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Long have I wish'd, before our prophet's tomb
To pour my pray'rs for thy successful reign,
To quit the tumults of the noisy camp,
And sink into the silent grave in peace.

MAHOMET.

The glittering vanities of empty greatness,
The hopes and fears, the joys and pains of life.
Dissolve in air, and vanish into nothing.

ASPASTA.

Let nobler hopes and juster fears succeed,

What! think of peace while haughty Scander- And bar the passes of Irene's mind
Against returning guilt.

beg,

Elate with conquest, in his native mountains,
Prowls o'er the wealthy spoils of bleeding Turkey!
While fair Hungaria's unexhausted valleys
Pour forth their legions, and the roaring Danube
Rolis half his floods unheard through shouting
camps!

Nor could'st thou more support a life of sloth
Than Amurath-

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IRENE.

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ASPASIA.

Since fear predominates in ev'ry thought,
And sways thy breast with absolute dominion,
Think on th' insulting scorn, the conscious pangs,
The future mis'ries that await th' apostate;

So shall timidity assist thy reason,

And wisdom into virtue turn thy frailty.

IRENE.

Will not that power that form'd the heart of wo

man,

And wove the feeble texture of her nerves,
Forgive those fears that shake the tender frame?

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While with incessant thought laborious man Extends his mighty schemes of wealth and pow't, And towers and triumphs in ideal greatness; Some accidental gust of opposition

Blasts all the beauties of his new creation,
O'erturns the fabric of presumptuous reason,
And whelms the swelling architect beneath it.
Had not the breeze untwin'd the meeting boughs,
And through the parted shade disclos'd the
Greeks,

In all the sweet oblivion of delight,
Th' important hour had pass'd unheeded by,

In all the fopperies of meeting lovers;
In sighs and tears, in transports and embraces,
In soft complaints, and idle protestations.

SCENE IV.

CALI, DEMETRIUS, LEONTIUS.
CALL

Could omens fright the resolute and wise,
Well might we fear impending disappointments.

LEONTIUS.

Your artful suit, your monarch's fierce denial, The cruel doom of hapless Menodorus

DEMETRIUS.

And your new charge, that dear, that heav'nly maid

LEONTIUS.

All this we know already from Abdalla.

DEMETRIUS.

Such slight defeats but animate the brave To stronger efforts and maturer counsels.

CALI.

My doom confirm'd establishes my purpose.
Calmly he heard till Amurath's resumption
When from his lips the fatal name burst out,
Rose to his thought, and set his soul on fire:
A sudden pause th' imperfect sense suspended,
Like the dread stillness of condensing storms.

DEMETRIUS.

The loudest cries of Nature urge us forward;
Despotic rage pursues the life of Cali;
His groaning country claims Leontius' aid;
And yet another voice, forgive me, Greece,
The pow'rful voice of love inflames Demetrius,
Each ling'ring hour alarms me for Aspasia.

CALL.

What passions reign among thy crew, Leontius ? Does cheerless diffidence oppress their hearts? Or sprightly hope exalt their kindling spirits? Do they with pain repress the struggling shout, And listen eager to the rising wind?

LEONTIUS.

All there is hope, and gaiety, and courage,
No cloudy doubts, or languishing delays;
Ere I could range them on the crowded deck,
At once an hundred voices thunder'd round me,
And ev'ry voice was "Liberty and Greece."

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I see the gloom that low'rs upon thy brow;
These days of love and pleasure charm not thee!
Too slow these gentle constellations roll;
Thou long'st for stars that frown on human kind,
And scatter discord from their baleful beams.

MUSTAPHA.

How blest art thou, still jocund and serene,
Beneath the load of business, and of years!

CALI.

Sure, by some wond'rous sympathy of souls,
My heart still beats responsive to the Sultan's;
I share, by secret instinct all his joys,
And feel no sorrow while my sov'reign smiles.

MUSTAPHA.

The sultan comes, impatient for his love;
Conduct her hither; let no rude intrusion
Molest these private walks, or care invade
These hours assign'd to pleasure and Irene.

SCENE VI.

MAHOMET, MUSTAPHA.

MAHOMET.

Now, Mustapha, pursue thy tale of horrour.
Has treason's dire infection reach'd my palace?
Can Cali dare the stroke of heav'nly justice
In the dark precincts of the gaping grave,
And load with perjuries his parting soul?
Was it for this, that, sick'ning in Epirus,
My father call'd me to his couch of death,
Join'd Cali's band to mine, and falt'ring cry'd,
"Restrain the fervour of inpetuous youth
With venerable Cali's faithful counsels ?"
Are these the counsels, this the faith of Cali ?
Were all our favours lavish'd on a villain?
Confest ?-

MUSTAPHA.

Confest by dying Menodorus.

In his last agonies the gasping coward,
Amidst the tortures of the burning steel,
Still fond of life, groan'd out the dreadful secret,
Held forth this fatal scroll, theu sunk to nothing.

MAHOMET, examining the paper.

His correspondence with our foes of Greece:
His hand! his seal! The secrets of my soul
Conceal'd from all but him! All, all conspire
To banish doubt, and brand him for a villain!
Our schemes for ever cross'd, our mines disco-
ver'd,

Betray'd some traitor lurking near my bosom.
Oft have I rag'd, when their wide-wasting cannon
Lay pointed at our batt'ries yet unform'd,
And broke the meditated lines of war.
Detested Cali too, with artful wonder,
Would shake his wily head, and closely whisper,
Beware of Mustapha, beware of treason,

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There will his boundless wealth, the spoil of
Asia,

Heap'd by your father's ill-plac'd bounties on him,
Disperse rebellion through the Eastern world;
Bribe to his cause, and list beneath his banners,
Arabia's roving troops, the sons of swiftness,
And arm the Persian heretic against thee;
There shall he waste thy frontiers, check thy
conquests,

And, though at length subdu'd, elude thy ven-
geance.

MAHOMET.

Elude my vengeance! No-My troops shall
range

Th' eternal snows that freeze beyond Mæotis,
And Afric's torrid sands, in search of Cali.
Should the fierce North upon his frozen wings
Bear him almost above the wond'ring clouds,
And seat him in the Pleiads' golden chariots,
Thence shall my fury drag him down to tortures:
Wherever guilt can fly, revenge can follow.

MUSTAPHA.

Wilt thou dismiss the savage from the toils,
Only to hunt him round the ravag'd world?

MAHOMET.

Suspend his sentence-empire and Irene
Claim my divided soul. This wretch, unworthy
To mix with nobler cares, I'll throw aside
For idle hours, and crush him at my leisure.

MUSTAPHA.

Let not th' unbounded greatness of his mind
Betray my king to negligence of danger.
Perhaps the clouds of dark conspiracy
Now roll full fraught with thundero'er your head.
Twice since the morning rose I saw the bassa,
Like a fell adder swelling in a brake,
Beneath the covert of this verdant arch
In private conference; beside him stood
Two men unknown, the partners of his bosom;
I mark'd them well, and trac'd in either face
The gloomy resolution, horrid greatness,
And stern composure, of despairing heroes;
And, to confirm my thoughts, at sight of me,
As blasted by my presence, they withdrew
With all the speed of terrour and of guilt.

MAROMET.

The strong emotions of my troubled soul
Allow no pause for art or for contrivance;
And dark perplexity distracts my counsels.
Do thou resolve: for see Irene comes!
At her approach each ruder gust of thought
Sinks like the sighing of a tempest spent,
And gales of softer passion fan my bosom.

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Why, when the balm of sleep descends on man,
Do gay delusions, wand'ring o'er the brain,
Sooth the delighted soul with empty bliss?

[Cali enters with Irene, and exit with Mustapha. To want give affluence? and to slavery freedom?

SCENE VII.

MABOMET, IRENE.

MAHOMET.

Wilt thou descend, fair daughter of perfection,
To hear my vows, and give mankind a queen?
Ah! cease, Irene, cease those flowing sorrows,
That melt a heart impregnable till now,

Such are love's joys, the lenitives of life,
A fancy'd treasure and a waking dream.

IRENE.

Then let me once, in honour of our sex,
Assume the boastful arrogance of man.
Th' attractive softness, and th' endearing smile,
And pow'rful glance, 'tis granted are our own;
Nor has impartial Nature's frugal hand

And turn (thy thoughts henceforth to love and Exhausted all her nobler gifts on you.

empire.

How will the matchless beauties of Irene,
Thus bright in tears, thus amiable in ruin,
With all the graceful pride of greatness height-
Amidst the blaze of jewels and of gold,
Adorn a throne, and dignify dominion!

IRENE.

[en'd,

Why all this glare of splendid eloquence,
To paint the pageantries of guilty state?
Must I for these renounce the hope of Heav'n,
Immortal crowns, and fulness of enjoyment?

MAHOMET.

Vain raptures all-for your inferior natures,
Form'd to delight, and happy by delighting,
Heav'n has reserv'd no future paradise,
But bids you rove the paths of bliss, secure
Of total death, and careless of hereafter;
While Heaven's high minister, whose awful vo-
lume

Do not we share the comprehensive thought,
Th' enlivening wit, the penetrating reason?
Beats not the female breast with gen'rous pas-
sions,

The thirst of empire, and the love of glory?

MAHOMET.

Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine,
Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face.
I thought (forgive, my fair,) the noblest aim,
The strongest effort of a female soul,
Was but to chuse the graces of the day,
To tune the tongue, to teach the eye to roll,
Dispose the colours of the flowing robe,
And add new roses to the faded cheek.
Will it not charm a mind like thine exalted,
To shine the goddess of applauding nations,
To scatter happiness and plenty round thee,
To bid the prostrate captive rise and live,
To see new cities tow'r at thy command,
And blasted kingdoms flourish at thy smile?

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