The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Illustrated Edition). Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Her knells and masses that redeem the dead!
SONG
Behind the Scenes, accompanied by the same Instrument as
before.
Hear, sweet spirit, hear the spell,
Lest a blacker charm compel! 70
So shall the midnight breezes swell
With thy deep long-lingering knell.
And at evening evermore,
In a chapel on the shore,
Shall the chaunter, sad and saintly, 75
Yellow tapers burning faintly,
Doleful masses chaunt for thee,
Miserere Domine!
Hark! the cadence dies away
On the quiet moonlight sea: 80
The boatmen rest their oars and say,
Miserere Domine! [A long pause.
Ordonio. The innocent obey nor charm nor spell!
My brother is in heaven. Thou sainted spirit,
Burst on our sight, a passing visitant! 85
Once more to hear thy voice, once more to see thee,
O ‘twere a joy to me!
Alvar. A joy to thee!
What if thou heard’st him now? What if his spirit
Re-enter’d its cold corse, and came upon thee
With many a stab from many a murderer’s poniard? 90
What if (his stedfast eye still beaming pity
And brother’s love) he turn’d his head aside,
Lest he should look at thee, and with one look
Hurl thee beyond all power of penitence?
Valdez. These are unholy fancies!
Ordonio. Yes, my father, 95
He is in Heaven!
Alvar (still to Ordonio). But what if he had a brother,
Who had lived even so, that at his dying hour,
The name of Heaven would have convulsed his face,
More than the death-pang?
Valdez. Idly prating man!
Thou hast guess’d ill: Don Alvar’s only brother 100
Stands here before thee — a father’s blessing on him!
He is most virtuous.
Alvar (still to Ordonio). What, if his very virtues
Had pampered his swoln heart and made him proud?
And what if pride had duped him into guilt?
Yet still he stalked a self-created god, 105
Not very bold, but exquisitely cunning;
And one that at his mother’s looking-glass
Would force his features to a frowning sternness?
Young Lord! I tell thee, that there are such beings —
Yea, and it gives fierce merriment to the damn’d, 110
To see these most proud men, that loath mankind,
At every stir and buzz of coward conscience,
Trick, cant, and lie, most whining hypocrites!
Away, away! Now let me hear more music. [Music again.
Teresa. ‘Tis strange, I tremble at my own conjectures! 115
But whatsoe’er it mean, I dare no longer
Be present at these lawless mysteries,
This dark provoking of the hidden Powers!
Already I affront — if not high Heaven —
Yet Alvar’s memory! — Hark! I make appeal 120
Against the unholy rite, and hasten hence
To bend before a lawful shrine, and seek
That voice which whispers, when the still heart listens,
Comfort and faithful hope! Let us retire.
Alvar (to Teresa). O full of faith and guileless love, thy
Spirit 125
Still prompts thee wisely. Let the pangs of guilt
Surprise the guilty: thou art innocent!
[Exeunt TERESA and Attendant. Music as before.
The spell is mutter’d — Come, thou wandering shape,
Who own’st no master in a human eye,
Whate’er be this man’s doom, fair be it, or foul, 130
If he be dead, O come! and bring with thee
That which he grasp’d in death! But if he live,
Some token of his obscure perilous life.
[The whole Music dashes into a Chorus.
CHORUS
Wandering demons, hear the spell!
Lest a blacker charm compel — 135
[The incense on the altar takes fire suddenly, and an
illuminated picture of ALVAR’S assassination is
discovered, and having remained a few seconds is
then hidden by ascending flames.
Ordonio (starting). Duped! duped! duped! — the traitor Isidore!
[At this instant the doors are forced open, MONVIEDRO
and the Familiars of the Inquisition, Servants,
&c., enter and fill the stage.
Monviedro. First seize the sorcerer! suffer him not to speak!
The holy judges of the Inquisition
Shall hear his first words. — Look you pale, Lord Valdez?
Plain evidence have we here of most foul sorcery. 140
There is a dungeon underneath this castle,
And as you hope for mild interpretation,
Surrender instantly the keys and charge of it.
Ordonio (recovering himself as from stupor, to Servants). Why
haste you not? Off with him to the dungeon!
[All rush out in tumult.
[After 49] [Music expressive of the movements and images that follow.
Editions 1, 2, 3, 1829.
SCENE II
Interior of a Chapel, with painted Windows.
Enter TERESA.
Teresa. When first I entered this pure spot, forebodings
Press’d heavy on my heart: but as I knelt,
Such calm unwonted bliss possess’d my spirit,
A trance so cloudless, that those sounds, hard by,
Of trampling uproar fell upon mine ear 5
As alien and unnoticed as the rainstorm
Beats on the roof of some fair banquet-room,
While sweetest melodies are warbling ——
Enter VALDEZ.
Valdez.