CALI.

CALI.

CALI.

MAHOMET.

MUSTAPHA.

Forbear to speak of hazards ; Heav'a will contemn the mercenary ferrour, What has the wretch that has surviv'd his coun. Which love of greatness, not of truth, infiames.

try, His friends, his liberty, to hazard ?

Cease, cease thy censures; for the sultan comes
CALI.

Alone, with am'rous haste to seek his love.
Life.

SCENE IV.
DEMETRIUS.

MAHOMET, CALI BASSA, MUSTAPHA.
Th'inestimable privilege of breathing !
Important hazard ! What's that airy bubble,
When weigh'd with Greece, with virtue, with Hail ! terrour of the monarchs of the world,
Aspasia ?

Unshaken be thy throne as Earth's firm base, A floating atom, dust that falls unheeded Live till the Sun forgets to dart his beams, Into the adverse scale, nor shakes the balance. And weary planets loiter in their courses !

MAHOMET. At least this day be calm-If we succeed,

But, Cali, let Irene share thy prayers; Aspasia's thine, and all thy life is rapture.

For what is length of days without Irene? See! Mustapha, the tyrant's minion, comes :

I come from empty noise, and lasteless pomp, Invest Leontius with his new cominand;

From crowds that hide a monarch from himself, And wait Abdalla's unsuspected visits:

To prove the sweets of privacy and friendship, Remember, freedom, glory, Greece, and love. And dwell upon the beauties of Irene. [Ereunt Demetrius and Leontius.

CALI.

O may her beauties last unchang'd by time, SCENE II.

As those that bless the mansions of the good! CALI, MUSTAPHA.

Each realm where beauty turns the graceful By what enchantment does this lovely Greek

shape, Hold in ber chains the captivated sultan ?

Swells the fair breast or animates the glance, He tires his fav’rites with Irene's praise,

Adorns my palace with its brightest virgios; And seeks the shades to muse upon Irene ;

Yet, unacquainted with these soft emotions, Ireve steals unbeedel from his tongue,

I walk'd superior through the blaze of charms, And mingles unperceiv'd in ev'ry thought.

Prais'd without rapture, left without regret.

Why rove I now, when absent from my fair, CALL

Prom solitude to crowds, from crowds to solitude, Why should the sultan sbun the joys of beauty,

Still restless, till I clasp the lovely maid, Or arm his breast against the force of love?

And ease my loaded soul upon her bosom?
Love, that with sweet vicissitude relieves

MUSTAPHA.
The warrior's labours and the monarch's cares,
But will she yet receive the faith of Mecca?

Forgive, great sultan, that intrusive duty
Inquires the final doom of Menodorus,

The Grecian counsellor.
Those pow'rful tyrants of the female breast,

MAHOMET.
Fear and ambition, urge her to compliance;
Dress'd in each charm of gay magnificence,

Go, see him die;
Alluring grandeur courts her to his arms.

His martial rhet'ric taught the Greeks resistance; Religion calls her from the wish'd embrace,

Had they preavild, I ne'er had known Irete. Paints future joys, and points to distant glories.

(Exit Mustapha.

SCENE V.
Soon will th’ uncqual contest be deciiled.

MAROMEI, CALI.
Prospects, obscur'd by distance, faintly strike;
Each pleasure brightens at its near approach,

Remote from tumult, in th'adjoining palace, And ev'ry danger shocks with double horrour.

Thy care shall guard this treasure of my soul ;

There let Aspasia, since my fair entreats it,
MUSTAPHA.

With converse chase the melancholy moments. How shall / scorn the beautiful apostate! Sure chill'd with sixty winter camps, thy blood How will the bright Aspasia shine above her! At sight of female charms will glow no more.

CALJ. Should she, for proselytes are always zealous, These years, unconquer'd Mahomet, demand With pious warmth receive our prophet's law- Desires more pure, and other cares than love.

MUSTAPILA.

CALI.

MAHONET.

CALI.

A SPASIA.

IRENE.

Long have I wish'd, before our prophet's tomb

The glittering vanities of empty greatness,
To pour my pray’rs for thy successful reign, The hopes and fears, the joys and pains of life.
To quit the tumults of the noisy camp,

Dissolve in air, and vanish into iruthing.
And sink into the silent grave in peace.
MAHOMET.

Let nobler hopes and justér fears succeed,
What! think of peace while haughty Scander- And bar the passes of Irene's mind
beg,

Againsi returning guilt.
Elate with conquest, in his native mountains,
Prowls o'er the wealthy spoils of bleeding Turkey!
While fair Hungaria's unexhausted valleys

When thou art absent, Pour forth their legions, and the roaring Danube Death rises to my view with all its terrours ; Rolis half his floods unheard through shouting Tien visions horrid as a murd'rer's dreams, camps !

Chill my resolves, and blast my blooming virtue: Nor could'st thou more support a life of sloth Steru torture shakes his bloody scourge before Than Amurath

me,

And anguish gnashes on the fatal wheel.
Still full of Amurath! [.4 side.

Since fear predominates in ev'ry thought,

And sways thy breast with absolute dominion, Than Amurath, accustom'd to command, Think on th' insulting scorn, the conscious pangs, Could bear his son upon the Turkish throue. The future mis'ries that await th' apostate ;

So shall timidity assist thy reason,

And wisdom into virtue turn thy frailty. This pilgrimage our lawgiver ordain'd

CALI.

ASPASIA.

MAHOMET.

CALI.

IRENE.

MAHOMET.

ASPASIA.

CALI.

MAHOMET.

Will not that power that form'd the heart of woFor those who could not please by nobler service.

man, Our warlike prophet loves an active faith, And wove the feeble texture of her nerves, The holy Aame of enterprizing virtue,

Forgive those fears that slake the tender frame? Mocks the dull vows of solitude and penance, And scorns the lazy hermit's cheap devotion. Shine thou, distinguish'd by superior merit, The weakness we lament, ourselves create; With wonted zeal pursue the task of war, Instructed from our infant years to court, Till ev'ry nation reverence the Koran,

With counterfeited fears, the aid of man,
And ev'ry suppliant lift his eyes to Mecca.

We learn to shudder at the rastling breeze,
Start at the light, and tremble in the dark;

Till, affectation ripening to belief,
This regal confidence, this pious ardour,

And folly frighted at her own chimeras,
Let prudence moderate, though not suppress. Habitual cowardice üsurps the soul.
Is not each realm that smiles with kinder suns,
Or boasts a happier soil, already thine ?

IRENE.
Extended empire, like expanded gold,

Not all like thee can brave the shocks of fate. Exchanges solid strength for feeble splendour.

Thy soul, by nature great, enlarg'd by know

ledge,

Svars unencumber'd with our idle cares, Preach thy dull politics to vulgar kings,

And all Aspasia, but hier beauty 's man. Thou know'st not yet thy master's future great

ness, His vast designs, his plans of boundless pow'r,

Each generous sentiment is thine, Demetrius, When ev'ry storm in my domain shall roar,

Whose soul, perhaps, yet mindful of Aspasia, When ev'ry wave shall beat a Turkish shore;

Now hovers o'er this melancholy shade, Then, Cali, shall the toils of battle cease,

Well pleas'd to find thy precepts not forgotten. Then dream of prayer, and pilgrimage, and o! could the grave restore the pious hero, peace,

[Ereunt. Soon would bis art or valour set us free,

And bear us far from servitude and crimes.
ACT II.
SCENE I.

He may yet live.
ASPASIA, IRENE.

ASPASIA,

Alas! delusive dream! Aspasia, yet pursue the sacred theme;

Too well I know him; his immoderate courage, Exhaust the stores of pious eloquence,

T'h'impetuous sallies of excessive virtue, And teach me to repel the sultan's passion.

Too strong for love, hare hurried hiin on death, Still at Aspasia's voice a sudden rapture Exalts my soul, and fortifies my heart.

ASPASIA.

IRENE,

IRENE.

ABDALLA

CALI.

IRENF.

DEMETRIUS.

CALI.

LEONTIUS.

SCENE II.

While with incessant thought laborious man

Extends bis mighty schemes of wealth and post's, ASF ASIA, IRENE, CALI, ABDALLA.

And towers and triumphs in ideal greatness; Cali to ABDALIA, as they advance.

Some accidental gust of opposition

Blasts all the beauties of his new creation, Behold our future sultaness, Abdalla ;

O’erturns the fabric of presumptuous reason, Let artful Ratt'ry now, to lull suspicion,

And wbelms the swelling architect beneath it. Glide through Irene to the sultan's ear,

Had not the breeze untwin'd the meeting boughs, Wouldst thou subdue th' obdurate cannibal To tender friendship, praise him to his mistress. And through the parted shade disclos'd the

Greeks, [To Irene.) Well may those eyes that view these heav'nly in all the sweet oblivion of delight,

Th' important hour had pass'd unheeded by, charms Reject the daughters of contending kings:

In all the fopperies of meeting lovers;

In sighs and tears, in transports and embraces, For what are pompous titles, proud alliance,

In soft complaints, and idle protestations. Empire or wealth, to excellence like thine ?

SCENE IV. Receive th' impatient sultan to thy arms;

CALI, DEMETRIUS, LEONTIUS. And may a long posterity of monarchs, The pride and terrour of succeeding days, Rise froin the happy bed; and future queens Could omens fright the resolute and wise, Diffuse Irene's beauty through the world! Well might we fear impending disappointments.

LEONTIUS. Can Mahomct's imperial hand descend

Your artful suit, your monarch's fierce denial, To clasp a slave? or cau a soul like mine, The cruel doom of hapless MenodorusI'mns'd 10 pow'r, and form'd for humbler scenes, Support the splendid iniseries of greatness?

And your new charge, that dear, that hearinly

maid
No regal pageant deck'd with casual honours,
Scorn'd by his subjects, trampled by his foes,
No feeble tyrant of a petty state,

All this we know already from Abdalla.
Courts thee to shake on a dependant throne;
Born to command, as thou to charm mankind,

DEMETRIUS.
The sultan from himself derives his greatness. Such slight defeats but animate the brare
Observe, bright majd, as his resistless voice

To stronger efforts and maturer counsels.
Drives on the tempest of destructive war,
How nation after nation falls before him.

CALI.
ABDALLA.

My doom confirm'd establishes my purpose. At his dread name the distant mountains shake

Calmly he heard till Amurath's resumption Their cloudy summits, and the sons of fierceness, When from his lips the fatal name burst out,

Rose to his thought, and set his soul on fire : That range unciviliz'd from rock to rock,

A sudden pause th' imperfect sense suspended, Distrust th' eternal fortresses of Nature,

Like the dread stillness of condensing storms. And wish their gloomy caverns more obscure. ASPASIA.

DEMETRIUS. Torbear this lavish pomp of dreadful praise :

The loudest cries of Nature urge us forward; The horrid images of war and slaughter

Despotic rage pursues the life of Cali;
Renew our sorrows, and awake our fears.

His groaning country claims Leontius' aid;
And yet another voice, forgive me, Greece,

The pow'rful voice of love inflames Demetrius, Cali, methinks yon waving trees afford

Each ling'ring hour alarms me for Aspasia. A doubtful glimpse of our approaching friends :

CALI. Just as I mark'd them they forsook the shore, And turn'd their hasty steps towards the garden. What passions reign among thy crew, Leontius?

Does cheerless diffidence oppress their hearts?

Or sprightly hope exalt their kindlog spirits? Conduct these queens, Abdalla, to the palace: Do they with pain repress the struggling shout, Such heav'nly beauty, form’d for adoration, And listen eager to the rising wind? The pride of monarchs, the reward of conquest ! Such beauty must not shine to vulgar eyes.

LEONTIUS.

All there is hope, and gaiety, and courage,
SCENE III.

No cloudy doubts, or languishing delays;
CALI, solus.

Ere I could range them on the crowded deck, How Hear'n, in scor of human arrogance,

At once an bundred voices thunder'd round the, Commits to trivial chance the fate of nations !

And ev'ry voice was“ Liberty and Greece."

ABDALI.A.

CALI.

DE METRIUS.

LEONTIV'S.

CALI,

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

To banish doubt, and brand him 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.

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 bis 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.

MUSTAPHA.

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 bither; let no rude intrusion Struck with the wonder of a statestman'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' bis way,
SCENE VI.

And in some distant land obscurely die.
MAHOMET, 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 ;

Bribe to his cause, and list beneath bis banners, In the dark precincts of the gaping grave, 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 call'd me to his couch of death,

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

conquests, “ Restrain the fervour of iinpetuous youth

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

geance. Are these the counsels, this the faith of Cali ? Were all our favours lavish'd on a villain ?

Elude my vengeance! No-My troops shall Confest?

range 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 fatal scroll, then sunk to nothing. Wherever guilt can Ay, revenge can follow.

МАНОМЕТ.

MUSTAPHA.

Car

Tac

upon woman?

MUSTAPRA.

Records each act, each thought of sov'reign man, Wilt thov dismiss the savage from the toils,

Surveys your plays with inattentive glance,
Only to hunt him round the ravag'd world?

And leaves the lovely trifler unregarded.
MAROMET.

IRENE.
Suspend bis sentence_empire and Irene

Why then has Nature's vain munificence
Claim my divided soul. This wretch, unworthy Whence then those charms thy tongue has

Profusely pour'd her bounties
To mix with nobler cares, I'll throw aside
For idle hours, and crush him at my leisure.

deign'd to flatter,

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. 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
Like a fell adder swelling in a brake,

The richest odours, nor the speckled shells Beneath the covert of this verdant arcin

Conceal the gem: let female arrogance In private conference; beside him stood

Observe the feather'd wand'rers of the sky; Two men unknown, the partners of his bosom;

With purple varied and bedropp'd with gold, I mark'd them well, and trac'd in either face

They prune the wing, and spread the glossy The gloomy resolution, horrid greatness,

plumes, And stern composure, of despairing heroes ;

Ordain'd, like you, to flutter and to shine,
And, to confirm my thoughts, at sight of me,

And cheer the weary passenger with music,
As blasted by my presence, they withdrew
With all the speed of terrour and of guilt.

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

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

Whence flow 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 Irene 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 my bosom. Do gay delusions, wand'ring o'er the brain,
(Cali enters with Irene, and exit with Mustapha. To want give afluence? and to slavery freedom?

Sooth the delighted soul with empty bliss?
SCENE VII.

Such are love's joys, the lenitives of life,

A fancy'd treasure and a waking dream.
MABOMET, 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?
Ah! cease, Irene, cease those flowing sorrows,

Th’ attractive softness, and th' endearing smile,
That melt a heart impregnable till now,

And pow'rful glance, 'tis granted are our own; And turn (thy thoughts henceforth to love and Exbausted all her nobler gifts on you.

Nor has impartial Nature's frugal hand empire. How will the matchless beauties of Irene,

Do not we share the comprehensive thought, Thus bright in tears, thus amiable in ruin,

Th’enlivening wit, the penetrating reason?

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!

IRENE.

At
E
A

C

IRENE.

MAHOMET.

A
HU

TRENE.

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-

Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thive,
Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face.
I thought (forgive, my fair,) the noblest aim,
The strongest effort of a feniale 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 charin a mind like thine exalted,
To shine the goddess of applauding nations,
To scatter happiness and plenty round thee,
To biu the prostrate captive rise and live,
To see new cities tow'r at thy command,
And blasted kingdoms flourish at thy swie?