her, ne'er turn'd aside to gaze
On thy transcendant beauty—

TITANIA
—(descending from her throne, and clasping his hand.)
This hand preserv'd thee:
This hand that presses thine, and at the touch
Glows with new ardor. (Spare me, ruthless fate!— aside
)
The blood is fled that sun'd thy glowing cheek.
The fire of love that lighten'd in thy glance
No longer beams. (Yet, yet the youth resists— aside
.)
(To the attendants)
Now rouse his drooping spirits—swell the song.
Ye round him float with limbs that glide in air:
And mid the tuneful labyrinth enwreathe him
With chains of rosy twine. So lead the knight
A willing captive to the throne of love.

(They dance in measure to the following Song, and bind Huon in wreaths of roses.)


HUON.
No—I will gaze no more—lest Syren charms
Seduce the entangled sense. (aside)
—Oh virgin bride!
Beam thy chaste influence over me.

TITANIA.
Cease—away— (her attendants depart.)

Oh be no longer mute: no ear shall catch
The sigh thou breath'st, but mine by love attun'd.

HUON.
Lady! on one unworthy—

TITANIA.
Say not so—
Th'omnipotence of love around thee beams
Beauty's resistless radiance. Why that gloom?
Ah why that pensive silence? I have seen
The eye of adoration gaze on me
As on a worshipped goddess.
(Takes a lute, and sings.)

HUON.
Cease thy seductive strains! oh beauteous lady,
Reserve those matchless charms, that faultless form
Soft molded by the graces, for the arms
Of some blest youth, whose heart, not pledg'd like mine.
Shall glow with mutual ardor.

TITANIA.
(Virtuous youth— aside.
)
Yet—yet awhile reflect! nor slight this hand!
Thy fate depends on me—decide thy doom—
Does beauty tempt? Almansaris is thine—
Does boundless empire tempt? my pow'r shall lift thee
To heights beyond the gaze of pale-ey'd envy.
Reflect—mid fiery tortures death awaits thee.
Decide thy doom.

HUON.
The will of heav'n has fixt it—
Heav'n heard my vow: and sacred love unites
Huon and Rezia.

TITANIA.
Death dissolves the tye—
Slaves!— (they enter)
—hence, and hurl this traytor to the dungeon— (Huon is led away.)

My dreadful task is o'er. Heroic Huon!
So Rezia firmly meet fate's direst blow!
And love in purest bliss end all our woe.