But to each lure, a court throws out, descend,
And prey on those they promised to defend.

Zul. Those kings, who to their wild demands

consent,

Teach others the same way to discontent.
Freedom in subjects is not, nor can be;
But still, to please them, we must call them free.
Propriety, which they their idol make,
Or law, or law's interpreters, can shake.

Aben. The name of commonwealth is popular; But there the people their own tyrants are.

Boab. But kings, who rule with limited command, Have players' sceptres put into their hand. Power has no balance, one side still weighs down, And either hoists the commonwealth or crown; And those, who think to set the scale more right, By various turnings but disturb the weight. Aben. While people tug for freedom, kings for

power,

Both sink beneath some foreign conqueror:

Then subjects find too late they were unjust,
And want that power of kings, they durst not trust.

To them ABDELMELECH.

Abdelm. The tumult now is high, and dangerous grown:

The people talk of rendering up the town;

And swear that they will force the king's consent. Boab. What counsel can this rising storm prevent? Abdelm. Their fright to no persuasions will give

ear:

There's a deaf madness in a people's fear.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. Their fury now a middle course does take; To yield the town, or call Almanzor back.

Boab. I'll rather call my death.Go, and bring up my guards to my I'll punish this outrageous insolence.

defence:

Åben. Since blind opinion does their reason sway, You must submit to cure them their own way. You to their fancies physic must apply; Give them that chief on whom they most rely. Under Almanzor prosperously they fought; Almanzor, therefore, must with prayers be brought Enter a second Messenger.

2 Mess. Haste all you can their fury to assuage: You are not safe from their rebellious rage.

Enter a third Messenger.

3 Mess. This minute, if you grant not their desire, They'll seize your person, and your palace fire. Abdelm. Your danger, sir, admits of no delay. Boub. In tumults people reign, and kings obey.Go and appease them with the vow I make, That they shall have their loved Almanzor back. [Exit ABDEL.

Almanzor has the ascendant o'er my fate;
I'm forced to stoop to one I fear and hate:
Disgraced, distressed, in exile, and alone,
He's greater than a monarch on his throne:
Without a realm, a royalty he gains;
Kings are the subjects over whom he reigns.

[A shout of acclamations within. Aben. These shouts proclaim the people satisfied. Boab. We for another tempest must provide.

To promise his return as I was loth,

So I want power now to perform my oath.

Ere this, for Afric he is sailed from Spain.

Aben. The adverse winds his passage yet detain; I heard, last night, his equipage did stay At a small village, short of Malaga.

Boab. Abenamar, this evening thither haste; Desire him to forget his usage past:

Use all your rhetoric, promise, flatter, pray.

To them ALMAHIDE, attended.

Aben. Good fortune shows you yet a surer way : Nor prayers nor promises his mind will move; 'Tis inaccessible to all, but love.

Boab. Oh, thou hast roused a thought within my breast,

That will for ever rob me of my rest.
Ah jealousy, how cruel is thy sting!
I, in Almanzor, a loved rival bring!
And now, I think, it is an equal strife,
If I my crown should hazard, or my wife.
Where, marriage, is thy cure, which husbands boast,
That in possession their desire is lost?

Or why have I alone that wretched taste,
Which, gorged and glutted, does with hunger last?
Custom and duty cannot set me free,

Even sin itself has not a charm for me.
Of married lovers I am sure the first,

And nothing but a king could be so curst.

Almah. What sadness sits upon your royal heart? Have you a grief, and must not I have part? All creatures else a time of love possess; Man only clogs with cares his happiness: And, while he should enjoy his part of bliss, With thoughts of what may be, destroys what is. Boab. You guess aright; I am oppressed with grief,

And 'tis from you that I must seek relief.

[To the company. Leave us; to sorrow there's a reverence due: Sad kings, like suns eclipsed, withdraw from view. [The Attendants go off, and chairs are set for the King and Queen.

cf

Rehears

Almah. So, two kind turtles, when a storm is nigh,
Look up, and see it gathering in the sky :
Each calls his mate, to shelter in the groves,
Leaving, in murmur, their unfinished loves:
Perched on some drooping branch, they sit alone,
And coo, and hearken to each other's moan.
Boab. Since, Almahide, you seem so kind a wife,
[Taking her by the hand.
What would you do to save a husband's life?
Almah. When fate calls on that hard necessity,
I'll suffer death, rather than you shall die.

Boab. Suppose your country should in danger be;
What would you undertake to set it free?

Almah. It were too little to resign my breath:
My own free hand should give me nobler death.
Boab. That hand, which would so much for glory
do,

Must yet do more; for it must kill me too.
You must kill me, for that dear country's sake;
Or, what's all one, must call Almanzor back.

Almah. I see to what your speech you now direct;
Either my love or virtue you suspect.
But know, that, when my person I resigned,
I was too noble not to give my mind.
No more the shadow of Almanzor fear;

I have no room, but for your image, here.

Boab. This, Almahide, would make me cease to

mourn,

Were that Almanzor never to return:
But now my fearful people mutiny;
Their clamours call Almanzor back, not I.

Their safety, through my ruin, I pursue;
He must return, and must be brought by you.
Almah. That hour, when I my faith to you did
plight,

I banished him for ever from my sight.

His banishment was to my virtue due;
Not that I feared him for myself, but you.
My honour had preserved me innocent:
But I would, your suspicion to prevent;
Which, since I see augmented in your mind,
yet more reason for his exile find.

I

Boab. To your entreaties he will yield alone,
And on your doom depend my life and throne.
No longer, therefore, my desires withstand;
Or, if desires prevail not, my command.

Almah. In his return, too sadly I foresee
The effects of your returning jealousy.
But your command I prize above my life;
"Tis sacred to a subject and a wife:
If I have power, Almanzor shall return.

Boab. Cursed be that fatal hour when I was born! [Letting go her hand, and starting up.

You love, you love him; and that love reveal,
By your too quick consent to his repeal.
My jealousy had but too just a ground;
And now you stab into my former wound.

Almah. This sudden change I do not understand,
Have you so soon forgot your own command?
Boab. Grant that I did the unjust injunction lay,
You should have loved me more than to obey.
I know you did this mutiny design;
But I'll your love-plot quickly countermine.
Let my crown go; he never shall return;
I, like a phoenix, in my nest will burn.

Almah. You please me well, that in one common fate

You wrap yourself, and me, and all your state,
Let us no more of proud Almanzor hear:
"Tis better once to die, than still to fear;
And better many times to die, than be
Obliged, past payment, to an enemy.