She feeds his hopes, and sooths him to delay.
For her, repose is banish'd from the night,

And business from the day. In her apartments
He lives-

Leo. And there must fall.

Cali. But yet th' attempt

Is hazardous.

Leo. Forbear to speak of hazards,

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

Cali. Life.

Dem. Th' inestimable privilege of breathing! Important hazard! What's that airy bubble When weigh'd with Greece, with virtue, with Aspasia? A floating atom, dust that falls unheeded Into the adverse scale, nor shakes the balance. Cali. At least this day be calm-If we succeed, Aspasia's thine, and all thy life is raptureSee! Mustapha, the tyrant's minion, comes; Invest Leontius with his new command; And wait Abdalla's unsuspected visits : Remember freedom, glory, Greece, and love.

[Exeunt Demetrius and Leontius.

MUSTAPHA enters.

Mus. By what enchantment does this lovely Greek Hold in her chains the captivated sultan ? He tires his fav'rites with Irene's praise, And seeks the shades to muse upon Irene;

Irene steals unheeded from his tongue,

And mingles unperceiv'd with ev'ry thought.

Cali. Why should the sultan shun the joys of beauty,
Or arm his breast against the force of love?
Love, that with sweet vicissitude relieves

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

Mus. Those powerful tyrants of the female breast,
Fear and ambition, urge her to compliance;
Dress'd in each charm of gay magnificence,
Alluring grandeur courts her to his arms,
Religion calls her from the wish'd embrace,
Paints future joys, and points to distant glories.
Cali. Soon will the unequal contest be decided.
Prospects obscur'd by distance faintly strike;
Each pleasure brightens at its near approach,
And ev'ry danger shocks with double horror.
Mus. How shall I scorn the beautiful apostate!
How will the bright Aspasia shine above her!

Cali. Should she, for proselytes are always zealous, With pious warmth receive our prophet's lawMus. Heaven will contemn the mercenary fervour, Which love of greatness, not of truth infames.

Cali. Cease, cease thy censures: for the sultan comes Alone, with am'rous haste to seek his love.

MAHOMET enters.

Cali. Hail, terror of the monarchs of the world, Unshaken be thy throne as earth's firm base,

Live till the sun forgets to dart his beams,
And weary planets loiter in their courses.

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

Cali. O, may her beauties last unchang'd by time,
As those that bless the mansions of the good.
Mah. Each realm where beauty turns the graceful
shape,

Swells the fair breast, or animates the glance,
Adorns my palace with its brightest virgins;
Yet unacquainted with these soft emotions
I walk'd superior, through the blaze of charms,
Prais'd without rapture, left without regret.
Why rove I now, when absent from my fair,
From solitude to crouds, from crouds to solitude,
Still restless, till I clasp the lovely maid,

And ease my loaded soul upon her bosom?
Mus. Forgive, great sultan, that intrusive duty
Enquires the final doom of Menodorus,

The Grecian counsellor.

• Mah. Go see him die;

His martial rhet'ric taught the Greeks resistance;
Had they prevail'd, I ne'er had known Irene.

[Exit Mustapha.

Mah. Remote from tumult, in the adjoining palace,

Thy care shall guard this treasure of my soul i

There let Aspasia, since my fair entreats it,
With converse chase the melancholy moments.
Sure, chill'd with sixty winter camps, thy blood
At sight of female charms will glow no more.
Cali. These years, unconquer'd Mahomet, demand
Desires more pure, and other cares than love.
Long have I wish'd, before our prophet's tomb,
To pour my prayers for thy successful reign,
To quit the tumults of the noisy camp,
And sink into the silent grave in peace.

Mah. What! think of peace while haughty Scanderbeg,

Elate with conquest, in his native mountains, Prowls o'er the wealthy spoils of bleeding Turkey ? While fair Hungaria's unexhausted vallies

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

Than Amurath

Cali. Still full of Amurath!

[Aside.

Mah. Than Amurath, accustom'd to command, Could bear his son upon the Turkish throne.

Cali. This pilgrimage our lawgiver ordain'd—————— Mah. For those who could not please by nobler service.

Our warlike prophet loves an active faith,

The only flame of enterprizing virtue,

Mocks the dull vows of solitude and penance,
And scorns the lazy hermit's cheap devotion;
Shine thou distinguish'd by superior merit,

With wonted zeal pursue the task of war,
Till every nation reverence the Koran,
And every suppliant lift his eyes to Mecca.
Cali. This regal confidence, this pious ardour,
Let prudence moderate, though not suppress.
Is not each realm that smiles with kinder suns,
Or boasts a happier soil, already thine ?
Extended empire, like expanded gold,
Exchanges solid strength for feeble splendor.

Mab. Preach thy dull politics to vulgar kings,
Thou know'st not yet thy master's future greatness,
His vast designs, his plans of boundless power.
When ev'ry storm in my domain shall roar,
When ev'ry wave shall beat a Turkish shore,
Then, Cali, shall the toils of battle cease,

Then dream of prayer, and pilgrimage, and peace.

ACT II. SCENE 1.

ASPASIA and IRENE enter.

Irene.

ASPASIA, yet pursue the sacred theme;
Exhaust the stores of pious eloquence,
And teach me to repel the sultan's passion.
Still at Aspasia's voice a sudden rapture
Exalts my soul, and fortifies my heart.
The glitt❜ring vanities of empty greatness,

[Exeunt.