Samuel Coleridge - The Complete Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Hath drunk in kindred lustre from his presence,

And guides me to him with reflected light?

What if in yon dark dungeon coward treachery

Be groping for him with envenomed poniard —

Hence womanish fears, traitors to love and duty —

I’ll free him. [Exit TERESA.

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The mountains by moonlight. ALHADRA alone in a Moorish dress.

Alhadra. Yon hanging woods, that touch’d by autumn seem

As they were blossoming hues of fire and gold;

{ The hanging Act V, l. 41.

{ The flower-like woods, most lovely in decay,

The many clouds, the sea, the rock, the sands,

Lie in the silent moonshine: and the owl,

(Strange! very strange!) the scritch-owl only wakes!

Sole voice, sole eye of all this world of beauty!

Unless, perhaps, she sing her screeching song

To a herd of wolves, that skulk athirst for blood.

Why such a thing am I? — Where are these men?

I need the sympathy of human faces,

To beat away this deep contempt for all things,

Which quenches my revenge. O! would to Alla,

The raven, or the sea-mew, were appointed

To bring me food! or rather that my soul

Could drink in life from the universal air!

It were a lot divine in some small skiff

Along some Ocean’s boundless solitude,

To float for ever with a careless course,

And think myself the only being alive.

[Vide post Osorio, Act V, ll. 39-56.]

My children! — Isidore’s children! — Son of Valdez,

This hath new strung mine arm. Thou coward tyrant!

To stupify a woman’s heart with anguish,

Till she forgot — even that she was a mother!

[She fixes her eye on the earth. Then drop in one after

another, from different parts of the stage, a

considerable number of Morescoes, all in Moorish

garments and Moorish armour. They form a circle at

a distance round ALHADRA, and remain silent till

NAOMI enters.

Remorse.

[After 353] [Stage-direction] Alhadra (to Naomi, who advances from the

circle). Remorse.

Remorse.

[After 359] Enter Warville. MS. III.

[A pause.

Ordonio was your chieftain’s murderer

Remorse.

[After 375] Alhadra. This night your chieftain armed himself Remorse.

[Affixed to 375] (not in S. T. C.’s handwriting) and erased:

Naomi.

Proceed, proceed, Alhadra.

Alhadra.

Yestermorning

He stood before our house, startful and gloomy,

And stirr’d up fierce dispute with Ferdinand,

I saw him when the vehement Gripe of Conscience

Had wrenched his features to a visible agony.

When he was gone Ferdinand sighed out ‘Villain’

And spake no other word.

Warville (mournfully).

The brother of Albert.

MS. III erased.

[Note. — Warville was a character introduced into the deleted passage

360-70, the name being always altered by S. T. C. to ‘Maurice’.]

[After 425

All. Away! away! [She rushes off, all following her.

Remorse.

Table of Contents

SCENE THE FIRST. — The Sea Shore.

NAOMI and a Moresco.

Moresco. This was no time for freaks of useless vengeance.

Naomi. True! but Francesco, the Inquisitor,

Thou know’st the bloodhound—’twas a strong temptation.

And when they pass’d within a mile of his house,

We could not curb them in. They swore by Mahomet, 5

It were a deed of treachery to their brethren

To sail from Spain and leave that man alive.

Moresco. Where is Alhadra?

Naomi. She moved steadily on

Unswerving from the path of her resolve.

Yet each strange object fix’d her eye: for grief 10

Doth love to dally with fantastic shapes,

And smiling, like a sickly moralist,

Gives some resemblance of her own concerns

To the straws of chance, and things inanimate.

I seek her here; stand thou upon the watch. 15

[Exit Moresco.

Naomi (looking wistfully to the distance). Stretch’d on the rock!

It must be she — Alhadra!

[ALHADRA rises from the rock, and advances slowly,

as if musing.

Naomi. Once more, well met! what ponder’st thou so deeply?

Alhadra. I scarce can tell thee! For my many thoughts

Troubled me, till with blank and naked mind

I only listen’d to the dashing billows. 20

It seems to me, I could have closed my eyes

And wak’d without a dream of what has pass’d;

So well it counterfeited quietness,

This wearied heart of mine!

Naomi. ‘Tis thus by nature

Wisely ordain’d, that so excess of sorrow 25

Might bring its own cure with it.

Alhadra. Would to Heaven

That it had brought its last and certain cure!

That ruin in the wood.

Naomi. It is a place

Of ominous fame; but ‘twas the shortest road,

Nor could we else have kept clear of the village. 30

Yet some among us, as they scal’d the wall,

Mutter’d old rhyming prayers.

Alhadra. On that broad wall

I saw a skull; a poppy grew beside it,

There was a ghastly solace in the sight!

Naomi. I mark’d it not, and in good truth the night-bird 35

Curdled my blood, even till it prick’d the heart.

Its note comes dreariest in the fall of the year:

[Looking round impatiently.

Why don’t they come? I will go forth and meet them.

[Exit NAOMI.

Alhadra (alone). The hanging woods, that touch’d by autumn

seem’d

As they were blossoming hues of fire and gold, 40

The hanging woods, most lovely in decay,

The many clouds, the sea, the rock, the sands,

Lay in the silent moonshine; and the owl,

(Strange! very strange!) the scritch owl only wak’d,

Sole voice, sole eye of all that world of beauty! 45

Why such a thing am I! Where are these men?

I need the sympathy of human faces

To beat away this deep contempt for all things

Which quenches my revenge. Oh! — would to Alla

The raven and the sea-mew were appointed 50

To bring me food, or rather that my soul

Could drink in life from the universal air!

It were a lot divine in some small skiff,

Along some ocean’s boundless solitude,

To float for ever with a careless course, 55

And think myself the only being alive! [NAOMI re-enters.

Naomi. Thy children ——

Alhadra. Children? Whose children?

[A pause — then fiercely.

Son of Velez,

This hath new-strung my arm! Thou coward tyrant,

To stupify a woman’s heart with anguish, 60

Till she forgot even that she was a mother!

[A noise — enter a part of the Morescoes; and from the

opposite side of the stage a Moorish Seaman.

Moorish Seaman. The boat is on the shore, the vessel waits.

Your wives and children are already stow’d;

I left them prattling of the Barbary coast,

Of Mosks, and minarets, and golden crescents. 65

Each had her separate dream; but all were gay,

Dancing, in thought, to finger-beaten timbrels!

[Enter MAURICE and the rest of the Morescoes

dragging in FRANCESCO.

Francesco. O spare me, spare me! only spare my life!

An Old Man. All hail, Alhadra! O that thou hadst heard him

When first we dragg’d him forth! [Then turning to the band.

Here! in her presence —— 70

[He advances with his sword as about to kill him. MAURICE

leaps in and stands with his drawn sword between

FRANCESCO and the Morescoes.

Maurice. Nay, but ye shall not!

Old Man. Shall not? Hah? Shall not?

Maurice. What, an unarm’d man?

A man that never wore a sword? A priest?

It is unsoldierly! I say, ye shall not!

Old Man (turning to the bands). He bears himself most like an