University of Virginia Library

ACT THE THIRD

Scene the First.

—A hall of armory, with an altar in the part farthest from the stage.
Velez, Osorio, Maria.
Maria.
Lord Velez! you have ask'd my presence here,
And I submit; but (Heaven bear witness for me!)
My heart approves it not! 'tis mockery!

[Here Albert enters in a sorcerer's robe.
Maria
(to Albert).
Stranger! I mourn and blush to see you here
On such employments! With far other thoughts
I left you.

Osorio
(aside).
Ha! he has been tampering with her!

Albert.
O high-soul'd maiden, and more dear to me
Than suits the stranger's name, I swear to thee,
I will uncover all concealed things!
Doubt, but decide not!
Stand from off the altar.

[Here a strain of music is heard from behind the scenes, from an instrument of glass or steel— the harmonica or Celestina stop, or Clagget's metallic organ.
Albert.
With no irreverent voice or uncouth charm
I call up the departed. Soul of Albert!
Hear our soft suit, and heed my milder spells:
So may the gates of Paradise unbarr'd
Cease thy swift toils, since haply thou art one
Of that innumerable company,
Who in broad circle, lovelier than the rainbow,
Girdle this round earth in a dizzy motion,
With noise too vast and constant to be heard—
Fitliest unheard! For, O ye numberless
And rapid travellers! what ear unstun'd,
What sense unmadden'd, might bear up against
The rushing of your congregated wings?
Even now your living wheel turns o'er my head!
Ye, as ye pass, toss high the desart sands,
That roar and whiten, like a burst of waters,
A sweet appearance, but a dread illusion,
To the parch'd caravan that roams by night.
And ye build up on the becalmed waves
That whirling pillar, which from earth to heaven
Stands vast, and moves in blackness. Ye too split
The ice-mount, and with fragments many and huge,
Tempest the new-thaw'd sea, whose sudden gulphs
Suck in, perchance, some Lapland wizard's skiff.
Then round and round the whirlpool's marge ye dance,
Till from the blue-swoln corse the soul toils out,
And joins your mighty army.
Soul of Albert!
Hear the mild spell and tempt no blacker charm.
By sighs unquiet and the sickly pang
Of an half dead yet still undying hope,
Pass visible before our mortal sense;
So shall the Church's cleansing rites be thine,
Her knells and masses that redeem the dead.


(Sung behind the scenes, accompanied by the same instrument as before.)
[A long pause.

Osorio.
This was too melancholy, father!

Velez.
Nay!
My Albert lov'd sad music from a child.
Once he was lost; and after weary search
We found him in an open place of the wood,
To which spot he had follow'd a blind boy
Who breathed into a pipe of sycamore
Some strangely-moving notes, and these, he said,
Were taught him in a dream; him we first saw
Stretch'd on the broad top of a sunny heath-bank;
And, lower down, poor Albert fast asleep,
His head upon the blind boy's dog—it pleased me
To mark, how he had fasten'd round the pipe
A silver toy, his grandmother had given him.
Methinks I see him now, as he then look'd.
His infant dress was grown too short for him,
Yet still he wore it.

Albert
(aside).
My tears must not flow—
I must not clasp his knees, and cry, my father!

Osorio.
The innocent obey nor charm nor spell.
My brother is in heaven. Thou sainted spirit
Burst on our sight, a passing visitant!
Once more to hear thy voice, once more to see thee,
O 'twere a joy to me.

Albert
(abruptly).
A joy to thee!
What if thou heard'st him now? What if his spirit
Re-enter'd its cold corse, and came upon thee,
With many a stab from many a murderer's poniard?
What if, his steadfast eye still beaming pity
And brother's love, he turn'd his head aside,
Lest he should look at thee, and with one look
Hurl thee beyond all power of penitence?

Velez.
These are unholy fancies!

Osorio
(struggling with his feelings).
Yes, my father!
He is in heaven!

Albert
(still to Osorio).
But what if this same brother
Had lived even so, that at his dying hour
The name of heaven would have convuls'd his face
More than the death-pang?

Maria.
Idly-prating man!
He was most virtuous.

Albert
(still to Osorio).
What if his very virtues
Had pamper'd his swoln heart, and made him proud?
And what if pride had duped him into guilt,
Yet still he stalk'd, a self-created God,
Not very bold, but excellently cunning;
And one that at his mother's looking-glass,
Would force his features to a frowning sternness?
Young lord! I tell thee, that there are such beings,—
Yea, and it gives fierce merriment to the damn'd,
To see these most proud men, that loathe mankind,
At every stir and buz of coward conscience,
Trick, cant, and lie, most whining hypocrites!
Away! away! Now let me hear more music.

[Music as before.
Albert.
The spell is mutter'd—come, thou wandering shape,
Who own'st no master in an eye of flesh,
Whate'er be this man's doom, fair be it or foul,
If he be dead, come quick, and bring with thee
That which he grasp'd in death; and if he lives,
Some token of his obscure perilous life.
[The whole orchestra crashes into one chorus.
Wandering demon! hear the spell
Lest a blacker charm compel!

[A thunder-clap. The incense on the altar takes fire suddenly.
Maria.
This is some trick—I know, it is a trick.
Yet my weak fancy, and these bodily creepings,
Would fain give substance to the shadow.

Velez
(advancing to the altar).
Hah!
A picture!

Maria.
O God! my picture?

Albert
(gazing at Maria with wild impatient distressfulness).
Pale—pale—deadly pale!

Maria.
He grasp'd it when he died.

[She swoons. Albert rushes to her and supports her.
Albert.
My love! my wife!
Pale—pale, and cold! My love! my wife! Maria!

[Velez is at the altar. Osorio remains near him in a state of stupor.
Osorio
(rousing himself).
Where am I? 'Twas a lazy chilliness.

Velez
(takes and conceals the picture in his robe).
This way, my son! She must not see this picture.
Go, call the attendants! Life will soon ebb back!

[Velez and Osorio leave the stage.
Albert.
Her pulse doth flutter. Maria! my Maria!

Maria
(recovering—looks round).
I heard a voice—but often in my dreams,
I hear that voice, and wake; and try, and try,
To hear it waking—but I never could!
And 'tis so now—even so! Well, he is dead,
Murder'd perhaps! and I am faint, and feel
As if it were no painful thing to die!

Albert
(eagerly).
Believe it not, sweet maid! believe it not,
Beloved woman! 'Twas a low imposture
Framed by a guilty wretch.

Maria.
Ha! who art thou?

Albert
(exceedingly agitated).
My heart bursts over thee!

Maria.
Didst thou murder him?
And dost thou now repent? Poor troubled man!
I do forgive thee, and may Heaven forgive thee!

Albert
(aside).
Let me be gone.

Maria.
If thou didst murder him,
His spirit ever, at the throne of God,
Asks mercy for thee, prays for mercy for thee,
With tears in heaven!

Albert.
Albert was not murder'd.
Your foster-mother—

Maria.
And doth she know aught?

Albert.
She knows not aught—but haste thou to her cottage
To-morrow early—bring Lord Velez with thee.
There ye must meet me—but your servants come.

Maria
(wildly).
Nay—nay—but tell me!
[A pause—then presses her forehead.
Ah! 'tis lost again!
This dead confused pain!
[A pause—she gazes at Albert.
Mysterious man!
Methinks, I cannot fear thee—for thine eye
Doth swim with pity—I will lean on thee.

[Exeunt Albert and Maria. Re-enter Velez and Osorio.
Velez
(sportively).
You shall not see the picture, till you own it.

Osorio.
This mirth and raillery, sir! beseem your age.
I am content to be more serious.

Velez.
Do you think I did not scent it from the first?
An excellent scheme, and excellently managed.
'Twill blow away her doubts, and now she'll wed you,
I'faith, the likeness is most admirable.
I saw the trick—yet these old eyes grew dimmer
With very foolish tears, it look'd so like him!

Osorio.
Where should I get her portrait?

Velez.
Get her portrait?
Portrait? You mean the picture! At the painter's—
No difficulty then—but that you lit upon
A fellow that could play the sorcerer,
With such a grace and terrible majesty,
It was most rare good fortune. And how deeply
He seem'd to suffer when Maria swoon'd,
And half made love to her! I suppose you'll ask me
Why did he so?

Osorio
(with deep tones of suppressed agitation).
Ay, wherefore did he so?

Velez.
Because you bade him—and an excellent thought!
A mighty man, and gentle as he is mighty.
He'll wind into her confidence, and rout
A host of scruples—come, confess, Osorio!

Osorio.
You pierce through mysteries with a lynx's eye,
In this, your merry mood! you see it all!

Velez.
Why, no!—not all. I have not yet discover'd,
At least, not wholly, what his speeches meant.
Pride and hypocrisy, and guilt and cunning—
Then when he fix'd his obstinate eye on you,
And you pretended to look strange and tremble.
Why—why—what ails you now?

Osorio
(with a stupid stare).
Me? why? what ails me?
A pricking of the blood—it might have happen'd
At any other time. Why scan you me?

Velez
(clapping him on the shoulder).
'Twon't do—'twon't do—I have lived too long in the world.
His speech about the corse and stabs and murderers,
Had reference to the assassins in the picture:
That I made out.

Osorio
(with a frantic eagerness).
Assassins! what assassins!

Velez.
Well-acted, on my life! Your curiosity
Runs open-mouth'd, ravenous as winter wolf.
I dare not stand in its way.

[He shows Osorio the picture.
Osorio.
Dup'd—dup'd—dup'd!
That villain Ferdinand! (aside).


Velez.
Dup'd—dup'd—not I.
As he swept by me—

Osorio.
Ha! what did he say?

Velez.
He caught his garment up and hid his face.
It seem'd as he were struggling to suppress—

Osorio.
A laugh! a laugh! O hell! he laughs at me!

Velez.
It heaved his chest more like a violent sob.

Osorio.
A choking laugh!
[A pause—then very wildly.
I tell thee, my dear father!
I am most glad of this!

Velez.
Glad!—aye—to be sure.

Osorio.
I was benumb'd, and stagger'd up and down
Thro' darkness without light—dark—dark—dark—
And every inch of this my flesh did feel
As if a cold toad touch'd it! Now 'tis sunshine,
And the blood dances freely thro' its channels!
[He turns off—then (to himself) mimicking Ferdinand's manner.
‘A common trick of gratitude, my lord!
Old Gratitude! a dagger would dissect
His own full heart,’ 'twere good to see its colour!

Velez
(looking intently at the picture).
Calm, yet commanding! how he bares his breast,
Yet still they stand with dim uncertain looks,
As penitence had run before their crime.
A crime too black for aught to follow it
Save blasphemous despair! See this man's face—
With what a difficult toil he drags his soul
To do the deed.
[Then to Osorio.
O this was delicate flattery
To poor Maria, and I love thee for it!

Osorio
(in a slow voice with a reasoning laugh).
Love—love—and then we hate—and what? and wherefore?
Hatred and love. Strange things! both strange alike!
What if one reptile sting another reptile,
Where is the crime? The goodly face of Nature
Hath one trail less of slimy filth upon it.
Are we not all predestined rottenness
And cold dishonor? Grant it that this hand
Had given a morsel to the hungry worms
Somewhat too early. Where's the guilt of this?
That this must needs bring on the idiotcy
Of moist-eyed penitence—'tis like a dream!

Velez.
Wild talk, my child! but thy excess of feeling
[Turns off from Osorio.
Sometimes, I fear, it will unhinge his brain!

Osorio.
I kill a man and lay him in the sun,
And in a month there swarm from his dead body
A thousand—nay, ten thousand sentient beings
In place of that one man whom I had kill'd.
Now who shall tell me, that each one and all,
Of these ten thousand lives, is not as happy
As that one life, which being shov'd aside
Made room for these ten thousand?

Velez.
Wild as madness!

Osorio.
Come, father! you have taught me to be merry,
And merrily we'll pore upon this picture.

Velez
(holding the picture before Osorio).
That Moor, who points his sword at Albert's breast—

Osorio
(abruptly).
A tender-hearted, scrupulous, grateful villain,
Whom I will strangle!

Velez.
And these other two—

Osorio.
Dead—dead already!—what care I for the dead?

Velez.
The heat of brain and your too strong affection
For Albert, fighting with your other passion,
Unsettle you, and give reality
To these your own contrivings.

Osorio.
Is it so?
You see through all things with your penetration.
Now I am calm. How fares it with Maria?
My heart doth ache to see her.

Velez.
Nay—defer it!
Defer it, dear Osorio! I will go.

[Exit Velez.
Osorio.
A rim of the sun lies yet upon the sea—
And now 'tis gone! all may be done this night!

Enter a Servant.
Osorio.
There is a man, once a Moresco chieftain,
One Ferdinand.

Servant.
He lives in the Alpuxarras,
Beneath a slate rock.

Osorio.
Slate rock?

Servant.
Yes, my lord!
If you had seen it, you must have remember'd
The flight of steps his children had worn up it
With often clambering.

Osorio.
Well, it may be so.

Servant.
Why, now I think on't, at this time of the year
'Tis hid by vines.

Osorio
(in a muttering voice).
The cavern—aye—the cavern.
He cannot fail to find it.
[To the Servant.
Where art going?
You must deliver to this Ferdinand
A letter. Stay till I have written it.
[Exit the Servant.

Osorio
(alone).
The tongue can't stir when the mouth is fill'd with mould.
A little earth stops up most eloquent mouths,
And a square stone with a few pious texts
Cut neatly on it, keeps the earth down tight.

Scene changes to the space before the castle.
Francesco and a Spy.
Francesco.
Yes! yes! I have the key of all their lives.
If a man fears me, he is forced to love me.
And if I can, and do not ruin him,
He is fast bound to serve and honour me!

[Albert enters from the castle, and is crossing the stage.
Spy.
There—there—your Reverence! That is the sorcerer.

[Francesco runs up and rudely catches hold of Albert. Albert dashes him to the earth. Francesco and the Spy make an uproar ,and the servants rush from out the castle.
Francesco.
Seize, seize and gag him! or the Church curses you!

[The servants seize and gag Albert.
Enter Velez and Osorio.
Osorio
(aside).
This is most lucky!

Francesco
(inarticulate with rage).
See you this, Lord Velez?
Good evidence have I of most foul sorcery,
And in the name of Holy Church command you
To give me up the keys—the keys, my lord!
Of that same dungeon-hole beneath your castle.
This imp of hell—but we delay enquiry
Till to Granada we have convoy'd him.

Osorio
(to the Servants).
Why haste you not? Go, fly and dungeon him!
Then bring the keys and give them to his Reverence.

[The Servants hurry off Albert. Osorio goes up to Francesco, and pointing at Albert.
Osorio
(with a laugh).
‘He that can bring the dead to life again.’

Francesco.
What? did you hear it?

Osorio.
Yes, and plann'd this scheme
To bring conviction on him. Ho! a wizard,
Thought I—but where's the proof! I plann'd this scheme.
The scheme has answer'd—we have proof enough.

Francesco.
My lord, your pious policy astounds me.
I trust my honest zeal—

Osorio.
Nay, reverend father!
It has but raised my veneration for you.
But 'twould be well to stop all intertalk
Between my servants and this child of darkness.

Francesco.
My lord! with speed I'll go, make swift return,
And humbly redeliver you the keys.

[Exit Francesco.
Osorio
(alone).
‘The stranger, that lives nigh, still picking weeds.’
And this was his friend, his crony, his twin-brother!
O! I am green, a very simple stripling—
The wise men of this world make nothing of me.
By Heaven, 'twas well contrived! And I, forsooth,
I was to cut my throat in honour of conscience.
And this tall wizard—ho!—he was to pass
For Albert's friend! He hath a trick of his manner.
He was to tune his voice to honey'd sadness,
And win her to a transfer of her love
By lamentable tales of her dear Albert,
And his dear Albert! Yea, she would have lov'd him.
He, that can sigh out in a woman's ear
Sad recollections of her perish'd lover,
And sob and smile with veering sympathy,
And, now and then, as if by accident,
Pass his mouth close enough to touch her cheek
With timid lip, he takes the lover's place,
He takes his place, for certain! Dusky rogue,
Were it not sport to whimper with thy mistress,
Then steal away and roll upon my grave,
Till thy sides shook with laughter? Blood! blood! blood!
They want thy blood! thy blood, Osorio!