No More Learning

_ Lie still, my heart! Not long, was't that you said?

_Ruy-Gom. _ No longer than they in your presence stayed.

_King. _ No longer? Why, a soul in less time flies
To Heaven; and they have changed theirs at their eyes.
Hence, abject fears, begone! she's all divine!
Speak, friends, can angels in perfection sin?

_Ruy-Gom. _ Angels, that shine above, do oft bestow
Their influence on poor mortals here below.

_King. _ But Carlos is my son, and always near;
Seems to move with me in my glorious sphere.
True, she may shower promiscuous blessings down
On slaves that gaze for what falls from a crown;
But when too kindly she his brightness sees,
It robs my lustre to add more to his.
But oh! I dare not think
That those eyes should at least so humble be
To stoop to him, when they had vanquished me.

_M. of Posa. _ Sir, I am proud to think I know the prince,
That he of virtue has too great a sense
To cherish but a thought beyond the bound
Of strictest duty. He to me has owned
How much was to his former passion due,
Yet still confessed he above all prized you.

_Ruy-Gom. _ You better reconcile, sir, than advise:
Be not more charitable than you're wise.
The king is sick, and we should give him ease,
But first find out the depth of his disease.
Too sudden cures have oft pernicious grown;
We must not heal up festered wounds too soon.

_King. _ By this then you a power would o'er me gain,
Wounding to let me linger in the pain.
I'm stung, and won't the torture long endure:
Serpents that wound have blood those wounds to cure.

_Ruy-Gom. _ Good Heaven forbid that I should ever dare
To question virtue in a queen so fair,
Though she her eyes cast on your glorious son!
Men oft see treasures, and yet covet none.

_King. _ Think not to blind me with dark ironies,
The truth disguised in obscure contraries.
No, I will trace his windings; all her dark
And subtlest paths, each little action mark,
If she prove false, as yet I fear, she dies.

_Enter_ QUEEN _attended, and_ HENRIETTA.

Ha! here! Oh, let me turn away my eyes,
For all around she'll her bright beams display:
Should I to gaze on the wild meteor stay,
Spite of myself I shall be led astray.

[_Exeunt_ KING _and_ Marquis of POSA.

_Queen. _ How scornfully he is withdrawn!
Sure ere his love he'd let me know his power,
As Heaven oft thunders ere it sends a shower.
This Spanish gravity is very odd:
All things are by severity so awed,
That little Love dares hardly peep abroad.

_Hen. _ Alas! what can you from old age expect,
When frail uneasy men themselves neglect?
Some little warmth perhaps may be behind,
Though such as in extinguished fires you'll find;
Where some remains of heat the ashes hold,
Which, if for more you open, straight are cold.

_Queen. _ 'Twas interest and safety of the state,--
Interest, that bold imposer on our fate;
That always to dark ends misguides our wills,
And with false happiness smooths o'er our ills.
It was by that unhappy France was led,
When, though by contract I should Carlos wed,
I was an offering made to Philip's bed.
Why sigh'st thou, Henrietta?

_Hen. _ Who is't can
Know your sad fate, and yet from grief refrain?
With pleasure oft I've heard you smiling tell
Of Carlos' love.

_Queen. _ And did it please you well?
In that brave prince's courtship there did meet
All that we could obliging call, or sweet.
At every point he with advantage stood;
Fierce as a lion, if provoked abroad;
Else soft as angels, charming as a god.

_Hen. _ One so accomplished, and who loved you too,
With what resentments must he part with you!
Methinks I pity him----But oh! in vain:
He's both above my pity and my pain. [_Aside. _

_Queen. _ What means this strange disorder?

_Hen. _ Yonder view
That which I fear will discompose you too.

_Enter_ Don CARLOS _and_ Marquis of POSA.

_Queen. _ Alas, the prince! There to my mind appears
Something that in me moves unusual fears.
Away, Henrietta-- [_Offers to go. _

_Don Car. _ Why would you be gone?
Is Carlos' sight ungrateful to you grown?
If 'tis, speak: in obedience I'll retire.

_Queen. _ No, you may speak, but must advance no nigher.

_Don Car. _ Must I then at that awful distance sue,
As our forefathers were compelled to do,
When they petitions made at that great shrine,
Where none but the high priest might enter in?
Let me approach; I've nothing for your ear,
But what's so pure it might be offered there.

_Queen. _ Too long 'tis dangerous for me here to stay:
If you must speak, proceed: what would you say?

[Don CARLOS _kneels_.

Nay, this strange ceremony pray give o'er.

_Don Car. _ Was I ne'er in this posture seen before?
Ah! can your cruel heart so soon resign
All sense of these sad sufferings of mine?
To your more just remembrance, if you can,
Recall how fate seemed kindly to ordain
That once you should be mine; which I believed:
Though now, alas! I find I was deceived.

_Queen. _ Then, sir, you should your fate, not me upbraid.

_Don Car. _ I will not say you've broke the vows you made;
Only implore you would not quite forget
The wretch you've oft seen dying at your feet;
And now no other favour begs to have,
Than such kind pity as becomes your slave.
For 'midst your highest joys, without a crime,
At least you now and then may think of him.

_Queen. _ If e'er you loved me, you would this forbear;
It is a language which I dare not hear.
My heart and faith become your father's right,
All other passions I must now forget.

_Don Car. _ Can then a crown and majesty dispense
Upon your heart such mighty influence,
That I must be for ever banished thence?
Had I been raised to all the heights of power,
In triumph crowned the world's great emperor,
Of all its riches, all its state possessed,
Yet you should still have governed in my breast.

_Queen. _ In vain on her you obligations lay,
Who wants not will, but power to repay.

_Hen. _ Yet had you Henrietta's heart, you would
At least strive to afford him all you could. [_Aside. _

_Don Car. _ Oh! say not you want power; you may with one
Kind look pay doubly all I've undergone.
And knew you but the innocence I bear,
How pure, how spotless all my wishes are,
You would not scruple to supply my want,
When all I ask you may so safely grant.

_Queen. _ I know not what to grant; too well I find
That still at least I cannot be unkind.

_Don Car. _ Afford me then that little which I crave.

_Queen. _ You shall not want what I may let you have.

[_Gives her hand, sighing. _

_Don Car. _ Like one
That sees a heap of gems before him cast,
Thence to choose any that may please him best;
From the rich treasure whilst I choice should make,
Dazzled with all, I know not where to take.
I would be rich--

_Queen. _ Nay, you too far encroach;
I fear I have already given too much. [_Turns from him. _

_Don Car. _ Oh, take not back again the appearing bliss:
How difficult's the path to happiness!
Whilst up the precipice we climb with pain,
One little slip throws us quite down again.
Stay, madam, though you nothing more can give
Than just enough to keep a wretch alive,
At least remember how I've loved--

_Queen. _ I will.

_Don Car. _ That was so kind, that I must beg more still;
Let me love on: it is a very poor
And easy grant, yet I'll request no more.

_Queen. _ Do you believe that you can love retain,
And not expect to be beloved again?

_Don Car. _ Yes, I will love, and think I'm happy too,
So long as I can find that you are so;
All my disquiets banish from my breast;
I will endeavour to do so at least. [_Sighing deeply. _
Or, if I can't my miseries outwear,
They never more shall come to offend your ear.

_Queen. _ Love then, brave prince, whilst I'll thy love admire;

[_Gives her hand, which_ Don CARLOS _during_
_all this speech kisses eagerly_.

Yet keep the flame so pure, such chaste desire,
That without spot hereafter we above
May meet, when we shall come all soul, all love.
Till when--Oh! whither am I run astray?
I grow too weak, and must no longer stay:
For should I, the soft charm so strong would grow,
I find that I shall want the power to go.

[_Exeunt_ QUEEN _and_ HENRIETTA.

_Don Car. _ Oh, sweet--
If such transport be in a taste so small,
How blest must he be that possesses all!
Where am I, Posa? Where's the queen?

[_Standing amazed. _

_M. of Posa. _ My lord,
A while some respite to your heart afford:
The queen's retired--

_Don Car. _ Retired! And did she then
Just show me Heaven, to shut it in again?
This little ease augments my pain the more;
For now I'm more impatient than before,
And have discovered riches make me mad.

_M. of Posa. _ But since those treasures are not to be had,
You should correct desires that drive you on
Beyond that duty which becomes a son.
No longer let the tyrant love invade;
The brave may by themselves be happy made.
You to your father now must all resign.

_Don Car. _ But ere he robbed me of her, she was mine.
To be my friend is all thou hast to do,
For half my miseries thou canst not know.
Make myself happy! Bid the damned do so;
Who in sad flames must be for ever tossed,
Yet still in view of the loved Heaven they've lost. [_Exeunt. _

[Illustration]

[Illustration]




ACT THE THIRD.


SCENE I. --_The same. _

_Enter_ Don JOHN of Austria.

Don John. How vainly would dull moralists impose
Limits on love, whose nature brooks no laws?
Love is a god, and like a god should be
Inconstant, with unbounded liberty,
Rove as he list--
I find it; for even now I've had a feast,
Of which a god might covet for a taste.
Methinks I yet
See with what soft devotion in her eyes
The tender lamb came to the sacrifice.
Oh, how her charms surprised me as I lay!
Like too near sweets they took my sense away;
And I even lost the power to reach at joy.
But those cross witchcrafts soon unravelled were,
And I was lulled in trances sweeter far:
As anchored vessels in calm harbours ride,
Rocked on the swellings of the floating tide.
How wretched's then the man, who though alone
He thinks he's blest, yet, as confined to one,
Is but at best a prisoner on a throne?

_Enter the_ KING _attended_, Marquis of POSA, _and_
RUY-GOMEZ.

_King. _ Ye mighty powers, whose substitutes we are,
On whom you've lain of earth the rule and care,
Why all our toils do you reward with ill,
And to those weighty cares add greater still?
Oh, how could I your deities enrage,
That blessed my youth, thus to afflict my age?
A queen and a son's incest! dismal thought!

_Don John. _ What is't so soon his majesty has brought
From the soft arms of his young bride? [_To_ RUY-GOMEZ.

_King. _ Ay, true!
Is she not, Austria, young and charming too?
Dost thou not think her to a wonder fair?
Tell me!

_Don John. _ By Heaven, more bright than planets are:
Her beauty's force might even their power out-do.

_King. _ Nay, she's as false, and as unconstant too.
O Austria, that a form so outward bright
Should be within all dark and ugly night!
For she, to whom I'd dedicated all
My love, that dearest jewel of my soul,
Takes from its shrine the precious relic down,
To adorn a little idol of her own,--
My son! that rebel both to Heaven and me!
Oh, the distracting throes of jealousy!
But as a drowning wretch, just like to sink,
Seeing him that threw him in upon the brink,
At the third plunge lays hold upon his foe,
And tugs him down into destruction too;
So thou, from whom these miseries I've known,
Shalt bear me out again, or with me drown.
[_Seizes roughly_ on RUY-GOMEZ.

_Ruy-Gom. _ My loyalty will teach me how to wait
All the successes of my sovereign's fate.
What is't, great sir, you would command me?

_King. _ How!
What is't? --I know not what I'd have thee do:
Study revenge for me, 'tis that I want.

_Don John. _ Alas! what frenzy does your temper haunt?
Revenge! on whom?

_King. _ On my false queen and son.

_Ruy-Gom. _ On them! good Heaven! what is't that they have done?
Oh, had my tongue been cursed, ere it had bred
This jealousy! [_Half aside. _

_King. _ Then cancel what thou'st said.
Didst thou not tell me that thou saw'st him stand
Printing soft vows and kisses on her hand,
Whilst in requital she such glances gave,
Would quicken a dead lover in his grave?

_Ruy-Gom. _ I did; and what less could the queen allow
To him than you to every vassal show?
The affording him that little from love's store
Implied that she for you reserved much more.

_King. _ Oh, doubtless, she must have a wondrous store
Of love, that sells it at a rate so poor.
Now thou'dst rebate[12] my passion with advice;
And, when thou shouldst be active, wouldst be wise.
No, lead me where I may their incest see--
Do, or by Heaven--do, and I'll worship thee!
Oh, how my passions drive me to and fro!
Under their heavy weight I yield and bow.
But I'll re-gather yet my strength, and stand
Brandishing all my thunder in my hand.

_M. of Posa. _ And may it be sent forth, and where it goes
Light fatally and heavy on your foes!
But let your loyal son and consort bear
No ill, since they of any guiltless are.
Here with my sword defiance I proclaim
To that bold traitor that dares wrong their fame.

_Don John. _ I too dare with my life their cause make good.

_King. _ Sure well their innocence you've understood,
That you so prodigal are of your blood.
Or wouldst thou speak me comfort? I would find
'Mongst all my counsellors at least one kind.
Yet any thing like that I must not hear;
For so my wrongs I should too tamely bear,
And weakly grow my own mean flatterer.
Posa, withdraw--[_Exit_ Marquis of POSA. ]--My lords, all this
you've heard.

_Ruy-Gom. _ Yes, I observed it, sir, with strict regard:
The young lord's friendship was too great to hide.

_King. _ Is he then so to my false son allied?
I am environed every way, and all
My fate's unhappy engines plot my fall.
Like Cæsar in the senate, thus I stand,
Whilst ruin threatened him on every hand.
From each side he had warning he must die;
Yet still he braved his fate, and so will I.
To strive for ease would but add more to pain:
As streams that beat against their banks in vain,
Retreating, swell into a flood again.
No, I'll do things the world shall quake to hear;
My just revenge so true a stamp shall bear,
As henceforth Heaven itself shall emulate,
And copy all its vengeance out by that.
All but Ruy-Gomez I must have withdrawn,
I've something to discourse with him alone.

[_Exeunt_ Don JOHN _and_ Attendants.

Now, Gomez, on thy truth depends thy fate;
Thou'st wrought my sense of wrong to such a height,
Within my breast it will no longer stay,
But grows each minute till it force its way.
I would not find myself at last deceived.

_Ruy-Gom. _ Nor would I 'gainst your reason be believed.
Think, sir, your jealousy to be but fear
Of losing treasures which you hold so dear.
Your queen and son may yet be innocent:
I know but what they did, not what they meant.

_King. _ Meant! what should looks, and sighs, and pressings mean?
No, no; I need not hear it o'er again.
No repetitions--something must be done.
Now there's no ill I know that I would shun.
I'll fly, till them I've in their incest found,
Full charged with rage, and with my vengeance hot,
Like a grenado from a cannon shot,
Which lights at last upon the enemy's ground,
Then, breaking, deals destruction all around. [_Exit. _

_Ruy-Gom. _ So, now his jealousy is at the top,
Each little blast will serve to keep it up.
But stay; there's something I've omitted yet;--
Posa's my enemy; and true, he's great.
Alas! I'm armed 'gainst all that he can do;
For my snare's large enough to hold him too:
Yet I'll disguise that purpose for a while;
But when he with the rest is caught i' the toil,
I'll boldly out, and wanton in the spoil.

_Re-enter_ Marquis of POSA.

_M. of Posa. _ My lord Ruy-Gomez! and the king not here!
You, who so eminent a favourite are
In a king's eye, should ne'er be absent thence.

_Ruy-Gom. _ No, sir, 'tis you that by a rising prince
Are cherished, and so tread a safer way,
Rich in that bliss the world waits to enjoy.

_M. of Posa. _ Since what may bless the world we ought to prize,
I wish there were no public enemies;
No lurking serpents poison to dispense,
Nor wolves to prey on noble innocence;
No flatterers, that with royal goodness sport,
Those stinking weeds that overrun a court.

_Ruy-Gom. _ Nay, if good wishes anything could do,
I have as earnest wishes, sir, as you:
That though perhaps our king enjoys the best
Of power, yet may he still be doubly blest.
May he--

_M. of Posa. _ Nay, Gomez, you shall ne'er outdo me there;
Since for great Philip's good I would you were,
If possible, more honest than you are.

_Ruy-Gom. _ Why, Posa; what defect can you discern?

_M. of Posa. _ Nay, half your mysteries I'm yet to learn
Though this I'll boldly justify to all,--
That you contrive a generous prince's fall. [RUY-GOMEZ _smiles_.
Nay, think not by your smiles and careless port
To laugh it off; I come not here to sport;
I do not, sir.

_Ruy-Gom. _ Young lord, what meaning has
This heat?

_M. of Posa. _ To let you see I know you're base.

_Ruy-Gom. _ Nay, then, I pardon ask that I did smile:
By Heaven, I thought you'd jested all this while.
Base!

_M. of Posa. _ Yes, more base than impotent or old.
All virtue in thee, like thy blood, runs cold:
Thy rotten putrid carcass is less full
Of rancour and contagion than thy soul.
Even now before the king I saw it plain;
But duty in that presence awed me then;
Yet there I dared thy treason with my sword:
But still
Thy villany talked all; courage had not a word.
True, thou art old; yet, if thou hast a friend,
To whom thy cursèd cause thou darest commend;
'Gainst him in public I'll the innocence
Maintain of the fair queen and injured prince.

_Ruy-Gom. _ Farewell, bold champion!
Learn better how your passions to disguise;
Appear less choleric, and be more wise. [_Exit. _

_M. of Posa. _ How frail is all the glory we design,
Whilst such as these have power to undermine!
Unhappy prince! who mightst have safely stood,
If thou hadst been less great, or not so good.
Why the vile monster's blood did I not shed,
And all the vengeance draw on my own head?
My honour so had had this just defence,--
That I preserved my patron and my prince.

_Enter_ Don CARLOS _and the_ QUEEN.

Brave Carlos--ha! he's here. O sir, take heed;
By an unlucky fate your love is led.
The king--the king your father's jealous grown;
Forgetting her, his queen, or you, his son,
Calls all his vengeance up against you both.

_Don Car. _ Has then the false Ruy-Gomez broke his oath,
And, after all, my innocence betrayed?

_M. of Posa. _ Yes, all his subtlest snares are for you laid.
The king within this minute will be here,
And you are ruined, if but seen with her.
Retire, my lord--

_Queen. _ How! is he jealous grown?
I thought my virtue he had better known.
His unjust doubts have soon found out the way
To make their entry on our marriage day;
For yet he has not known with me a night.
Perhaps his tyranny is his delight;
And to such height his cruelty is grown,
He'd exercise it on his queen and son.
But since, my lord, this time we must obey
Our interest, I beg you would not stay:
Not seeing you, he may to me be just.

_Don Car. _ Should I then leave you, madam?

_Queen. _ Yes, you must.

_Don Car. _ Not then when storms against your virtue rise.
No; since to lose you wretched Carlos dies,
He'll have the honour of it, in your cause.
This is the noblest thing that Fate could do;
She thus abates the rigour of her laws,
Since 'tis some pleasure but to die for you.

_Queen. _ Talk not of death, for that even cowards dare,
When their base fears compel them to despair:
Hope's the far nobler passion of the mind;
Fortune's a mistress that's with caution kind;
Knows that the constant merit her alone,
They who, though she seem froward, yet court on.

_Don Car. _ To wretched minds thus still some comfort gleams,
And angels ease our griefs, though but with dreams.
I have too oft already been deceived,
And the cheat's grown too plain to be believed,
You, madam, bid me go. [_Looking earnestly at the_ QUEEN.

_Queen. _ You must.

_M. of Posa. _ You shall.
Alas! I love you, would not see you fall;
And yet may find some way to evade it all.

_Don Car. _ Thou, Posa, ever wert my truest friend;
I almost wish thou wert not now so kind.
Thou of a thing that's lost tak'st too much care;
And you, fair angel, too indulgent are. [_To the_ QUEEN.
Great my despair; but still my love is higher.
Well--in obedience to you I'll retire;
Though during all the storm I will be nigh,
Where, if I see the danger grow too high,
To save you, madam, I'll come forth and die. [_Exit. _

_Re-enter_ KING _and_ RUY-GOMEZ.

_King. _ Who would have guessed that this had ever been?

[_Seeing the_ Marquis of POSA _and the_ QUEEN

Distraction! where shall my revenge begin?
Why, he's the very bawd to all their sin;
And to disguise it puts on friendship's mask:
But his despatch, Ruy-Gomez, is thy task.
With him pretend some private conference,
And under that disguise seduce him hence;
Then in some place fit for the deed impart
The business, by a poniard to his heart.

_Ruy-Gomez. _ 'Tis done--

_King. _ So, madam! [_Steps to the_ QUEEN.

_Queen. _ By the fury in your eyes,
I understand you're come to tyrannize.
I hear you are already jealous grown,
And dare suspect my virtue with your son.

_King. _ O womankind! thy mysteries who can scan,
Too deep for easy, weak, believing man?
Hold, let me look: indeed you're wondrous fair;
So, on the outside, Sodom's apples were:
And yet within, when opened to the view,
Not half so dangerous or so foul as you.

_Queen. _ Unhappy, wretched woman that I am!
And you unworthy of a husband's name!
Do you not blush?

_King. _ Yes, madam, for your shame.
Blush, too, my judgment e'er should prove so faint,
To let me choose a devil for a saint.
When first I saw and loved that tempting eye,
The fiend within the flame I did not spy;
But still ran on, and cherished my desires,
For heavenly beams mistook infernal fires;
Such raging fires as you have since thought fit
Alone my son, my son's hot youth should meet.
O vengeance, vengeance!

_Queen. _ Poor ungenerous king!