.

DEMETRIUS.

MAHOMET, examining the paper. Swift let us rush upon the careless tyrant,

His correspondence with our foes of Greece: Nor give him leisure for another crime.

His hand ! his seal! The secrets of my soul

Conceal'd from all but him! All, all conspire LEONTIUS.

To banish doubt, and brand bim for a villain ! Then let us now resolve, nor idly waste

Our schemes for ever crossid, our mines discoAnother hour in dull deliberation.

ver'd,

Betray'd some traitor lurking near my bosom. CALI.

Oft have I rag'd, when their wide-wasting cannon But see, where, destin'd to protract our counsels, Lay pointed at our batt'ries yet unform'd, Comes Mustapha.--Your Turkish robes conceal And broke the meditated lines of war. you.

Detested Cali too, with artful wonder,
Retire with speed, while I prepare to meet him Would shake his wily head, and closely whisper,
With artificial smiles, and seeming friendship. Beware of Mustapha, beware of treason,

MUSTAPHA.
SCENE V.

The faith of Mustapha disdains suspicion;
CALI, MUSTAPHA.

But yet, great emperor, beware of treason;

Th’ insidious Bassa, fr'd by disappointment
CALI.
I see the gloom that low'rs upon thy brow;

MAHOMET.
These days of love and pleasure charm not thee! Shall feel the vengeance of an injurd king.
Too slow these gentle constellations roll ; Go, seize him, luad him with reproachful
Thou long'st for stars that frown on human kind,

chains ; And scatter discord from their baleful beams. | Before th' assembled troops proclaim his crimes ;

| Then leave him stretch'd upon the ling'ring rack, MUSTAPHA.

Amidst the camp to howl his life away.
How blest art thou, still jocund and serene,
Beneath the load of business, and of years !

MUSTAPHA.

Should we before the troops proclaim his crimes, ÇALI.

I dread his arts of seeming innocence, Sure, by some wond'rous sympathy of souls,

His bland address, and sorcery of tongue; My heart still beats responsive to the Sultan's; And, should he fall unheard by sudden justice, I share, by secret instinct all his joys,

| Th’aduring soldiers would revenge their idci. And feel no sórrow while my sor’reign smiles. MUSTAPHA.

Cali, this day, with hypocritic zeal, The sultan comes, impatient for his love;

Implor'd my leave to visit Mecca's temple; Conduct her hither; let no rude intrusion Struck with the wonder of a statesman's goodMolest these private walks, or care invade

ness, These hours assign'd to pleasure and Irene. I rais'd his thoughts to more sublime devotion.

Now let him go, pursu'd by silent wrath,

Meet unexpected daggers in' his way,
SCENE VI.

And in some distant land obscurely die.
MAHOMET, MUSTAPHA.

MUSTAPHA.
MAHOMET.

There will bis boundless wealth, the spoil of

Asia,
Now, Mustapha, pursue thy tale of horrour.
Has treason's dire infection reach'd my palace?

Heap'd by your father's ill-plac'd bounties on him, Can Cali dare the stroke of heav'nly justice

Disperse rebellion through the Eastern world; In the dark precincts of the gaping grave,

Bribe to his cause, and list beneath his banners, And load with perjuries his parting soul?

Arabia's roving troops, the sons of swiftness,

And arm the Persian heretic against thee;
Was it for this, that, sick’ning in Epirus,
My father calld me to his couch of death,

There shall he waste thy frontiers, check thy Joiu'd Cali's band to mine, and falt'ring cry'd,

conquests, " Restrain the fervour of inpetuous youth

And, though at length subdu'd, elude thy venWith venerable Cali's faithfal counsels ?”

geance. Are these the counsels, this the faith of Cali ?

MAHOMET Were all our favours lavish'd on a villain?

Elude my vengeance! No-My tryops shall Confest

range MUSTAPHA.

Th' eternal snows that freeze beyond Mæotis,

And Afric's torrid sands, in search of Cali. Confest by dying Menodorus. Should the fierce North upon his frozen wings In his last agonies the gasping coward,

Bear him almost above the wond'ring clouds, Amidst the tortures of the burning steel,

And seat him in the Pleiads' golden chariots, Still fond of life, groan'd out the dreadful secret, Thence shall my fury drag him down to tortures: Held forth this falal scroll, theu sunk to nothing. Wherever guilt can Ay, revenge can follow.

MAHOMET.

MUSTAPHA.

Records each act, each thought of sov'reign man,

Surveys your plays with inattentive glance, Wilt thov dismiss the savage from the toils,

And leaves the lovely trifler voregarded.
Only to hunt him round the ravag'd world?

IRENE.
MAHOMET.

Why then has Nature's vain munificence
Suspend his sentence-empire and Irene

Profusely pour'd her bounties upon woman? Claim my divided soul. This wretch, unworthy

| Whence then those charms thy tongue bas To mix with nobler cares, I'll throw aside

deign'd to flatter, For idle bours, and crush him at my leisure,

That air resistless, and enchanting blush,
MUSTAPBA.

Unless the beauteous fabric was design'd

A habitation for a fairer soul?
Let not th'unbounded greatness of his mind
Betray my king to negligence of danger.

MAHOMET.
Perhaps the clouds of dark conspiracy
Now roll full fraught with thundero'er your head.

ad | Too high bright maid, thou rat'st exterior grace: Twice since the moruing rose I saw the bassa,

Not always do the fairest flow'rs diffuse

The richest odours, nor the speckled shells Like a fell adder swelling in a brake,

Conceal the gem: let female arrogance Beneath the corert of this verdant arci

Observe the feather'd wand'rers of the sky; In private conference; beside him stood

With purple varied and bedropp'd with gold, Two men unknown, the partners of his bosom ; I mark'd them well, and trac'd in either face

They prune the wing, and spread the glossy

plumes, The gloomy resolution, horrid greatness,

Ordain'd, like you, to flutter and to shine, And stern composure, of despairing heroes;

And cheer the weary passenger with music. And, to confirm iny thoughts, at sight of me, As blasted by my presence, they withdrew

IRENE.
Hith all the speed of terrour and of guilt.

Mean as we are, this tyrant of the world
MAROMET.

Implores our smiles, and trembles at our feet. The strong emotions of my troubled soul

Whence fow the hopes and fears, despair and Allow no pause for art or for contrivance ;

rapture, And dark perplexity distracts my counsels.

Whence all the bliss and agonies of love?
Do thou resolve : for see lrene comes!

MAHOMET.
At her approach each ruder gust of thought
Sinks like the sighing of a tempest spent,

Why, when the balm of sleep descends on man, And gales of softer passion fan iny bosom.

Do gay delusions, wand'ring o'er the brain, (Cali enters with Irene, and exit with Mustapha.

Sooth the delighted soul with empty bliss ?
To want give affluence? and to slavery freedom:

Such are love's joys, the lenitives of life,
SCENE VII.

A fancy'd treasure and a waking dream.
MAHOMET, IRENE.

IRENE.
MAHOME'T.

Then let me once, in honour of our sex,
Wilt thou descend, fair daughter of perfection,

Assume the boastful arrogance of man. To hear my vows, and give mankind a queen?

Th’ attractive softness, and th' endearing smile, Ah! cease, Irene, cease those flowing sorrows, And pow'rful glance, 'tis granted are our own; That inelt a heart impregnable till now,

Nor has impartial Nature's frugal hand And turn (thy thoughts henceforth to love and

Exhausted all her nobler gifts on you. empire.

Do not we share the comprehensive thought, How will the matchless beauties of Irene,

Th' enlivening wit, the penetrating reason? "Thus bright in tears, thus amiable in ruin,

Beats not the female breast with gen'rous pasWith all the graceful pride of greatness height

sions,
Amidst the blaze of jewels and of gold, [en'd, The thirst of empire, and the love of glory?
Adorn a throne, and dignify dominion!

MAHOMET.
IRENE.

Illustrious maid, now wonders fix me thine,
Why all this glare of splendid eloquence,

Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face. To paint the pageantries of guilty state?

I thought (forgive, my fair,) the noblest aim, Must I for these rt nounce the hope of Heav'n, The strongest effort of a female soul, Immortal crowns, and fulness of enjoyment ? Was but to chuse the graces of the day,

To tune the tongue, to teach the eye to roll,
MAHOMET.

Dispose the colours of the flowing robe,
Vain raptures all for your inferior natures, And add new roses to the faded cheek.
Form'd to delight, and happy by delighting, Will it not charm a mind like thine exalted,
Heav'n has reserv'd no future paradise,

To shine the goddess of applauding nations,
But bids you rove the paths of bliss, secure

To scatter happiness and plenty round thee, Of total death, and careless of hereafter;

To bid the prostrate captive rise and live, Wbile Heaven's high minister, whose awful vo To see new cities tuw'r at thy command, lume

And blasted kingdoms flourish at thy smile?

IRENE.

Swells in the breast, and with resistless force

O'erbears each gentler motion of the mind. Charm'd with the thonght of blessing human

| As when a deluge overspreads the plains, kind,

The wand'ring rivulet and silver lake
Too calm I listen to the flatt'ring sounds.

Mix undistinguish'd in the general roar.
MAHOMET,

ABDALLA.
O seize the power to bless--trene's nod
Shall break the fetters of the groaning Christian ; | Yet can ambition in Abdalla's breast,
Greece, in her lovely patroness secure,

Claim but the second place: there mighty love Shall mourn no more her plunderd palaces,

Has fix'd his hopes, inquietudes, and fears,

His glowing wishes, and his jealous pangs.
IRENE.

CALI.
Forbear-- do not urge me to my ruin!

Love is indeed the privilege of youth; . MAHOMET.

Yet on a day like this, when expectation To state and pow'r I court thee, not to ruin: Pants for the dread event-But let us reason-Sinile on my wishes, and cominand the globe. Secuity shall spread her suicid before thee,

ABDALLA. And love infold thee with his downy wings. | Hast thon grown old amidst the crowd of courts, If greatness please thee, mount th' imperial | And turn'd th' instructive page of human life, seat;

To cant, at last, of reason to a lover? If pleasure charm thee, view this soft retreat; Such ill-tim'd gravity, such serious folly, Here ev'ry warbler of the sky shall sing ; | Might well befit the solitary student, Here ev'ry fragrance breathe of ev'ry spring: Th' unpractis'd dervise, or sequester'd faguir. To deck these bow'rs each region shall com

know'st thou not yet, when love invades the bine,

sou). And e'en our Prophet's gardens envy thine:

That all her facnlties receive his chains ? Empire and love shall share the blissful day,

That reason gives ber sceptre to his hand, And varied life steal unperceiv'd away.

Or only struggles to be more enslav'd ? ( Ereunt.

Aspasia, who can look upon thy beauties?

Who hear thee speak, and not abandon reason? АСТ III.

Reason ! the hoary dotard's dull directress,

That loses all because she hazards nothing !
SCENE I.

Reason! the tim'rous pilot, that, to shuu

The rocks of life, for ever flies the port!
CALI, ABDALLA.

CALI.
Scalı enters with a discontented air ; to him
enter ABDALLA,]

Put why this sudden warmth?
CALI.

ABDALLA.
Is this the fierce conspirator Abdalla?

Because I love ; Is this the resistless diligence of treason?

Because my slighted passion burns in vain! Where hast thou linger'd while th’encumber'd Why roars the lioness distress'd by hunger? hours

Why foams the swelling wave when tempests rise? Fly lab'ring with the fate of future nations, Why shakes the ground when subterraneous fires And hungry slaughter scents imperial blood ? Fierce through the bursting caverns rend their

way? ABDALLA.

CALI.
Important cares detain'd me from your counsels.

Not till this day thou sawst this fatal fair ;
CALJ.

Did ever passion make so swift a progress? Some petty passion! some domestic trifle ! Once more reflect, suppress this infant folly, Some rain amusement of a vacant soul!

ABDALLA.
A weeping wife, perhaps, or dying friend,
Hung on your neck, and kinder'd your departure. Gross fires, enkindled by a mortal hand,
Is this a time for softness or for sorrow

Spread by degrees, and dread th' oppressing Unprofitable, peaceful, female virtues ?

stream; When eager vengeance sho.ss a naked foe,

The subtler flames emitted from the sky
And kind ambition points the way to greatness. Flash out at once, with strength above resistance.

ABDALLA,
Must then ambition's rotaries infringe

How did Aspasia welcome your address?
The laws of kindness, break the bonds of nature, | Did you proclaim this unexpected conquest?
And quit the names of brother, friend, and 18- | Or pay with speaking eyes a lover's humage?
ther?
CALI.

ABDALLA. This sov’reign passion, scornful of restraint, Confounded, aw'd, and lost in admiration, L'en from the birth affects supreme command, I gaz'd, I trembled; but I could not speak;

CALI.

TA

When e'en as love was breaking off from wonder,

ABDALLA.
And tender accepts quiverd on my lips,
She mark'd my sparkling eyes, and heaving

Had our first Asian foes but known this ardour,

We still had wander'd on Tartarian hills. breast; And smiling, conscious of her charms, withdrew,

Rouse, Cali; shall the sons of conquer'd Greece [Enter Demetrius and Leontius.

Lead us to danger, and abash their victors ?

This night with all her conscious stars be witness, CALI.

Who merits most, Demetrius or Abdalla. Now be some moments master of thyself;

DEMETRIUS. Nor let Demetrius know thee for a rival.

| Who merits most !-I knew not we were rivals, Hence ! or be calm-To disagree is ruin. . SCENE II.

CALI.

Young man, forbear-the heat of youth, DO CALI, DEMETRIUS, LEONTIUS, ABDALLA.

more

Well, 'tis decreed-this night shall fix our fate. DEMETRIUS.

Soon as the reil of evening clouds the sky, When will occasion smile upon our wishes, With cautious secrecy, Leontius, steer And give the tortures of suspense a period ? Th' appointed vessel to you shaded bay, Still must we linger in uncertain hope? [dom, Form'd by this garden jutting on the deep; Still languish in our chains, and dream of free-There, with your soldiers arm'd, and sails ex. Like thirsty sailors gazing on the clouds, Await our coming, equally prepard (panded, Till burning death shoots through their wither'd | For speedy flight, or obstinate defence. limbs?

[Esit Leost. CALI.

SCENE III.
Deliverance is at hand; for Turkey's tyrant,
Sunk in his pleasures, confident and gay,

CALI, ABDALLA, DEMETRIOS.
With all the hero's dull security,

DEMETRIUS. Trusts to my care his mistress and his life,

Now pause, great bassa, from the thoughts of And laughs and wantons in the jaws of death.

blood, LEONTIUS.

And kindly grant an ear to gentler sounds.

If e'er thy youth has known the pangs of absence So weak is man when destin'd to destruction ! Or felt th’impatience of obstructed love, The watehful slumber, and the crafty trust. Give me, before th’approaching hour of fate, CALI.

| Once to behold the charms of bright Aspasia,

| And draw new virtue from her hear'nly tongue. At my command yon iron gates unfold; At my command the sentinels retire ;

CALI. With all the license of authority,

Let prudence, ere the suit be farther urg'd, Through bowing slaves, I range the private rooms,

Impartial weigh the pleasure with the danger. And of to morrow's action tix the scene,

A little longer, and she's thine for ever.
DEMETRIUS.

DEMETRIUS.
To morrow's action! Can that hoary wisdom,

Prudence and love conspire in this reqnest, Borne down with years,still doat upon to morrow!

Lest, ubacquainted with our bold attempt, That fatal mistress of the young, the lazy,

Surprise o'erwhelm her, and retard our flight. The coward, and the fool, condemn'd to lose An useless life in waitiog for to morrow,

CALI.
To gaze with longing eves upon to morrow,

What I can grant, you cannot ask in rain,
Till interposing death destroys the prospect!
Strange! that this gen'ral fraud from day to day

DEMETRIUS.
Should fill the world with wretches undetected.
The soldier, lab'ring through a winter's march,

| I go to wait thy call; this kind conseut Still sees to morrow drest in robes of triumph: 1 Completes the gift of freedom and of life. Still to the lover's long-expecting arms

[Erit Dém To morrow brings the visionary bride.

SCENE IV.
But thou, too old to bear another cheat,
Learn, that the present hour alone is man's.

CALI, ABDALLA.
LEONTIUS.

ABDALLA.
The present hour with open arms invites; And this is my reward--to burn, to languish,
Seize the kind fair, and press her to thy bosom, To rave unbeeded; while the happy Greek,

The refuse of our swords, the dress of com DEMETRIUS.

quest, Who knows, ere this important morrow rise, Throws his fond arms about Aspasia's neck, But fear or mutiny may taint the Greeks? Dwells on her lips, and sighs upon her breast. Who knows, if Mahomet's awaking anger Is't not enough he lives by our indulgence, May spare the fatal bow-string till to mortow? But he must live to make his masters wretched?

CALI.

CALI.

| When Cali mounts the throne, Abdalla dies. What claim hast thou to plead ?

Too fierce, too faithless, for neglect or trust.

[Enter Irene with Attendants, ABDALLA.

SCENE VII.
The claim of pow'r,
Th’unquestion'd claim of conquerors and kings!

CALI, IRENE, ASPASIA, &c.
CALI.

CALI.
Yet in the use of pow'r remeinber justice. Amidst the splendour of encircling beauty,

Superior majesty proclaims thee queen,
ABDALLA.

And nature justifies our monarch's choice.
Can then th' assassiu lift bis treach'rous hand
Against his king, and cry, remember justice ?

IRENE.
Justice demands the forfeit life of Cali;

Reserve this homage for some other fair; Justice demands that I reveal your crimes;

| Urge me not on to glitt'ring guilt, nor pour Justice demands--but see th' approaching sul In my weak ear th’intoxicating sounds.

tan! Oppose my wishes, and remember justice.

CALI.

Make haste, bright maid, to rule the willing CALI,

world; Disorder sits upon thy face-retire. ·

Ax'd by the rigour of the sultan's justice,
[Exit Abdalla, enter Mahomet. We court thy gentleness.
SCENE V.

ASPASIA.
CALI, MAHOMET.

Can Cali's voice

Concur to press a hapless captive's ruin?
CALI,
Long be the sultan bless'd with happylove!
My zeal marks gladwess dawning on thy cheek, Long would my zeal for Mahomet and thee
With raptures such as fire the Pagan crowds, Detain me here. But nations call upon me,
When, pale and anxious for their years to come, | And duty bids me chuse a distant walk,
They see the Sun surmount the dark eclipse, Nor taint with care the privacies of love.
And hail unanimous their conqu’ring god.

SCENE VIII.
MAROMET.

IRENE, Aspasia, Attendants.
My vows, 'tis true, she hears with less aversion;
She sighs, she blushes, but she still denies.

ASPASIA.
CALI.

If yet this shining pomp, these sudden honours, With warmer courtship press the yielding fair:

Swell not thyself beyond advice or friendship, Call to your aid, with boundless promises,

Nor yet inspire the follies of a queen, Each rebel wish, each traitor inclination,

Or tune thine ear to soothing adalation, That raises tumults in the female breast

Suspend awhile the privilege of pow'r The love of pow'r, of pleasure, and of show.

To hear the voice of truth; dismiss thy train,'.

Shake off th' encimbrances of state a moment, MAHOMET.

And lay the tow'ring sultaness aside,

liene signs to her allendants to retire. These arts I try'd, and, to inflame her more,

While I foretel thy fate; that othice done, By hateful business hurried from her sight,

No more I boast th' anibitious name of friend, 1 bade a hundred virgins wait around her, Sooth her with all the pleasures of command,

But sink among thy slaves without a murmur. Applaud her charms, and court her to be great.

IRENE.
[Exit Mahomet,

Did regal diadems invest my brow,
SCENE VI.

Yet should my soul, still faithful to her choice,

Esteem Aspasia's breast the noblest kingdom.
CALI, solus.

ASPASIA.
He's gone--Here rest, my coul, thy fainting wing,
Here recollect thy dissipated pow'rs.

'The soul, once tainted with so foul a crime, Our distant int'resis, and our différent passions, No more shall glow with friendship’s hallow'd Now haste to mingle in one common centre,

ardour: And fate lies crowded in a narrow space.

Those holy beings, whose superior care Yet in that parrow space what dangers rise ! Guides erring inortals to the paths of virtue, Far more I dread Abdalla's fiery folly,

Affrighted at impiety like tbine, Than all the wisdom of the grave divan.

Resign their charge to ba seness and to ruin. Reason with reason fights on equal terms;

IRENE.
The raging madman's unconnected schemes
We cannot obviate, for we cannot guess.

Upbraid me not with fanc el wickedness;
Deep in my breast be treasur'd this resolve, Tamrut yet a quern or an apostate.