If you the merit of this night regard,
In her possession' I have my reward.
Almanz. She your reward ! why, she's a gift so

great,
That I myself have not deserved her yet;
And therefore, though I won her with my sword,
I have, with awe, my sacrilege restored.

Zul. What you deserve I'll not dispute, because I do not know; This only I will say, she shall not go. Almanz. Thou, single, art not worth my answer

ing: But take what friends, what armies thou canst

bring; What worlds; and, when you are united all, Then will I thunder in your ears,—She shall.

Zul. I'll not one tittle of my right resign.--Sir, your implicit promise made her mine; When I, in general terms, my love did show, You swore our fortunes should together go.

Abdal. The merits of the cause I'll not decide,
But, like my love, I would my gift divide.
Your equal titles then no longer plead;
But one of you, for love of me, recede.

Almanz. I have receded to the utmost line,
When, by my free consent, she is not mine:
Then let him equally recede with me,
And both of us will join to set her free.

Zul. If you will free your part of her, you may;
But, sir, I love not your romantic way.
Dream on, enjoy her soul, and set that free;
I'm pleased her person should be left for me.
Almanz. Thou shalt not wish her thine; thou

shalt not dare To be so impudent, as to despair.

Zul. The Zegrys, sir, are all concerned to see How much their merit you neglect in me.

Hamet. Your slighting Zulema, this very hour Will take ten thousand subjects from your power. Almanz. What are ten thousand subjects such as

they? If I am scorned- I'll take myself away. Abdal. Since both cannot possess what both pur

sue, I grieve, my friend, the chance should fall on

you; But when you hear what reason I can urgeAlmanz. None, none that your ingratitude can

purge. Reason's a trick, when it no grant affords; It stamps the face of majesty on words.

Abdal. Your boldness to your services I give:
Now take it, as your full reward,- to live.

Almanz. To live!
If from thy hands alone my death can be,
I am immortal, and a god to thee.
If I would kill thee now, thy fate's so low,
That I must stoop ere I can give the blow :
But mine is fixed so far above thy crown,
That all thy men,
Piled on thy back, can never pull it down:
But, at my ease, thy destiny I send,
By ceasing from this hour to be thy friend.
Like heaven, I need but only to stand still,
And, not concurring to thy life, I kill.
Thou canst no title to my duty bring;
I'm not thy subject, and my soul's thy king.
Farewell. When I am gone,
There's not a star of thine dare stay with thee:
I'll whistle thy tame fortune after me; ..
And whirl fate with me wheresoe'er I fly,
As winds drive storms before them in the sky.

[Exit.

Zul. Let not this insolent unpunished go; Give your commands; your justice is too slow.

[ZULEMA, HAMET, and others are going af

ter him. Abdel. Stay, and what part he pleases let him

take: I know my throne's too strong for him to shake. But my fair mistress I too long forget; The crown I promised is not offered yet. Without her presence all my joys are vain, Empire a curse, and life itself a pain. [Exeunt.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

Enter BOABDELIN, ABEN AMAR, and Guards.

Boab. Advise, or aid, but do not pity me: No monarch born can fall to that degree. Pity descends from kings to all below; But can, no more than fountains, upward flow. Witness, just heaven, my greatest grief has been, I could not make your Almahide a queen. Aben. I have too long the effects of fortune

known, Either to trust her smiles, or fear her frown. Since in their first attempt you were not slain, Your safety bodes you yet a second reign. The people like a headlong torrent go, And ev'ry dam they break, or overflow; But, unopposed, they either lose their force, Or wind, in volumes, to their former course. Boab. In walls we meanly must our hopes in

close, To wait our friends, and weary out our foes : While Almahide

To lawless rebels is exposed a prey,
And forced the lustful victor to obey.

Aben. One of my blood, in rules of virtue bred! Think better of her, and believe she's dead.

Enter ALMANZOR.
Boab. We are betrayed, the enemy is here;
We have no farther room to hope or fear.

Almanz. It is indeed Almanzor whom you see,
But he no longer is your enemy.
You were ungrateful, but your foes were more;
What your injustice lost you, theirs restore.
Make profit of my vengeance while you may,
My two-edged sword can cut the other way.-
I am your fortune, but am swift like her,
And turn my hairy front if you defer:
That hour, when you deliberate, is too late;
I point you the white moment of your fate.

Aben. Believe him sent as prince Abdalla's spy; He would betray us to the enemy. Almanz. Were I, like thee, in cheats of state

grown old, (Those public markets, where, for foreign gold,.. The poorest prince is to the richest sold) Then thou mightst think me fit for that low part; But I am yet to learn the statesman's art. My kindness and my hate unmasked I wear; For friends to trust, and enemies to fear. My heart's so plain, That men on every passing through may look, Like fishes gliding in a crystal brook; When troubled most, it does the bottom shew, 'Tis weedless all above, and rockless all below.

Aben. Ere he be trusted, let him then be tried; He may be false, who once has changed his side.

Almanz. In that you more accuse yourselves than

me; None who are injured can inconstant be. You were inconstant, you, who did the wrong; To do me justice does to me belong. Great souls by kindness only can be tied; Injured again, again I'll leave your side. Honour is what myself, and friends, I owe; And none can lose it who forsake a foe. Since, then, your foes now happen to be mine, Though not in friendship, we'll in interest join: So while my loved revenge is full and high, I'll give you back your kingdom by the by. Boab. That I so long delayed what you desire,

[Embracing him. Was, not to doubt your worth, but to admire. Almanz. This counsellor an old man's caution

shows, Who fears that little, he has left, to lose: Age sets a fortune; while youth boldly throws.. But let us first your drooping soldiers cheer; Then seek out danger, ere it dare appear: This hour I fix your crown upon your brow; Next hour fate gives it, but I give it now.

[Ereunt.

SCENE II.

Enter LYNDARAXA. Lyndar. (), could I read the dark decrees of fate, That I might once know whom to love, or hate! For I myself scarce my own thoughts can guess, So much I find them varied by success. As in some weather-glass, my love I hold; Which falls or rises with the heat or cold. I will be constant yet, if fortune can; I love the king,- let her but name the man.

3 .