Nor dull ferenity becalms his eyes.
Such had I trusted once as foon as feen,
But cautious age fufpects the flatt'ring form,
And only credits what experience tells.
Has filence prefs'd her feal upon his lips?
Does adamantine faith inveft his heart?
Will he not bend beneath a tyrant's frown?
Will he not melt before ambition's fire?
Will he not foften in a friend's embrace?
Or flow diffolving in a woman's tears?
Sooner the trembling leaves fhall find a voice,
And tell the fecrets of their confcious walks;
Sooner the breeze fhall catch the flying founds,
And shock the tyrant with a tale of treafon.
Your flaughter'd multitudes that fwell the fhore
With monuments of death, proclaim his courage;
Virtue and liberty engrofs his foul,
And leave no place for perfidy or fear.
I fcorn a truft unwillingly repos'd;
Demetrius will not lead me to dishonour;
Confult in private, call me when your scheme
Is ripe for action, and demands the fword. [Going.
Forgive an old man's weakness,
And share the deepeft fecrets of my foul,
My wrongs, my fears, my motives, my defigns.
When unfuccefsful wars, and civil factions,
Embroil'd the Turkish state, our Sultan's father
Great Amurath, at my request, forfook
The cloister's ease, refum'd the tott'ring throne,
And fnatch'd the reins of abdicated pow'r
From giddy Mahomet's unfkilful hand.
This fir'd the youthful king's ambitious breast,
He murmurs vengeance at the name of Cali,
And dooms my rafh fidelity to ruin.
Unhappy lot of all that fhine in courts;
For forc'd compliance, or for zealous virtue,
Still odious to the monarch, or the people.
Such are the woes when arbitrary pow'r
And lawless paffion, hold the fword of justice.
If there be any land, as fame reports,
Where common laws reftrain the prince and fubject,
A happy land, where circulating pow'r
Flows through each member of th' embodied ftate,
Sure, not unconfcious of the mighty bleffing,
Her grateful fons fhine bright with ev'ry virtue;
Untainted with the luft of innovation,
Sure all unite to hold her league of rule
Unbroken as the facred chain of nature,
That links the jarring elements in
But fay, great Baffa, why the Sultan's anger,
Burning in vain, delays the ftroke of death?
Young, and unfettled in his father's kingdoms,
Fierce as he was, he dreaded to destroy
The empire's darling, and the foldier's boaft;
But now confirm'd, and fwelling with his conquests,
Secure he tramples my declining fame,
Frowns unreftrain'd, and dooms me with his eyes.
DEMETRIUS.
What can reverse thy doom?
But Greece is ftill forgot.
Which lately blefs'd my gentle government,
Soon as the Sultan's unexpected fate
Fills all th' aftonifh'd empire with confufion,
My policy fhall raife an eafy throne;
The Turkish pow'rs from Europe fhall retreat,
And harrafs Greece no more with wafteful war.
A galley mann'd with Greeks, thy charge, Leontius,
Attends to waft us to repofe and safety.
That veffel, if obferv'd, alarms the court,
And gives a thousand fatal questions birth;
Why ftor'd for flight? and why prepar'd by Cali ?
This hour I'll beg, with unfufpecting face,
Leave to perform my pilgrimage to Mecca;
Which granted, hides my purpofe from the world,
And, though refus'd, conceals it from the Sultan,
How can a fingle hand attempt a life
Which armies guard, and citadels enclofe?
Forgetful of command, with captive beauties,
Far from his troops, he toys his hours away.
A roving foldier feiz'd in Sophia's temple
A virgin fhining with distinguish'd charms,
And brought his beauteous plunder to the Sultan.
In Sophia's temple!-What alarm!-Proceed.
The Sultan gaz'd, he wonder'd, and he lov'd;
In paffion loft, he bade the conquʼring fair
Renounce her faith, and be the Queen of Turkey;
The pious maid, with modeft indignation,
Threw back the glitt'ring bribe.
It must, it must be fhe; her name?
What hopes, what terrors rush upon my foul!
O lead me quickly to the scene of fate;
Break through the politician's tedious forms,
Afpafia calls me, let me fly to fave her.
Did Mahomet reproach or praise her virtue?
His offers oft repeated, ftill refus'd,
At length rekindled his accuftom'd fury,
And chang'd th' endearing fmile and am'rous whisper
To threats of torture, death, and violation.
These tedious narratives of frozen age
Distract my foul; difpatch thy ling'ring tale;
Say, did a voice from Heav'n reftrain the tyrant?
Did interpofing angels guard her from him?
Juft in the moment of impending fate,
Another plund'rer brought the bright Irene;
Of equal beauty, but of fofter mien,
Fear in her eye, fubmiffion on her tongue,
Her mournful charms attracted his regards,
Difarm'd his rage, and in repeated vifits
Gain'd all his heart; at length his eager love
To her transferr'd the offer of a crown.
Nor found again the bright temptation fail?
Trembling to grant, nor daring to refufe,
While Heav'n and Mahomet divide her fears,
With coy careffes and with pleafing wiles
She feeds his hopes, and foothes him to delay.
For her, repofe is banifh'd from the night
And bufinefs from the day. In her apartments
He lives
LEONTIUS.
And there muft fall.
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