I see the gloom that low'rs upon thy brow,
These days of love and pleasure charm not thee;
Too slow these gentle constellations roll,
Thou long'st for stars that frown on human kind,
And scatter discord from their baleful beams.
Mas. How blest art thou, still jocund and serene, Beneath the load of business, and of years.
Cali. Sure by some wondrous sympathy of souls, My heart still beats responsive to the sultan's ; I share, by secret instinct, all his joys,
And feel no sorrow while my sov'reign smiles.
Mus. The sultan comes, impatient for his love;
Conduct her hither, let no rude intrusion
Molest these private walks, or care invade
These hours assign'd to pleasure and Irene. [Exit Cali.
Mah. Now, Mustapha, pursue thy tale of horror. Has treason's dire infection reach'd my palace ? Can Cali dare the stroke of heavenly justice, In the dark precincts of the gaping grave, And load with perjuries his parting soul? Was it for this, that sick'ning in Epirus, My father call'd me to his couch of death, Join'd Cali's hand to mine, and falt'ring cry'd, • Restrain the fervour of impetuous youth • With venerable Cali's faithful counsels ?' Are these the counsels? This the faith of Cali ?
Were all our favours lavish'd on a villain?
Confest?
Mus. Confest by dying Menodorus.
In his last agonies the gasping coward,
Amidst the tortures of the burning steel,
Still fond of life, groan'd out the dreadful secret,
Held forth this fatal scroll, then sunk to nothing.
Mab. [Examining the Paper.] His correspondence
with our foes of Greece!
His hand! his seal! The secrets of my soul
Conceal'd from all but him! All! all conspire
To banish doubt, and brand him for a villain.
Our schemes for ever cross'd, our mines discover'd,
Betray'd some traitor lurking near my bosom.
Oft have I rag'd, when their wide-wasting cannon
Lay pointed at our batt'ries, yet unform'd,
And broke the meditated lines of war.
Detested Cali too, with artful wonder,
Would shake his wily head, and closely whisper,
Beware of Mustapha, beware of treason.
Mus. The faith of Mustapha disdains suspicion;
But yet, great Emperor, beware of treason.
Th' insidious Bassa, fir'd by disappointment-
Mah. Shall feel the vengeance of an injur’d king. Go, seize him, load him with reproachful chains; Before the assembled troops proclaim his crimes ; Then leave him stretch'd upon the ling'ring rack, Amidst the camp to howl his life away.
Mus. Should we before the troops proclaim his crimes,
I dread his arts of seeming innocence,
His bland address, and sorcery of tongue;
And should he fall unheard, by sudden justice,
Th' adoring soldiers would revenge their idol.
Mab. Cali, this day with hypocritick zeal,
Implor'd my leave to visit Mecca's temple;
Struck with the wonder of a statesman's goodness,
I rais'd his thoughts to more sublime devotion.
Now let him go, pursu'd by silent wrath,
Meet unexpected daggers in his way,
And in some distant land obscurely die.
Mus. There will his boundless wealth, the spoil of
Heap'd by your father's ill-plac'd bounties on him,
Disperse rebellion through the Eastern World;
Bribe to his cause, and list beneath his banners
Arabia's roving troops, the sons of swiftness,
And arm the Persian Heretic against thee;
There shall he waste thy frontiers, check thy con
And, though at length subdued, elude thy vengeance. Mah. Elude my vengeance? no :-My troops shall
Th' eternal snows that freeze beyond Meotis,
And Afric's torrid sands in search of Cali.
Should the fierce North upon his frozen wings
Bear him aloft above the wond'ring clouds,
And seat him in the Pleiads' golden chariots,
Thence should my fury drag him down to tortures ;
Wherever guilt can fly, revenge can follow.
Mus. Wilt thou dismiss the savage from the toils,
Only to hunt him round the ravag'd world?
Mab. Suspend his sentence-empire and Irene
Claim my divided soul. This wretch, unworthy
To mix with nobler cares, I'll throw aside
For idle hours, and crush him at my leisure.
Mus. Let not the unbounded greatness of his mind
Betray my king to negligence of danger.
Perhaps the clouds of dark conspiracy
Now roll full fraught with thunder o'er your head.
Twice since the morning rose I saw the Bassa,
Like a fell adder swelling in a brake,
Beneath the covert of this verdant arch,
In private conference; beside him stood
Two men unknown, the partners of his bosom ;
I mark'd them well, and trac'd in either face
The gloomy resolution, horrid greatness,
And stern composure of despairing heroes.
And to confirm my thought, at sight of me,
As blasted by my presence, they withdrew
With all the speed of terror and of guilt.
Mab. The strong emotions of my troubled soul
Allow no pause for art or for contrivance ;
And dark perplexity distracts my counsels.
Do thou resolve: for see Irene comes!
At her approach each ruder gust of thought
Sinks like the sighing of a tempest spent,
And gales of softer passion fan my bosom.
[Cali enters with Irene, and exit with Mustapha.
Mab. Wilt thou descend, fair daughter of perfection,
To hear my vows, and give mankind a queen ?
Ah! cease, Irene, cease those flowing sorrows,
That melt an heart, impregnable till now,
And turn thy thoughts henceforth to love and empire.
How will the matchless beauties of Irene,
Thus bright in tears, thus amiable in ruin,
With all the graceful pride of greatness heighten'd,.
Amidst the blaze of jewels and of gold,
Adorn a throne, and dignify dominion.
Irene. Why all this glare of splendid eloquence,
To paint the pageantries of guilty state?
Must I for these renounce the hope of heaven,
Immortal crowns and fulness of enjoyment?
Mah. Vain raptures all-for your inferior natures
Form'd to delight, and happy by delighting,
Heaven has reserv'd no future paradise,
But bids you rove the paths of bliss, secure
Of total death and careless of hereafter;
While heaven's high minister, whose awful volume
Records each act, each thought of sov'reign man,
Surveys your plays with inattentive glance,
And leaves the lovely trifler unregarded.
Irene. Why then has nature's vain munificence
Profusely pour'd her bounties upon woman?
Whence then those charms thy tongue has deign'd ta
flatter,
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