Samuel Coleridge - The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

With curious choice he plucked no other flowers,

But those on which the moonlight fell: and once

I heard him muttering o’er the plant. A wizard —

Some gaunt slave prowling here for dark employment.

Ordonio. Doubtless you question’d him?

Isidore. ‘Twas my intention,

Having first traced him homeward to his haunt.

But lo! the stern Dominican, whose spies

Lurk everywhere, already (as it seemed)

Had given commission to his apt familiar

To seek and sound the Moor; who now returning,

Was by this trusty agent stopped midway.

I, dreading fresh suspicion if found near him

In that lone place, again concealed myself;

Yet within hearing. So the Moor was question’d,

And in your name, as lord of this domain,

Proudly he answered, ‘Say to the Lord Ordonio,

Remorse.

[Between 158 and 205:]

Ordonio (in retiring stops suddenly at the edge of the scene, and

then turning round to ISIDORE). Ha! Who lurks there! Have we been

overheard?

There where the smooth high wall of slate-rock glitters ——

Isidore. ‘Neath those tall stones, which propping each the other,

Form a mock portal with their pointed arch?

Pardon my smiles! ‘Tis a poor idiot boy,

Who sits in the sun, and twirls a bough about,

His weak eyes seeth’d in most unmeaning tears.

And so he sits, swaying his cone-like head,

And, staring at his bough from morn to sun-set,

See-saws his voice in inarticulate noises.

Ordonio. ‘Tis well! and now for this same wizard’s lair.

Isidore. Some three strides up the hill, a mountain ash

Stretches its lower boughs and scarlet clusters

O’er the old thatch.

Ordonio. I shall not fail to find it.

[Exeunt ORDONIO and ISIDORE.

Table of Contents

The inside of a Cottage, around which flowers and plants of various

kinds are seen. Discovers ALVAR, ZULIMEZ and ALHADRA, as on the point of

leaving.

Alhadra (addressing ALVAR). Farewell then! and though many thoughts

perplex me,

Aught evil or ignoble never can I

Suspect of thee! If what thou seem’st thou art,

The oppressed brethren of thy blood have need

Of such a leader.

Alvar. Nobly minded woman!

Long time against oppression have I fought,

And for the native liberty of faith

Have bled and suffered bonds. Of this be certain:

Time, as he courses onward, still unrolls

The volume of concealment. In the future,

As in the optician’s glassy cylinder,

The indistinguishable blots and colours

Of the dim past collect and shape themselves,

Upstarting in their own completed image

To scare or to reward.

I sought the guilty,

And what I sought I found: but ere the spear

Flew from my hand, there rose an angel form

Betwixt me and my aim. With baffled purpose

To the Avenger I leave Vengeance, and depart!

Whate’er betide, if aught my arm may aid,

Or power protect, my word is pledged to thee:

For many are thy wrongs, and thy soul noble.

Once more, farewell. [Exit ALHADRA.

Yes, to the Belgic states

We will return. These robes, this stained complexion,

Akin to falsehood, weigh upon my spirit.

Whate’er befall us, the heroic Maurice

Will grant us an asylum, in remembrance

Of our past services.

Zulimez. And all the wealth, power, influence which is yours,

You let a murderer hold?

Alvar. O faithful Zulimez!

That my return involved Ordonio’s death,

I trust, would give me an unmingled pang,

Yet bearable: — but when I see my father

Strewing his scant grey hairs, e’en on the ground,

Which soon must be his grave, and my Teresa —

Her husband proved a murderer, and her infants

His infants — poor Teresa! — all would perish,

All perish — all; and I (nay bear with me)

Could not survive the complicated ruin!

Zulimez. Nay now! I have distress’d you — you well know,

I ne’er will quit your fortunes. True, ‘tis tiresome:

You are a painter, one of many fancies!

You can call up past deeds, and make them live

On the blank canvass! and each little herb,

That grows on mountain bleak, or tangled forest,

You have learnt to name —

Hark! heard you not some footsteps?

Alvar. What if it were my brother coming onwards?

I sent a most mysterious message to him.

Enter ORDONIO.

Alvar. It is he!

Ordonio (to himself as he enters). If I distinguished right her gait

and stature,

It was the Moorish woman, Isidore’s wife,

That passed me as I entered. A lit taper,

In the night air, doth not more naturally

Attract the night flies round it, than a conjuror

Draws round him the whole female neighbourhood. [Addressing ALVAR.

You know my name, I guess, if not my person.

Remorse.

[For lines 31-46 of Remorse, Act II, Scene II, vide supra Osorio, Act

II, Scene II, lines 169-84.]

Stage-direction preceding 162:

Albert and an old servant both drest as Morescoes. Corr. in MS. III.

And all the wealth, power, influence, which is yours

You let a murderer hold!

Albert. O faithful Ali

Corr. in MS. III.

Albert. Yes to the Netherlands

We will return, these robes this stained complexion

Akin to Falsehood, weigh upon my spirit

What e’er befal us, the heroic Maurice

Will grant us an asylum, in remembrance

Of our past service.

Corr. in MS. III.

Be quick

Remove these tablets — quick conceal it —

Corr. in MS. III.

Stage-directions (groaning, &c.) before 206, and (Albert, &c.) after

206 om. Remorse.

Ord. (returning and aloud).

Plucked in the moonlight from a ruin’d abbey —

Those only, which the pale rays visited!

O the unintelligible power of weeds,

Remorse.

Ord. With you, then, I am to speak.

[Haughtily waving his hand to ZULIMEZ.

And mark you, alone. [Exit ZULIMEZ.

Remorse.

[Before 226] Ord. (aside). O what a, &c. Remorse.

Yet still a fool! [Looks round the cottage.

You are poor!

Remorse.

The Inquisition, too — You comprehend me?

You are poor, in peril. I have wealth and power

Remorse.

Ord. The slave begins to soften. [aside.

You are my friend

Remorse.

[After 242] Stage-direction om. Remorse.

Insolent slave! how dar’dst thou —

[Turns abruptly from ALVAR, and then to himself.

Why! What’s this?

‘Twas idiocy! I’ll tie myself to an aspen,

And wear a fool’s cap —

Alvar. Fare thee well —

I pity thee, Ordonio, even to anguish. [ALVAR is retiring.

Ordonio. Ho! [Calling to ALVAR.

Alvar. Be brief, &c.

Remorse.

lord MS. III. erased.

[Before and after 287] Stage-direction om. Remorse.

(For I have arranged it — music, altar, incense)

All shall be ready. Here is this same picture,

And here, what you will value more, a purse.

Come early for your magic ceremonies.

Remorse.

gazes, &c. Remorse.

[Between 312 and 313:]

Who spake pollution of thee! barter for life

This farewell pledge, which with impassioned vow

I had sworn that I would grasp — ev’n in my death-pang!

Remorse.

Affixed to 318-19 omitted. (Ali re-enters).

Ali! new Hope, new joy! A life thrills thro’ me

As if renew’d from Heaven! Bring back that tablet

Restor’d to me by a fortunate Star. This picture

Of my assassination will I leave

As the token of my Fate: —

Haste, for I yearn to tell thee what has pass’d [Exit Ali.