The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, (1 and 2), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Valdez (reading it). 'He dares not venture hither!' Why, what can this mean?
'Lest the Familiars of the Inquisition,
That watch around my gates, should intercept him;
But he conjures me, that without delay 85
I hasten to him—for my own sake entreats me
To guard from danger him I hold imprison'd—
He will reveal a secret, the joy of which
Will even outweigh the sorrow.'—Why what can this be?
Perchance it is some Moorish stratagem, 90
To have in me a hostage for his safety.
Nay, that they dare not! Ho! collect my servants!
I will go thither—let them arm themselves. [Exit Valdez.

Teresa (alone). The moon is high in heaven, and all is hush'd.
Yet anxious listener! I have seem'd to hear 95
A low dead thunder mutter thro' the night,
As 'twere a giant angry in his sleep.
O Alvar! Alvar! that they could return,
Those blessed days that imitated heaven,
When we two wont to walk at eventide; 100
When we saw nought but beauty; when we heard
The voice of that Almighty One who loved us
In every gale that breathed, and wave that murmur'd!
O we have listen'd, even till high-wrought pleasure
Hath half assumed the countenance of grief, 105
And the deep sigh seemed to heave up a weight
Of bliss, that pressed too heavy on the heart. [A pause.
And this majestic Moor, seems he not one
Who oft and long communing with my Alvar
Hath drunk in kindred lustre from his presence, 110
And guides me to him with reflected light?
What if in yon dark dungeon coward treachery
Be groping for him with envenomed poniard—
Hence, womanish fears, traitors to love and duty—
I'll free him. [Exit Teresa.

FOOTNOTES:

LINENOTES:

Scene III

Alhadra. Yon hanging woods, that touch'd by autumn seem
As they were blossoming hues of fire and gold
The flower-like woods, most lovely in decay,
The many clouds, the sea, the rock, the sands.
Lie in the silent moonshine: and the owl, 5
(Strange! very strange!) the screech-owl only wakes!
Sole voice, sole eye of all this world of beauty!
Unless, perhaps, she sing her screeching song
To a herd of wolves, that skulk athirst for blood.
Why such a thing am I?—Where are these men? 10
I need the sympathy of human faces,
To beat away this deep contempt for all things,
Which quenches my revenge. O! would to Alla,
The raven, or the sea-mew, were appointed
To bring me food! or rather that my soul 15
Could drink in life from the universal air!
It were a lot divine in some small skiff
Along some Ocean's boundless solitude,
To float for ever with a careless course.
And think myself the only being alive! 20

My children!—Isidore's children!—Son of Valdez,
This hath new strung mine arm. Thou coward tyrant!
To stupify a woman's heart with anguish
Till she forgot—even that she was a mother!

[She fixes her eye on the earth. Then drop in one after another, from different parts of the stage, a considerable number of Morescoes, all in Moorish garments and Moorish armour. They form a circle at a distance round Alhadra, and remain silent till Naomi enters.

[869]Naomi. Woman! May Alla and the Prophet bless thee! 25
We have obeyed thy call. Where is our chief?
And why didst thou enjoin these Moorish garments?

Alhadra (raising her eyes, and looking round on the circle). Warriors of Mahomet! faithful in the battle!
My countrymen! Come ye prepared to work
An honourable deed? And would ye work it 30
In the slave's garb? Curse on those Christian robes!
They are spell-blasted: and whoever wears them,
His arm shrinks wither'd, his heart melts away,
And his bones soften.

Naomi. Where is Isidore?

Alhadra. This night I went from forth my house, and left 35
His children all asleep: and he was living!
And I return'd and found them still asleep,
But he had perished——

All Morescoes. Perished?

Alhadra. He had perished!
Sleep on, poor babes! not one of you doth know
That he is fatherless—a desolate orphan! 40
Why should we wake them? Can an infant's arm
Revenge his murder?

One Moresco (to another). Did she say his murder?

Naomi. Murder? Not murdered?

Alhadra. Murdered by a Christian!

Alhadra (to Naomi, who advances from the circle). Brother of Zagri! fling away thy sword;
This is thy chieftain's! [He steps forward to take it.
Dost thou dare receive it? 45
For I have sworn by Alla and the Prophet,
No tear shall dim these eyes, this woman's heart
Shall heave no groan, till I have seen that sword
Wet with the life-blood of the son of Valdez! [A pause.
Ordonio was your chieftain's murderer! 50

Naomi. He dies, by Alla!

All (kneeling). By Alla!

Alhadra. This night your chieftain armed himself,
And hurried from me. But I followed him
At distance, till I saw him enter—there!

[870]Naomi. The cavern?

Alhadra. Yes, the mouth of yonder cavern 55
After a while I saw the son of Valdez
Rush by with flaring torch; he likewise entered.
There was another and a longer pause;
And once, methought I heard the clash of swords!
And soon the son of Valdez re-appeared: 60
He flung his torch towards the moon in sport,
And seemed as he were mirthful! I stood listening,
Impatient for the footsteps of my husband!

Naomi. Thou called'st him?

Alhadra. I crept into the cavern—
'Twas dark and very silent.
What said'st thou? 65
No! no! I did not dare call, Isidore,
Lest I should hear no answer! A brief while,
Belike, I lost all thought and memory
Of that for which I came! After that pause,
O Heaven! I heard a groan, and followed it: 70
And yet another groan, which guided me
Into a strange recess—and there was light,
A hideous light! his torch lay on the ground;
Its flame burnt dimly o'er a chasm's brink:
I spake; and whilst I spake, a feeble groan 75
Came from that chasm! it was his last! his death-groan!

Naomi. Comfort her, Alla!

Alhadra. I stood in unimaginable trance
And agony that cannot be remembered,
Listening with horrid hope to hear a groan! 80
But I had heard his last: my husband's death-groan!

Naomi. Haste! let us onward.

Alhadra. I looked far down the pit—
My sight was bounded by a jutting fragment:
And it was stained with blood. Then first I shrieked,
My eye-balls burnt, my brain grew hot as fire, 85
And all the hanging drops of the wet roof
Turned into blood—I saw them turn to blood!
And I was leaping wildly down the chasm,
When on the farther brink I saw his sword,
And it said, Vengeance!—Curses on my tongue! 90
[871]The moon hath moved in Heaven, and I am here,
And he hath not had vengeance! Isidore!
Spirit of Isidore! thy murderer lives!
Away! away!

All. Away! away!

LINENOTES:

ACT V

Scene I

Alvar. And this place my forefathers made for man!
This is the process of our love and wisdom
To each poor brother who offends against us—
Most innocent, perhaps—and what if guilty?
Is this the only cure? Merciful God! 5
Each pore and natural outlet shrivelled up
By ignorance and parching poverty,
His energies roll back upon his heart,
And stagnate and corrupt, till, chang'd to poison,
They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot! 10
Then we call in our pampered mountebanks:
And this is their best cure! uncomforted
And friendless solitude, groaning and tears,
And savage faces, at the clanking hour,
Seen through the steam and vapours of his dungeon 15
By the lamp's dismal twilight! So he lies
Circled with evil, till his very soul
Unmoulds its essence, hopelessly deformed
By sights of evermore deformity!
With other ministrations thou, O Nature! 20
Healest thy wandering and distempered child:
Thou pourest on him thy soft influences,
Thy sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets;
Thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters!
Till he relent, and can no more endure 25
To be a jarring and a dissonant thing
Amid this general dance and minstrelsy;
But, bursting into tears, wins back his way,
[872] His angry spirit healed and harmonized
By the benignant touch of love and beauty. 30

I am chill and weary! Yon rude bench of stone,
In that dark angle, the sole resting-place!
But the self-approving mind is its own light
And life's best warmth still radiates from the heart
Where love sits brooding, and an honest purpose. 35
[Retires out of sight.

Teresa. It has chilled my very life——my own voice scares me;
Yet when I hear it not I seem to lose
The substance of my being—my strongest grasp
Sends inwards but weak witness that I am.
I seek to cheat the echo.—How the half sounds 40
Blend with this strangled light! Is he not here— [Looking round.
O for one human face here—but to see
One human face here to sustain me.—Courage!
It is but my own fear! The life within me,
It sinks and wavers like this cone of flame, 45
Beyond which I scarce dare look onward! Oh!
If I faint? If this inhuman den should be
At once my death-bed and my burial vault?
[Faintly screams as Alvar emerges from the recess.

Alvar (rushes towards her, and catches her as she is falling). O gracious heaven! it is, it is Teresa!
Shall I reveal myself? The sudden shock 50
Of rapture will blow out this spark of life,
And joy complete what terror has begun.
O ye impetuous beatings here, be still!
Teresa, best beloved! pale, pale, and cold!
Her pulse doth flutter! Teresa! my Teresa! 55

Teresa (recovering). 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—
[873] Murdered perhaps! and I am faint, and feel 60
As if it were no painful thing to die!

Alvar. Believe it not, sweet maid! Believe it not,
Belovéd woman! 'Twas a low imposture
Framed by a guilty wretch.

Teresa. Ha! Who art thou?

Alvar. Suborned by his brother—

Teresa. Didst thou murder him? 65
And dost thou now repent? Poor troubled man,
I do forgive thee, and may Heaven forgive thee!

Alvar. Ordonio—he—

Teresa. If thou didst murder him—
His spirit ever at the throne of God
Asks mercy for thee: prays for mercy for thee, 70
With tears in Heaven!

Alvar. Alvar was not murdered.
Be calm! Be calm, sweet maid!

Teresa. Nay, nay, but tell me! [A pause.
O 'tis lost again!
This dull confuséd pain— [A pause.
Mysterious man!
Methinks I can not fear thee: for thine eye 75
Doth swim with love and pity—Well! Ordonio—
Oh my foreboding heart! And he suborned thee,
And thou didst spare his life? Blessings shower on thee,
As many as the drops twice counted o'er
In the fond faithful heart of his Teresa! 80

Alvar. I can endure no more. The Moorish sorcerer
Exists but in the stain upon his face.
That picture—

Teresa. Ha! speak on!

Alvar. Beloved Teresa!
It told but half the truth. O let this portrait
[874] Tell all—that Alvar lives—that he is here! 85
Thy much deceived but ever faithful Alvar. [Takes her portrait from his neck, and gives it her.

Teresa (receiving the portrait). The same—it is the same! Ah! Who art thou?
Nay, I will call thee, Alvar! [She falls on his neck.

Alvar. O joy unutterable!
But hark! a sound as of removing bars
At the dungeon's outer door. A brief, brief while 90
Conceal thyself, my love! It is Ordonio.
For the honour of our race, for our dear father;
O for himself too (he is still my brother)
Let me recall him to his nobler nature,
That he may wake as from a dream of murder! 95
O let me reconcile him to himself,
Open the sacred source of penitent tears,
And be once more his own beloved Alvar.

Teresa. O my all virtuous love! I fear to leave thee
With that obdurate man.

Alvar. Thou dost not leave me! 100
But a brief while retire into the darkness:
O that my joy could spread its sunshine round thee!

Teresa. The sound of thy voice shall be my music!
Alvar! my Alvar! am I sure I hold thee?
Is it no dream? thee in my arms, my Alvar! [Exit. 105

[A noise at the Dungeon door. It opens, and Ordonio enters, with a goblet in his hand.

Ordonio. Hail, potent wizard! in my gayer mood
I poured forth a libation to old Pluto,
And as I brimmed the bowl, I thought on thee.
Thou hast conspired against my life and honour,
Hast tricked me foully; yet I hate thee not. 110
Why should I hate thee? this same world of ours,
'Tis but a pool amid a storm of rain,
And we the air-bladders that course up and down,
And joust and tilt in merry tournament;
And when one bubble runs foul of another, 115
The weaker needs must break.

Alvar. I see thy heart!
[875] There is a frightful glitter in thine eye
Which doth betray thee. Inly-tortured man,
This is the revelry of a drunken anguish,
Which fain would scoff away the pang of guilt, 120
And quell each human feeling.

Ordonio. Feeling! feeling!
The death of a man—the breaking of a bubble—
'Tis true I cannot sob for such misfortunes;
But faintness, cold and hunger—curses on me
If willingly I e'er inflicted them! 125
Come, take the beverage; this chill place demands it.
[Ordonio proffers the goblet.

Alvar. Yon insect on the wall,
Which moves this way and that its hundred limbs,
Were it a toy of mere mechanic craft,
It were an infinitely curious thing! 130
But it has life, Ordonio! life, enjoyment!
And by the power of its miraculous will
Wields all the complex movements of its frame
Unerringly to pleasurable ends!
Saw I that insect on this goblet's brim 135
I would remove it with an anxious pity!

Ordonio. What meanest thou?

Alvar. There's poison in the wine.

Ordonio. Thou hast guessed right; there's poison in the wine.
There's poison in't—which of us two shall drink it?
For one of us must die!

Alvar. Whom dost thou think me? 140

Ordonio. The accomplice and sworn friend of Isidore.

Alvar. I know him not.
And yet methinks, I have heard the name but lately.
Means he the husband of the Moorish woman?
Isidore? Isidore? 145

Ordonio. Good! good! that lie! by heaven it has restored me.
Now I am thy master!—Villain! thou shalt drink it,
Or die a bitterer death.

Alvar. What strange solution
Hast thou found out to satisfy thy fears,
And drug them to unnatural sleep? [Alvar takes the goblet, and throws it to the ground.
My master! 150

[876]Ordonio. Thou mountebank!

Alvar. Mountebank and villain!
What then art thou? For shame, put up thy sword!
What boots a weapon in a withered arm?
I fix mine eye upon thee, and thou tremblest!
I speak, and fear and wonder crush thy rage, 155
And turn it to a motionless distraction!
Thou blind self-worshipper! thy pride, thy cunning,
Thy faith in universal villainy,
Thy shallow sophisms, thy pretended scorn
For all thy human brethren—out upon them! 160
What have they done for thee? have they given thee peace?
Cured thee of starting in thy sleep? or made
The darkness pleasant when thou wak'st at midnight?
Art happy when alone? Can'st walk by thyself
With even step and quiet cheerfulness? 165
Yet, yet thou may'st be saved——

Ordonio. Saved? saved?

Alvar. One pang!
Could I call up one pang of true remorse!

Ordonio. He told me of the babes that prattled to him.
His fatherless little ones! remorse! remorse!
Where got'st thou that fool's word? Curse on remorse! 170
Can it give up the dead, or recompact
A mangled body? mangled—dashed to atoms!
Not all the blessings of a host of angels
Can blow away a desolate widow's curse!
And though thou spill thy heart's blood for atonement, 175
It will not weigh against an orphan's tear!

Alvar. But Alvar——

Ordonio. Ha! it chokes thee in the throat,
Even thee; and yet I pray thee speak it out.
Still Alvar!—Alvar!—howl it in mine ear!
Heap it like coals of fire upon my heart, 180
And shoot it hissing through my brain!

Alvar. Alas!
That day when thou didst leap from off the rock
Into the waves, and grasped thy sinking brother,
And bore him to the strand; then, son of Valdez,
How sweet and musical the name of Alvar! 185
Then, then, Ordonio, he was dear to thee,
[877] And thou wert dear to him: heaven only knows
How very dear thou wert! Why did'st thou hate him!
O heaven! how he would fall upon thy neck,
And weep forgiveness!

Ordonio. Spirit of the dead! 190
Methinks I know thee! ha! my brain turns wild
At its own dreams!—off—off, fantastic shadow!

Alvar. I fain would tell thee what I am, but dare not!

Ordonio. Cheat! villain! traitor! whatsoever thou be—
I fear thee, man!

Teresa (rushing out and falling on Alvar's neck). Ordonio!
'tis thy brother! 195

[Ordonio runs upon Alvar with his sword. Teresa flings herself on Ordonio and arrests his arm.

Stop, madman, stop!

Alvar. Does then this thin disguise impenetrably
Hide Alvar from thee? Toil and painful wounds
And long imprisonment in unwholesome dungeons,
Have marred perhaps all trait and lineament 200
Of what I was! But chiefly, chiefly, brother,
My anguish for thy guilt!
Ordonio—Brother!
Nay, nay, thou shalt embrace me.

Ordonio (drawing back, and gazing at Alvar). Touch me not!
Touch not pollution, Alvar! I will die.
[He attempts to fall on his sword, Alvar and Teresa prevent him.

Alvar. We will find means to save your honour. Live, 205
Oh live, Ordonio! for our father's sake!
Spare his grey hairs!

Teresa. And you may yet be happy.

Ordonio. O horror! not a thousand years in heaven
Could recompose this miserable heart,
Or make it capable of one brief joy! 210
Live! live! Why yes! 'Twere well to live with you:
For is it fit a villain should be proud?
My brother! I will kneel to you, my brother! [Kneeling.
Forgive me, Alvar!——Curse me with forgiveness!

[878]Alvar. Call back thy soul, Ordonio, and look round thee! 215
Now is the time for greatness! Think that heaven—

Teresa. O mark his eye! he hears not what you say.

Ordonio. Yes, mark his eye! there's fascination in it!
Thou said'st thou did'st not know him—That is he!
He comes upon me!

Alvar. Heal, O heal him, heaven! 220

Ordonio. Nearer and nearer! and I can not stir!
Will no one hear these stifled groans, and wake me?
He would have died to save me, and I killed him—
A husband and a father!—

Teresa. Some secret poison
Drinks up his spirits!

Ordonio. Let the eternal justice 225
Prepare my punishment in the obscure world—
I will not bear to live—to live—O agony!
And be myself alone my own sore torment!

[The doors of the dungeon are broken open, and in rush Alhadra, and the band of Morescoes.