ZANGA.

Come, you must bear to hear your faults from me. not fent Don Carlos to the court

Had you

The night before the battle, that foul flave,

Who forg'd the fenfelefs fcroll which gives you pain,
Had wanted footing for his villainy.

I fent him not.

ALONZO.

ZANGA.

Not fend him!-Ha!-That strikes me.

I thought he came on meffage to the king:
Is there another cause could justify
His fhunning danger, and the promis'd fight ?
But I perhaps may think too rigidly;
So long an absence, and impatient love——
ALONZO.

In my confufion, that had quite escap'd me:
By heav'n, my wounded foul does bleed afresh;
'Tis clear as day--for Carlos is so brave,
He lives not but on fame, he hunts for danger,
And is enamour'd of the face of death:
How then could he decline the next day's battle,
But for the transports? O, it must be so--
Inhuman, by the lofs of his own honour,
To buy the ruin of his friend!

Proofs rife on proofs, and fill the last the strongest,
'Th' eternal law of things declares it true,
Which calls for judgments on distinguish'd guilt,
And loves to make our crime our punishment.
Love is my torture; Love was first my crime:
For fhe was his, my friend's, and he (O horror!)
Confided all in me. O facred faith!

How dearly I abide thy violation!

ZANGA.

Were then their loves far gone ?

ALONZO.

The father's will

There bore a total fway; and he, as foon
As news arriv'd that Carlos' fleet was feen
From off our coaft, fir'd with the love of gold,
Determin'd that the very fun which faw
Carlos' return, fhould fee his daughter wed.

ZANGA.

Indeed, my lord! Then you must pardon me,
If I prefume to mitigate the crime :
Confider, ftrong allurements foften guilt;
Long was his abfence, ardent was his love,
At midnight his return, the next day destin'd
For his efpoufals.'Twas a ftrong temptation.

Again! By heav'n, thou doft infult thy lord.

Temptation!

Temptation! One night gain'd! O ftings and death!
And am I then undone? Alas, my Zanga!
And doft thou own it too? Deny it still,

And rescue me one moment from diftraction.

My lord, I hope the best.

ZANGA.

ALONZO.

Falfe, foolish hope,

And infolent to me! Thou know'st it false;

It is as glaring as the noon-tide fun.

Devil! this morning, after three years coldness,
To rush at once into a paffion for me!

"Twas time to feign; 'twas time to get another,
When her first fool was fated with her beauties.

ZANGA.

What fays my lord? Did Leonora then
Never before disclose her paffion for you?

Never.

ALONZO.

ZANGA.

Throughout the whole three years ?

ALONZO.

O never! never!

Why, Zanga, fhould'st thou ftrive? "Tis all in vain;
Though thy foul labours, it can find no reed

For hope to catch at. Ah! I'm plunging down
Ten thousand thousand fathoms in despair.

ZANGA.

Hold, Sir; I'll break your fall-Wave ev'ry fear,
And be a man again-Had he enjoy'd her,

Be most affur'd, he had refign'd her to you

Refign her! Who refign'd her ?-Double death!
How could I doubt fo long? My heart is broke:
First love her to distraction; then refign her!
ZANGA.

But was it not with utmost agony ?

ALONZO.

Grant that, he still refign'd her; that's enough.
Would he pluck out his eye to give it me?
Tear out his heart?-She was his heart no more-
Nor was it with reluctance he refign'd her.
By heav'n he ask'd, he courted me, to wed:
I thought it strange; 'tis now no longer so.
ZANGA.

Was't his requeft? Are you right sure of that ?-
I fear the letter was not all a tale.

ALONZO.

A tale there's proof equivalent to fight.

ZANGA.

I should distrust my fight on this occafion.

ALONZO.

And fo fhould I; by heav'n, I think I should.
What! Leonora the divine, by whom
We guess'd at angels? O! I'm all confufion.
ZANGA.

You now are too much ruffled to think clearly.
Since blifs and horror, life and death, hang on it,
Go to your chamber; there maturely weigh
Each circumstance; confider, above all,

That it is jealoufy's peculiar nature

To fwell small things to great; nay, out of nought
To conjure much; and then to lose its reason
Amid the hideous phantoms it has form'd.

ALONZO.

Had I ten thousand lives, I'd give them all

Το

To be deceiv'd: I fear 'tis doomsday with me;
And yet she feem'd fo pure, that I thought heav'n
Borrow'd her form for Virtue's felf to wear,
To gain her lovers with the fons of men.

Enter ISABELLA.

ZANGA.

Thus far it works aufpiciously. My patient
Thrives, underneath my hand, in mifery:
He's gone to think; that is, to be distracted.

ISABELLA.

I overheard your conference, and faw
To my amazement, tear the letter.

ZANGA.

There, Isabella, I outdid myself:

you,

[Exit Alon.

There,

In its first force, but fuperadd a new:

For who can now the character examine

To caufe a doubt, much less detect the fraud?

And, after tearing it, as loth to fhew

The foul contents, if I fhould fwear it now

A forgery, my lord would disbelieve me ;

Nay, more would disbelieve, the more I swore :
But is the picture happily difpos'd of ?

It is.

ISABELLA.

ZANGA.

That's well-Ah! what is well?

O pang to think!
O dire neceffity! Is this my province ?
Whither, my foul, ah! whither, art thou funk
Beneath thy sphere? E'er while, far, far above
Such little arts, diffemblings, falfhoods, frauds,
The trash of villainy itself, which falls
To cowards, and poor wretches wanting bread:
E 2

Does