Is hazardous.

CALI.

But yet th' attempt

LEONTIU S.

Forbear to speak of hazards;

What has the wretch that has furviv'd his country, His friends, his liberty, to hazard?

CALI.

Life.

DEMETRIUS.

Th' ineftimable privilege of breathing!
Important hazard! What's that airy bubble
When weigh'd with Greece, with virtue, with Afpafia?
A floating atom, duft that falls unheeded

Into the adverse scale, nor fhakes the balance.

CALI.

At least this day be calm-If we succeed,
Afpafia's thine, and all thy life is rapture-
See! Mustapha, the tyrant's minion, comes;
Invest Leontius with his new command;
And wait Abdalla's unfufpected vifits:
Remember freedom, glory, Greece, and love.
[Exeunt Demetrius and Leontius.

By what enchantment does this lovely Greek
Hold in her chains the captivated Sultan?
He tires his fav'rites with Irene's praise,

And

And feeks the fhades to muse upon Irene ;
Irene fteals unheeded from his tongue,

And mingles unperceiv'd with ev'ry thought.

CALI.

Why fhould the Sultan fhun the joys of beauty, Or arm his breast against the force of love? Love, that with fweet viciffitude relieves

The warrior's labours, and the monarch's cares. But will she yet receive the faith of Mecca?

MUSTAPHA.

Those pow'rful tyrants of the female breast, Fear and ambition, urge her to compliance; Drefs'd in each charm of gay magnificence, Alluring grandeur courts her to his arms, Religion calls her from the wifh'd embrace, Paints future joys, and points to diftant glories.

CALI.

Soon will th' unequal conteft be decided.
Profpects obfcur'd by distance faintly strike;
Each pleasure brightens at its near approach,
And every danger fhocks with double horror,

MUSTAPHA.

How fhall I fcorn the beautiful apoftate!
How will the bright Afpafia fhine above her!

CALI.

Should fhe, for profelytes are always zealous, With pious warmth receive our prophet's law

MUSTAPHA.

Heav'n will contemn the mercenary fervour,

Which love of greatness, not of truth, inflames.

CALI.

Ceafe, cease thy cenfures, for the Sultan comes
Alone, with am'rous hafte to feek his love.

SCENE IV.

MAHOMET, CALI BASSA, MUSTAPHA.

CALI.

Hail, terror of the monarchs of the world,
Unshaken be thy throne as earth's firm base,
Live till the fun forgets to dart his beams,
And weary planets loiter in their courses.

MAHOMET.

But, Cali, let Irene share thy prayers;
For what is length of days without Irene?
I come from empty noise, and tasteless pomp,
From crowds that hide a monarch from himself,
To prove the fweets of privacy and friendship,
And dwell upon the beauties of Irene.

CALI.

O may her beauties laft unchang'd by time,
As those that blefs the manfions of the good.

MAHOME T.

Each realm where beauty turns the graceful fhape,
Swells the fair breast or animates the glance,
Adorns my palace with its brightest virgins;
Yet unacquainted with these foft emotions

I walk'd fuperior, through the blaze of charms,
Prais'd without rapture, left without regret.
Why rove I now, when abfent from my fair,
From folitude to crowds, from crowds to folitude,

Still reftlefs, till I clafp the lovely maid,
And eafe my loaded foul upon her bosom?

MUSTAPHA.

Forgive, great Sultan, that intrufive duty
Enquires the final doom of Menodorus,
The Grecian counsellor.

MAHOMET.

Go fee him die;

His martial rhet'rick taught the Greeks refiftance; Had they prevail'd, I ne'er had known Irene. [Exit Muftapha.

SCENE V.

MAHOMET, CALI.

MAHOMET.

Remote from tumult, in th' adjoining palace, Thy care fhall guard this treasure of my foul; There let Afpafia, fince my fair entreats it, With converfe chafe the melancholy moments. Sure, chill'd with fixty winter camps, thy blood At fight of female charms will glow no more.

CALI.

Thefe years, unconquer'd Mahomet, demand
Defires more pure, and other cares than love.
Long have I wish'd, before our prophet's tomb,
To pour my prayers for thy fuccessful reign,
To quit the tumults of the noify camp,
And fink into the filent grave in peace.

MAHOMET.

What! think of peace while haughty Scanderbeg Elate with conqueft, in his native mountains,

Prowls

Prowls o'er the wealthy fpoils of bleeding Turkey? While fair Hungaria's unexhausted vallies

Pour forth their legions, and the roaring Danube Rolls half his floods unheard through fhouting camps? Nor couldst thou more fupport a life of floth

Than Amurath

CALI.

Still full of Amurath!

MAHOMET.

Than Amurath, accuftom'd to command,
Could bear his fon upon the Turkish throne.

CALI.

This pilgrimage our lawgiver ordain'd

MAHOMET.

[Afide.

For those who could not pleafe by nobler fervice.-
Our warlike prophet loves an active faith,

The holy flame of enterprizing virtue,
Mocks the dull vows of folitude and penance,
And fcorns the lazy hermit's cheap devotion.
Shine thou, diftinguifh'd by fuperior merit,
With wonted zeal purfue the task of war,
Till ev'ry nation reverence the Koran,
And ev'ry fuppliant lift his eyes to Mecca.

CALI.

This regal confidence, this pious ardour,
Let prudence moderate, though not fupprefs.
Is not each realm that fmiles with kinder funs,
Or boasts a happier foil, already thine?
Extended empire, like expanded gold,
Exchanges folid ftrength for feeble fplendour.