Remember the great act you did this day:
How did your love to virtue then give way!
When you gave freedom to my captive lord,-
That rival who possessed what you adored,
Of such a deed what price can there be made?
Think well; is that an action to be paid?
It was a miracle of virtue shown;

And wonders are with wonder paid alone.
And would you all that secret joy of mind,
Which great souls only in great actions find,
All that, for one tumultuous minute lose?

Almanz. I would that minute before ages chuse.
Praise is the pay of heaven for doing good;
But love's the best return for flesh and blood.
Almah. You've moved my heart so much, I can
deny

No more; but know, Almanzor, I can die.
Thus far my virtue yields; if I have shown
More love than what I ought, let this atone.

Almanz. Hold, hold!

[Going to stab herself.

Such fatal proofs of love you shall not give:
Deny me; hate me; both are just,—but live!
Your virtue I will ne'er disturb again;
Nor dare to ask, for fear I should obtain.

Almah. "Tis generous to have conquered your desire;

You mount above your wish, and lose it higher.
There's pride in virtue, and a kindly heat;
Not feverish, like your love, but full as great.
Farewell; and may our loves hereafter be
But image-like, to heighten piety.

Almanz. 'Tis time I should be gone.
Alas! I am but half converted yet;
All I resolve, I with one look forget;

And, like a lion, whom no arts can tame, Shall tear even those, who would my rage reclaim. [Exeunt severally.

[ZULEMA and HAMET watch ALMANZOR; and when he is gone, go in after the Queen.

Enter ABDELMELECH and LYNDARAXA.

Lyndar. It is enough, you've brought me to this place:

Here stop, and urge no further my disgrace.
Kill me; in death your mercy
will be seen,
But make me not a captive to the queen.

Abdelm. "Tis therefore I this punishment provide:
This only can revenge me on your pride.
Prepare to suffer what you shun in vain;
And know, you now are to obey, not reign.

Enter ALMAHIDE shrieking; her hair loose; she runs over the stage.

Almah. Help, help, O heaven, some help!

Enter ZULEMA and HAMET.

Zul. Make haste before,

And intercept her passage to the door.

Abdelm. Villains, what act are you attempting here!

Almah. I thank thee, heaven! some succour does appear.

[AS ABDELMELECH is going to help the Queen, LYNDARAXA pulls out his sword, and holds it. Abdelm. With what ill fate my good design is

curst!

Zul. We have no time to think; dispatch him first. Abdelm. O for a sword!

[They make at ABDELMELECH; he goes off at one door, while the Queen escapes at the other.

Zul. Ruined!

Hamet. Undone!

Lyndar. And, which is worst of all,

He is escaped.

Zul. I hear them loudly call.

Lyndar. Your fear will lose you; call as loud as they:

I have not time to teach you what to say.
The court will in a moment all be here;
But second what I say, and do not fear.
Call help; run that way; leave the rest to me.

[ZUL. and HAMET retire, and within cry,-+Help! Enter, at several doors, the King, ABENAMAR, SELIN, OZMYN, ALMANZOR, with Guards attending BOABDELIN.

Boab. What can the cause of all this tumult be? And what the meaning of that naked sword? Lyndar. I'll tell, when fear will so much breath afford.

The queen and Abdelmelech-Twill not out-
Even I, who saw it, of the truth yet doubt,
It seems so strange.

Almanz. Did she not name the queen?
Haste; speak.

Lyndar. How dare I speak what I have seen?— With Hamet, and with Zulema I went,

To pay both theirs, and my acknowledgment
To Almahide, and by her mouth implore
Your clemency, our fortunes to restore.

We chose this hour, which we believed most frée,
When she retired from noise and company.
The ante-chamber past, we gently knocked,
Unheard it seems, but found the lodgings locked.
In duteous silence while we waited there,
We first a noise, and then long whispers hear;

Yet thought it was the queen at prayers alone,
Till she distinctly said,—If this were known,
My love, what shame, what danger would ensue!
Yet I,--and sighed, could venture more for you!
Boab. O heaven, what do I hear!

Almanz. Let her go on.

Lyndar. And how,-then murmured in a bigger

tone

Another voice,--and how should it be known?
This hour is from your court attendants free;
The king suspects Almanzor, but not me.
Zul. I find her drift; Hamet, be confident;
[At the door.

Second her words, and fear not the event.

ZULEMA and HAMET enter. The King embraces them.
Boab. Welcome, my only friends;-behold in me,
O kings, behold the effects of clemency!

See here the gratitude of pardoned foes!
That life, I gave them, they for me expose!
Hamet. Though Abdelmelech was our friend be-
fore,

When duty called us, he was so no more.

Almanz. Damn your delay!-you torturers, proceed!

I will not hear one word but Almahide.

Boab. When you, within, the traitor's voice did hear,

What did you then?

Zul. I durst not trust my ear;

But, peeping through the key-hole, I espied
The queen, and Abdelmelech by her side;
She on the couch, he on her bosom lay;
Her hand about his neck his head did stay,
And from his forehead wiped the drops away.
Boab. Go on, go on, my friends, to clear my doubt;

I hope I shall have life to hear you out.

Zul. What had been, sir, you may suspect too well;

What followed, modesty forbids to tell :
Seeing what we had thought beyond belief,
Our hearts so swelled with anger and with grief,
That, by plain force, we strove the door to break.
He, fearful, and with guilt, or love, grown weak,
Just as we entered, 'scaped the other way;
Nor did the amazed queen behind him stay.

Lyndar. His sword, in so much haste, he could not mind;

But left this witness of his crime behind.

Boab. O proud, ungrateful, faithless womankind! How changed, and what a monster am I made! My love, my honour, ruined and betrayed!

Almanz. Your love and honour! mine are ruined

worse:

Furies and hell!-What right have you to curse?
Dull husband as you are,

What can your love, or what your honour, be?
I am her lover, and she's false to me.

Boab. Go; when the authors of my shame are found,

Let them be taken instantly and bound:
They shall be punished as our laws require :
'Tis just, that flames should be condemned to fire.
This, with the dawn of morning shall be done.
Aben. You haste too much her execution.
Her condemnation ought to be deferred;
With justice, none can be condemned unheard.
Boab. A formal process tedious is, and long;
Besides, the evidence is full and strong.

Lyndar. The law demands two witnesses; and she Is cast, for which heaven knows I grieve, by three. Ozm. Hold, sir! since you so far insist on law, We can from thence one just advantage draw: