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Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders,
Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard?
When fome neglected fabrick nods beneath
The weight of years, and totters to the tempeft,
Muft heaven difpatch the meffengers of light,
Or wake the dead to warn us of its fall?

LEONTIUS.

Well might the weaknefs of our empire fink
Before fuch foes of more than human force;
Some pow'r invifible, from heav'n or hell,
Conducts their armies, and afferts their cause.

DEMETRIUS.

And yet, my friend, what miracles were wrought
Beyond the power of conftancy and courage?
Did unrefifted lightning aid their cannon?
Did roaring whirlwinds fweep us from the ramparts?
'Twas vice that shook our nerves, 'twas vice,Leontius,
That froze our veins, and wither'd all our powers.

LEONTIUS.

Whate'er our crimes, our woes demand compaffion.
Each night, protected by the friendly darkness,
Quitting my close retreat, I range the city,
And weeping, kifs the venerable ruins :
With filent pangs I view the tow'ring domes,
Sacred to prayer, and wander thro' the ftreets;
Where commerce lavish'd unexhausted plenty,
And jollity maintain'd eternal revels.-

DEMETRIUS.

-How chang'd, alas!-Now ghastly defolation
In triumph fits upon our shatter'd spires;

Now fuperftition, ignorance, and error,
Ufurp our temples, and profane our altars.

LEONTIUS.

From ev'ry palace burst a mingled clamour,
The dreadful diffonance of barb'rous triumph,
Shrieks of affright, and wailings of diftrefs.
Oft when the cries of violated beauty
Arose to heav'n, and pierc'd my bleeding breaft,
I felt thy pains, and trembled for Afpafia.

DEMETRIUS.

Afpafia! fpare that lov'd, that mournful name: Dear hapless maid-tempeftuous grief o'erbears My reasoning pow'rs-Dear, hapless, loft Afpafia!

LEONTIUS.

Sufpend the thought.

DEMETRIUS.

All thought on her is madness:

Yet let me think-I fee the helplefs maid,
Behold the monsters gaze with favage rapture,
Behold how luft and rapine ftruggle round her.

LEONTIUS.

Awake, Demetrius, from this difinal dream,
Sink not beneath imaginary forrows:

Call to your aid your courage, and your

wisdom;

Think on the fudden change of human fcenes;
Think on the various accidents of war;
Think on the mighty pow'r of awful virtue;
Think on that Providence that guards the good.

DEMETRIUS.

DEMETRIUS.

O Providence! extend thy care to me,
For courage droops unequal to the combat,
And weak philofophy denies her fuccours.
Sure fome kind fabre in the heat of battle,
Ere yet the foe found leisure to be cruel,
Difmifs'd her to the sky.

LEONTIUS.

Some virgin-martyr,

Perhaps, enamour'd of refembling virtue,
With gentle hand reftrain'd the ftreams of life,
And snatch'd her timely from her country's fate.

DEMETRIUS.

From those bright regions of eternal day,
Where now thou fhin'ft among thy fellow-faints,
Array'd in purer light, look down on me:

In pleafing vifions, and affuafive dreams,
O! foothe my foul, and teach me how to lofe thee.

LEONTIUS.

Enough of unavailing tears, Demetrius ;

I came obedient to thy friendly fummons,

And hop'd to share thy counfels, not thy forrows:
While thus we mourn the fortune of Afpafia,
To what are we referv'd?

DEMETRIUS.

To what I know not:

But hope, yet hope, to happiness and honour;
If happiness can be without Afpafia.

VOL. XI.

LEONTIUS.

LEONTIUS.

But whence this new-fprung hope?

DEMETRIUS.

From Cali Baffa:

The chief, whofe wifdom guides the Turkish counfels.
He, tir'd of flav'ry, tho' the highest flave,
Projects at once our freedom and his own;
And bids us thus difguis'd await him here.

LEONTIU S.

Can he restore the ftate he could not fave?
In vain, when Turkey's troops affail'd our walls,
His kind intelligence betray'd their measures;
Their arms prevail'd, though Cali was our friend.

DEMETRIUS.

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When the tenth fun had fet upon our forrows,
At midnight's private hour, a voice unknown
Sounds in my fleeping ear, Awake, Demetrius,

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Awake, and follow me to better fortunes ;' Surpriz'd I start, and blefs the happy dream; Then rouzing, know the fiery chief Abdalla, Whofe quick impatience feiz'd my doubtful hand, And led me to the fhore where Cali ftood, Penfive and lift'ning to the beating furge. There, in soft hints and in ambiguous phrase, With all the diffidence of long experience, That oft' had practis'd fraud, and oft' detected, The vet'ran courtier half reveal'd his project. By his command, equip'd for fpeedy flight, Deep in a winding creek a galley lies, Mann'd with the braveft of our fellow-captives,

Selected

Selected by my care, a hardy band,
That long to hail thee chief.

LEONTIU S.

But what avails

So fmall a force? or why fhould Cali fly?
Or how can Cali's flight reftore our country?

DEMETRIUS.

Referve these questions for a safer hour,
Or hear himself, for fee the Baffa comes.

SCENE II.

DEMETRIUS, LEONTIUS, CALI BASSA.

CALI.

Now fummon all thy foul, illuftrious Chriftian!
Awake each faculty that fleeps within thee,
The courtier's policy, the fage's firmnefs,
The warrior's ardour, and the patriot's zeal;
If chafing past events with vain purfuit,
Or wand'ring in the wilds of future being,
A fingle thought now rove, recall it home.
But can thy friend fuftain the glorious caufe,
The caufe of liberty, the cause of nations?

DEMETRIUS.

Obferve him closely with a statefinan's eye,
Thou that haft long perus'd the draughts of nature,
And know'ft the characters of vice and virtue,
Left by the hand of heav'n on human clay.

CALI.

His mien is lofty, his demeanour great,
Nor fprightly folly wantons in his air,

Q 2

Nor

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