And brought you more dull sense, dull sense much worse
Than brisk gay nonsense, and the heavier curse.
They bring old iron, and glass upon the stage,
To barter with the Indians of our age.
Still they write on, and like great authors show ;)
But 'tis as rollers in wet gardens grow
Heavy with dirt, and gathering as they go.
May none, who have so little understood,
To like such trash, presume to praise what's good!
And may those drudges of the stage, whose fate
Is damned dull farce more dully to translate,
Fall under that excise the state thinks fit
To set on all French wares, whose worst is wit.
French farce, worn out at home, is sent abroad;
And, patched up here, is made our English mode.
Henceforth, let poets, ere allowed to write,
Be searched, like duelists before they fight,
For wheel-broad hats, dull honour, all that chaff,
Which makes you mourn, and makes the vulgar laugh:
For these, in plays, are as unlawful arms,
As, in a combat, coats of mail, and charms.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

MAHOMET BOABDELIN, the last king of Granada.
Prince ABDALLA, his brother.
ABDELMELECH, chief of the Abencerrages.
ZULEMA, chief of the Zegrys.
ABENAMAR, an old Abencerrago.
SELIN, an old Zegry.
Ozmyn, a brave young Abencerrago, son to Abenamar.
HAMET, brother to Zulema, a Zegry.
Gomel, a Zegry.
ALMANZOR.
FERDINAND, king of Spain.
Duke of Arcos, his General.
Don ALONZO D'AGUILAR, a Spanish Captain.

ALMAHIDE, Queen of Granada.
LYNDARAXA, Sister of ZULEMA, a Zegry Lady.
BENZAYDA, Daughter to SELIN.
ESPERANZA, Slave to the Queen.
HALYMA, Slave to LYNDARAXA.
ISABELLA, Queen of Spain.

Messengers, Guards, Attendants, Men, and Women. SCENE. ---Granada, and the Christian Camp be

sieging it.

ALMANZOR AND ALMAHIDE,

OR, THE

CONQUEST OF GRANADA,

THE FIRST PART.

ACT I. SCENE I.
Enter BOABDBLIN, ABENAMAR, ABDÉLMÉLECH,

and Guards.
Boab. Thus, in the triumphs of soft peace, I reign;
And, from my walls, defy the powers of Spain;
With pomp and sports my love I celebrate,
While they keep distance, and attend my state.
Parent to her, whose eyes my soul enthral,

[TO ABEN. Whom I, in hope, already father call, Abenamar, thy youth these sports has known, Of which thy age is now spectator grown; Judge-like thou sit'st, to praise, or to arraign The flying skirmish of the darted cane :

VOL. IV.

But, when fierce bulls run loose upon the place, And our bold Moors their loves with danger grace, Then heat new-bends thy slackend nerves again, And a short youth runs warm through every vein.'

Aben. I must confess the encounters of this day Warmed me indeed, but quite another way,-Not with the fire of youth ; but generous rage, To see the glories of my youthful age So far out-done.

Abdelm. Castile could never boast, in all its pride, A pomp so splendid, when the lists, set wide, Gave room to the fierce bulls, which wildly ran In Sierra Ronda, ere the war began; Who, with high nostrils snuffing up the wind, Now stood the champion of the savage kind. Just opposite, within the circled place, Ten of our bold Abencerrages race (Each brandishing his bull-spear in his hand) Did their proud jennets gracefully command. On their steel'd heads their demi-lances wore Small pennons, which their ladies' colours bore. Before this troop did warlike Ozmyn go; Each lady, as he rode, saluting low; At the chief stands, with reverence more profound, His well-taught courser, kneeling, touched the

ground; Thence raised, he sidelong bore his rider on, Still facing, till he out of sight was gone.

Boab. You praise him like a friend; and I confess, His brave deportment merited no less. Abdelm. Nine bulls were launched by his victori

ous arm, Whose wary jennet, shunning still the harm, Seemed to attend the shock, and then leaped wide: Mean while, his dextrous rider, when he spied The beast just stooping, 'twixt the neck and head His lance, with never-erring fury, sped.

Aben. My son did well, and so did Hamet too; Yet did no more than we were wont to do; But what the stranger did was more than man. Abdelm. He finished all those triumphs we be

gan. One bull, with curled black head, beyond the rest, And dew-laps hanging from his brawny chest, With nodding front a while did daring stand, And with his jetty hoof spurned back the sand; Then, leaping forth, he bellowed out aloud : The amazed assistants back each other crowd, While monarch-like he ranged the listed field; Some tossed, some gored, some trampling down he

· killed. The ignobler Moors from far his rage provoke With woods of darts, which from his sides he shook. Mean tíme your valiant son, who had before. Gained fame, rode round to every Mirador; Beneath each lady's stand a stop he made, i And, bowing, took the applauses which they paid. Just in that point of time, the brave unknown Approached the lists.

Boab. I marked him, when alone
. (Observed by all, himself observing none)

He entered first, and with a graceful pride.
His fiery Arab dextrously did guide,
Who, while his rider every stand surveyed,
Sprung loose, and flew into an escapade;
Not moving forward, yet, with every bound,
Pressing, and seeming still to quit his ground.
What after passed
Was far from the Ventanna where I sate,
But you were near, and can the truth relate.

[To ABDELM. Abdelm. Thus while he stood, the bull, who saw

his foe, His easier conquests proudly did forego ;