The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Illustrated Edition). Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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The inside of a Cottage, around which flowers and plants of various
kinds are seen. Discovers ALVAR, ZULIMEZ and ALHADRA, as on the point of
leaving.
Alhadra (addressing ALVAR). Farewell then! and though many thoughts
perplex me,
Aught evil or ignoble never can I
Suspect of thee! If what thou seem’st thou art,
The oppressed brethren of thy blood have need
Of such a leader.
Alvar. Nobly minded woman!
Long time against oppression have I fought,
And for the native liberty of faith
Have bled and suffered bonds. Of this be certain:
Time, as he courses onward, still unrolls
The volume of concealment. In the future,
As in the optician’s glassy cylinder,
The indistinguishable blots and colours
Of the dim past collect and shape themselves,
Upstarting in their own completed image
To scare or to reward.
I sought the guilty,
And what I sought I found: but ere the spear
Flew from my hand, there rose an angel form
Betwixt me and my aim. With baffled purpose
To the Avenger I leave Vengeance, and depart!
Whate’er betide, if aught my arm may aid,
Or power protect, my word is pledged to thee:
For many are thy wrongs, and thy soul noble.
Once more, farewell. [Exit ALHADRA.
Yes, to the Belgic states
We will return. These robes, this stained complexion,
Akin to falsehood, weigh upon my spirit.
Whate’er befall us, the heroic Maurice
Will grant us an asylum, in remembrance
Of our past services.
Zulimez. And all the wealth, power, influence which is yours,
You let a murderer hold?
Alvar. O faithful Zulimez!
That my return involved Ordonio’s death,
I trust, would give me an unmingled pang,
Yet bearable: — but when I see my father
Strewing his scant grey hairs, e’en on the ground,
Which soon must be his grave, and my Teresa —
Her husband proved a murderer, and her infants
His infants — poor Teresa! — all would perish,
All perish — all; and I (nay bear with me)
Could not survive the complicated ruin!
Zulimez. Nay now! I have distress’d you — you well know,
I ne’er will quit your fortunes. True, ‘tis tiresome:
You are a painter, one of many fancies!
You can call up past deeds, and make them live
On the blank canvass! and each little herb,
That grows on mountain bleak, or tangled forest,
You have learnt to name —
Hark! heard you not some footsteps?
Alvar. What if it were my brother coming onwards?
I sent a most mysterious message to him.
Enter ORDONIO.
Alvar. It is he!
Ordonio (to himself as he enters). If I distinguished right her gait
and stature,
It was the Moorish woman, Isidore’s wife,
That passed me as I entered. A lit taper,
In the night air, doth not more naturally
Attract the night flies round it, than a conjuror
Draws round him the whole female neighbourhood. [Addressing ALVAR.
You know my name, I guess, if not my person.
Remorse.
[For lines 31-46 of Remorse, Act II, Scene II, vide supra Osorio, Act
II, Scene II, lines 169-84.]
Stage-direction preceding 162:
Albert and an old servant both drest as Morescoes. Corr. in MS. III.
And all the wealth, power, influence, which is yours
You let a murderer hold!
Albert. O faithful Ali
Corr. in MS. III.
Albert. Yes to the Netherlands
We will return, these robes this stained complexion
Akin to Falsehood, weigh upon my spirit
What e’er befal us, the heroic Maurice
Will grant us an asylum, in remembrance
Of our past service.
Corr. in MS. III.
Be quick
Remove these tablets — quick conceal it —
Corr. in MS. III.
Stage-directions (groaning, &c.) before 206, and (Albert, &c.) after
206 om. Remorse.
Ord. (returning and aloud).
Plucked in the moonlight from a ruin’d abbey —
Those only, which the pale rays visited!
O the unintelligible power of weeds,
Remorse.
Ord. With you, then, I am to speak.
[Haughtily waving his hand to ZULIMEZ.
And mark you, alone. [Exit ZULIMEZ.
Remorse.
[Before 226] Ord. (aside). O what a, &c. Remorse.
Yet still a fool! [Looks round the cottage.
You are poor!
Remorse.
The Inquisition, too — You comprehend me?
You are poor, in peril. I have wealth and power
Remorse.
Ord. The slave begins to soften. [aside.
You are my friend
Remorse.
[After 242] Stage-direction om. Remorse.
Insolent slave! how dar’dst thou —
[Turns abruptly from ALVAR, and then to himself.
Why! What’s this?
‘Twas idiocy! I’ll tie myself to an aspen,
And wear a fool’s cap —
Alvar. Fare thee well —
I pity thee, Ordonio, even to anguish. [ALVAR is retiring.
Ordonio. Ho! [Calling to ALVAR.
Alvar. Be brief, &c.
Remorse.
lord MS. III. erased.
[Before