Be faithful to me and I'll pay thee nobly.

Alvar. Well! and this lady!

Ordonio. If we could make her certain of his death,
She needs must wed me. Ere her lover left her,
She tied a little portrait round his neck,

Entreating him to wear it.

Yes! he did so!

Alvar.
Ordonio. Why no: he was afraid of accidents,
Of robberies, and shipwrecks, and the like.
In secrecy he gave it me to keep,

Till his return.

Alvar. What! he was your friend then?
Ordonio. I was his friend.-

130

135

Now that he gave it me, 140

This lady knows not.
Can call the dead man up-he will not come.-
He is in heaven then-there you have no influence.
Still there are tokens-and your imps may bring you
Something he wore about him when he died.
And when the smoke of the incense on the altar
Is pass'd, your spirits will have left this picture.
What say you now?

You are a mighty wizard

Alvar.

Ordonio, I will do it.

Ordonio. We'll hazard no delay. Be it to-night,
In the early evening. Ask for the Lord Valdez.
I will prepare him. Music too, and incense,
(For I have arranged it-music, altar, incense)
All shall be ready. Here is this same picture,
And here, what you will value more, a purse.
Come early for your magic ceremonies.

Alvar. I will not fail to meet you.

145

150

155

Ordonio. Till next we meet, farewell! [Exit ORDONIO.
Alvar (alone, indignantly flings the purse away and gazes passion-

ately at the portrait).

And I did curse thee!

At midnight! on my knees! and I believed
Thee perjur'd, thee a traitress! thee dishonour'd!
O blind and credulous fool! O guilt of folly!
Should not thy inarticulate fondnesses,

160

130 Alvar (lifting up his head). Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829. 134 Alvar (sighing). Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829. 140 Ordonio (wounded and embarrassed). Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829. 147 will] can Edition 1. 148 Alvar (after a pause). Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829. 159 Thee perjur'd, thee a traitress Edition 1. Thee perjur'd, thee a traitress! Thee dishonoured Editions 2, 3, 1829. 161 inarticulate] inarticulate Editions 2, 3, 1829.

Thy infant loves-should not thy maiden vows

Have come upon my heart? And this sweet Image
Tied round my neck with inany a chaste endearment,

And thrilling hands, that made me weep and tremble- 165 Ah, coward dupe! to yield it to the miscreant,

Who spake pollution of thee! barter for life

This farewell pledge, which with impassioned vow

I had sworn that I would grasp-ev'n in my Death-pang!

I am unworthy of thy love, Teresa,

Of that unearthly smile upon those lips,

Which ever smiled on me! Yet do not scorn me

I lisp'd thy name, ere I had learnt my mother's.

Dear portrait! rescued from a traitor's keeping,
I will not now profane thee, holy image,

To a dark trick. That worst bad man shall find
A picture, which will wake the hell within him,
And rouse a fiery whirlwind in his conscience.

ACT III
SCENE I

170

175

A Hall of Armory, with an Altar at the back of the Stage. Soft Music from an instrument of Glass or Steel.

VALDEZ, ORDONIO, and ALVAR in a Sorcerer's robe, are discovered. Ordonio. This was too melancholy, Father.

Valdez,

Nay,

My Alvar lov'd sad music from a child.
Once he was lost; and after weary search

We found him in an open place in the wood,
To which spot he had followed a blind boy,
Who breath'd 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 Alvar, fast asleep,

His head upon the blind boy's dog. It pleas'd me
To mark how he had fasten'd round the pipe
A silver toy his grandam had late given him.
Methinks I see him now as he then look'd-

5

ΤΟ

167-9

162 infant... maiden] Infant... Maiden Editions 2, 3, 1829. barter... Death-pang om. Edition 1. 168 which with] with which Editions 2, 3. 174 portrait] Image Edition 1. After 178 End of the Second Act. Editions 1, 2, 3.

Even so! He had outgrown his infant dress,
Yet still he wore it.

Alvar (aside).

My tears must not flow!

I must not clasp his knees, and cry, My father!

Enter TERESA and Attendants.

15

Teresa. Lord Valdez, you have asked my presence here,
And I submit; but (Heaven bear witness for me)
My heart approves it not! 'tis mockery.

Ordonio. Believe you then no preternatural influence:
Believe you not that spirits throng around us?
Teresa. Say rather that I have imagined it
A possible thing: and it has sooth'd my soul
As other fancies have; but ne'er seduced me
To traffic with the black and frenzied hope
That the dead hear the voice of witch or wizard.
Stranger, I mourn and blush to see you here,
On such employment! With far other thoughts
I left you.

20

25

[TO ALVAR.

Ordonio (aside). Ha! he has been tampering with her? Alvar. 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 guilt.
Doubt, but decide not! Stand ye from the altar.

30

35

[Here a strain of music is heard from behind the scene. Alvar. With no irreverent voice or uncouth charm I call up the departed!

Soul of Alvar!

Hear our soft suit, and heed my milder spell:
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 oh, ye numberless,
And rapid travellers! what ear unstunn'd,

40

45

What sense unmadden'd, might bear up against
The rushing of your congregated wings?

Even now your living wheel turns o'er my head!

[Music.

16 Alvar (aside). Stage-direction om. Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829. 33 stranger's Stranger's Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829. 35 Doubt, but decide not! Stand from

off the altar. Edition 1.

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 upbuild 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 gulfs
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.

30

55

60

[Here behind the scenes a voice sings the three words,
'Hear, Sweet Spirit.'
Soul of Alvar!

Hear the mild spell, and tempt no blacker charm!
By sighs unquiet, and the sickly pang

Of a 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!

SONG

65

Behind the Scenes, accompanied by the same Instrument as before.

Hear, sweet spirit, hear the spell,
Lest a blacker charm compel !
So shall the midnight breezes swell
With thy deep long-lingering knell.
And at evening evermore,
In a chapel on the shore,

Shall the chaunter, sad and saintly,
Yellow tapers burning faintly,

Doleful masses chaunt for thee,

70

75

Miserere Domine !

Hark! the cadence dies away

On the quiet moonlight sea:

The boatmen rest their oars and say,

Miserere Domine !

80

[A long pause.

After 49 [Music expressive of the movements and images that follow. Editions

1, 2, 8, 1829.

direction [Here behind, &c. om. Edition 1.
54 upbuild] build up Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.
Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

62 Stage

75 chaunter] Chaunters 80 quiet] yellow Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.

Ordonio. 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!

Alvar.
A joy to thee!
What if thou heard'st him now?
Re-enter'd its cold corse, and came upon thee

What if his spirit

90

With many a stab from many a murderer's poniard?
What (if his stedfast 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?
Valdez. These are unholy fancies!

Ordonio.

He is in Heaven!

Yes, my father,

Alvar (still to Ordonio). But what if he had a brother,
Who had lived even so, that at his dying hour,
The name of Heaven would have convulsed his face,
More than the death-pang?

Valdez.
Idly prating man!
Thou hast guess'd ill: Don Alvar's only brother
Stands here before thee-a father's blessing on him!
He is most virtuous.

Alvar (still to Ordonio). What, if his very virtues
Had pampered his swoln heart and made him proud?
And what if pride had duped him into guilt?
Yet still he stalked a self-created god,

95

100

105

Not very bold, but exquisitely 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 loath mankind,
At every stir and buzz of coward conscience,
Trick, cant, and lie, most whining hypocrites!

110

Away, away! Now let me hear more music. [Music again. Teresa. "Tis strange, I tremble at my own conjectures! 115 But whatsoe'er it mean, I dare no longer

Be present at these lawless mysteries,

This dark provoking of the hidden Powers!

95 Ordonio (struggling with his feelings). Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.