Again! by heaven, I do conjure thee, speak! What art thou, spirit? and what dost thou seek? [The Ghost comes on softly after the conjura

tion; and ALMANZOR retires to the middle of the stage.

Ghost, I am the ghost of her who gave thee birth; The airy shadow of her mouldering earth. Love of thy father me through seas did guide; On seas I bore thee, and on seas I died. I died; and for my winding sheet a wave I had, and all the ocean for my grave. But, when my soul to bliss did upward move, I wandered round the crystal walls above; But found the eternal fence so steeply high, That, when I mounted to the middle sky, I flagged, and fluttered down, and could not fly. Then, from the battlements of the heavenly tower, A watchman angel bid me wait this hour; And told me, I had yet a task assigned, To warn that little pledge I left behind; And to divert him, ere it were too late, From crimes unknown, and errors of his fate. Almanz. Speak, holy shade; thou parent-form, speak on!

Instruct thy mortal-elemented son;

[Bowing.

For here I wander, to myself unknown.
But O, thou better part of heavenly air,
Teach me, kind spirit, since I'm still thy care,
My parents' names:

If I have yet a father, let me know

To whose old age my humble youth must bow,
And pay its duty, if he mortal be,

Or adoration, if a mind, like thee.

Ghost. Then, what I may, I'll tell.

From ancient blood thy father's lineage springs,
Thy mother's thou deriv'st from stems of kings.

A Christian born, and born again that day,
When sacred water washed thy sins away.
Yet, bred in errors, thou dost misemploy
That strength heaven gave thee, and its flock de-
stroy.

Almans. By reason, man a godhead may discern, But how he should be worshipped cannot learn. Ghost. Heaven does not now thy ignorance reprove,

But warns thee from known crimes of lawless love. That crime thou knowest, and, knowing, dost not

shun,

Shall an unknown and greater crime pull on:
But if, thus warned, thou leav'st this cursed place,
Then shalt thou know the author of thy race.
Once more I'll see thee; then my charge is done.
Far hence, upon the mountains of the moon,
Is my abode; where heaven and nature smile,
And strew with flowers the secret bed of Nile.
Blessed souls are there refined, and made more bright,
And, in the shades of heaven, prepared for light.
[Exit Ghost.

Almanz. O heaven, how dark a riddle's thy decree, Which bounds our wills, yet seems to leave them free! Since thy fore-knowledge cannot be in vain,

Our choice must be what thou didst first ordain.
Thus, like a captive in an isle confined,

Man walks at large, a prisoner of the mind:

Wills all his crimes, while heaven the indictment draws,

And, pleading guilty, justifies the laws.

Let fate be fate; the lover and the brave
Are ranked, at least, above the vulgar slave.
Love makes me willing to my death to run;
And courage scorns the death it cannot shun.

Enter ALMAHIDE with a taper.

Almah. My light will sure discover those who talk.

Who dares to interrupt my private walk?

Almanz. He, who dares love, and for that love must die,

And, knowing this, dares yet love on, am I.

Almah. That love which you can hope, and I can pay,

May be received and given in open day:
My praise and my esteem you had before;
And you have bound yourself to ask no more.
Almanz. Yes, I have bound myself; but will you
take

The forfeit of that bond, which force did make? Almah. You know you are from recompence debarred;

But purest love can live without reward.

Almanz. Pure love had need be to itself a feast; For, like pure elements, 'twill nourish least.

Almah. It therefore yields the only pure content; For it, like angels, needs no nourishment. To eat and drink can no perfection be; All appetite implies necessity.

Almanz. Twere well, if I could like a spirit live; But, do not angels food to mortals give?

What if some demon should my death foreshow,
Or bid me change, and to the Christians go;
Will you not think I merit some reward,
When I my love above my life regard?

Almah. In such a case your change must be al

lowed :

I would myself dispense with what

you vowed. Almanz. Were I to die that hour when I possess, This minute shall begin my happiness.

Almah. The thoughts of death your passion would

remove;

Death is a cold encouragement to love.

Almanz. No; from my joys I to my death would

run,

And think the business of my life well done:
But I should walk a discontented ghost,
If flesh and blood were to no purpose lost.

Almah. You love me not, Almanzor; if you did, You would not ask what honour must forbid.

Almanz. And what is honour, but a love well hid? Almah. Yes, 'tis the conscience of an act well done, Which gives us power our own desires to shun; The strong and secret curb of headlong will; The self-reward of good, and shame of ill.

Almanz. These, madam, are the maxims of the day, When honour's present, and when love's away. The duty of poor honour were too hard, In arms all day, at night to mount the guard. Let him, in pity, now to rest retire ;

Let these soft hours be watched by warm desire. Almah. Guards, who all day on painful duty keep, In dangers are not privileged to sleep.

Almanz. And with what dangers are you threatened here?

Am I, alas! a foe for you to fear?

See, madam, at your feet this enemy;
Without your pity and your love I die.

[Kneels.

Almah. Rise, rise, and do not empty hopes pursue;

Yet think that I deny myself, not you.

Almanz. A happiness so high I cannot bear :
My love's too fierce, and you too killing fair.
I grow enraged to see such excellence!
If words, so much disordered, give offence,
My love's too full of zeal to think of sense.
Be you like me; dull reason hence remove,
And tedious forms, and give a loose to love.

Love eagerly; let us be gods to-night;
And do not, with half yielding, dash delight.
Almah. Thou strong seducer, opportunity!
Of womankind, half are undone by thee!
Though I resolve I will not be misled,
I wish I had not heard what you have said!
I cannot be so wicked to comply;

And, yet, am most unhappy to deny!
Away!

Almanz. I will not move me from this place:
I can take no denial from that face!

Almah. If I could yield,—but think not that I will,

You and myself I in revenge should kill;
For I should hate us both, when it were done,
And would not to the shame of life be won.

Almanz. Live but to-night, and trust to-morrow's mind:

Ere that can come, there's a whole life behind.
Methinks, already crowned with joys I lie,
Speechless and breathless, in an ecstasy!
Not absent in one thought: I am all there:
Still close, yet wishing still to be more near.
Almah. Deny your own desires; for it will be
Too little now to be denied by me.

Will he, who does all great, all noble seem,
Be lost and forfeit to his own esteem?
Will he, who may with heroes claim a place,
Belie that fame, and to himself be base?
Think how august and godlike you did look,
When my defence, unbribed, you undertook;
But, when an act so brave you disavow,
How little, and how mercenary now!

Almanz. Are, then, my services no higher prized? And can I fall so low, to be despised?

Almah. Yes; for whatever may be bought, is low; And you yourself, who sell yourself, are so.