DRAMATIS PERSONAE

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      [Not in MSS.]

      Osorio, 1797. Remorse.

       VELEZ MARQUIS VALDEZ, Father to the two brothers, and

       Doña Teresa’s Guardian.

       ALBERT DON ALVAR, the eldest son.

       OSORIO DON ORDONIO, the youngest son.

       FRANCESCO MONVIEDRO, a Dominican and Inquisitor.

       MAURICE ZULIMEZ, the faithful attendant on Alvar.

       FERDINAND ISIDORE, a Moresco Chieftain, ostensibly a

       Christian.

       NAOMI NAOMI.

       MARIA DOÑA TERESA, an Orphan Heiress.

       ALHADRA, wife

       of FERDINAND ALHADRA, Wife of Isidore.

       FAMILIARS OF THE INQUISITION.

       MOORS, SERVANTS, &C.

      Time. The reign of Philip II., just at the close of the civil wars against the Moors, and during the heat of the persecution which raged against them, shortly after the edict which forbad the wearing of Moresco apparel under pain of death.

ACT THE FIRST

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      SCENE — The sea shore on the coast of Granada.

      VELEZ, MARIA.

      Maria. I hold Osorio dear: he is your son,

       And Albert’s brother.

      Velez. Love him for himself,

       Nor make the living wretched for the dead.

      Maria. I mourn that you should plead in vain, Lord Velez!

       But Heaven hath heard my vow, and I remain 5

       Faithful to Albert, be he dead or living.

      Velez. Heaven knows with what delight I saw your loves;

       And could my heart’s blood give him back to thee

       I would die smiling. But these are idle thoughts!

       Thy dying father comes upon my soul 10

       With that same look, with which he gave thee to me:

       I held thee in mine arms, a powerless babe,

       While thy poor mother with a mute entreaty

       Fix’d her faint eyes on mine: ah, not for this,

       That I should let thee feed thy soul with gloom, 15

       And with slow anguish wear away thy life,

       The victim of a useless constancy.

       I must not see thee wretched.

      Maria. There are woes

       Ill-barter’d for the garishness of joy!

       If it be wretched with an untired eye 20

       To watch those skiey tints, and this green ocean;

       Or in the sultry hour beneath some rock,

       My hair dishevell’d by the pleasant sea-breeze,

       To shape sweet visions, and live o’er again

       All past hours of delight; if it be wretched 25

       To watch some bark, and fancy Albert there;

       To go through each minutest circumstance

       Of the bless’d meeting, and to frame adventures

       Most terrible and strange, and hear him tell them:

       (As once I knew a crazy Moorish maid, 30

       Who dress’d her in her buried lover’s cloaths,

       And o’er the smooth spring in the mountain cleft

       Hung with her lute, and play’d the selfsame tune

       He used to play, and listen’d to the shadow

       Herself had made); if this be wretchedness, 35

       And if indeed it be a wretched thing

       To trick out mine own deathbed, and imagine

       That I had died — died, just ere his return;

       Then see him listening to my constancy;

       And hover round, as he at midnight ever 40

       Sits on my grave and gazes at the moon;

       Or haply in some more fantastic mood

       To be in Paradise, and with choice flowers

       Build up a bower where he and I might dwell,

       And there to wait his coming! O my sire! 45

       My Albert’s sire! if this be wretchedness

       That eats away the life, what were it, think you,

       If in a most assur’d reality

       He should return, and see a brother’s infant

       Smile at him from my arms? [Clasping her forehead.

       O what a thought! 50

       ‘Twas horrible! it pass’d my brain like lightning.

      Velez. ‘Twere horrible, if but one doubt remain’d

       The very week he promised his return.

      Maria. Ah, what a busy joy was ours — to see him

       After his three years’ travels! tho’ that absence 55

       His still-expected, never-failing letters

       Almost endear’d to me! Even then what tumult!

      Velez. O power of youth to feed on pleasant thoughts

       Spite of conviction! I am old and heartless!

       Yes, I am old — I have no pleasant dreams — 60

       Hectic and unrefresh’d with rest.

      Maria (with great tenderness). My father!

      Velez. Aye, ‘twas the morning thou didst try to cheer me

       With a fond gaiety. My heart was bursting,

       And yet I could not tell me, how my sleep