網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

father, intimating that nothing would contribute more to the security of his kingdom, than her marriage with the Epirot prince Zoranza. The packet also contained Zoranza's picture, and a blunt letter of courtship from him. Pharonnida deeply afflicted at these communications, as Argalia was withdrawing to convey her answer to Epirus, although not out of hearing, burst into a strain of vehement and eloquent passion, which we cannot forbear extracting.

"Unhappy soul! born only to infuse
Pearls of delight with vinegar, and lose
Content for honor; is't a sin to be
Born high, that robs me of my liberty?
Or is't the curse of greatness to behold
Virtue through such false opticks as unfold
No splendour, less from equal orbs they shine?
What Heaven made free, ambitious men confine
In regular degrees. Poor Love must dwell
Within no climate but what's parallel
Unto our honor'd births; the envied fate

Of princes, oft these burthens find from state,
When lowly swains, knowing no parent's voice
A negative, make a free happy choice.'-

And here she sighed; then with some drops, distill'd
From Love's most sovereign elixir, fill'd
The chrystal fountains of her eyes, which ere
Dropp'd down, she thus recals again, But ne'er,
Ne'er, my Argalia, shall these fears destroy
My hopes of thee: Heaven! let me but enjoy
So much of all those blessings, which their birth
Can take from frail mortality; and Earth,
Contracting all her curses, cannot make
A storm of danger loud enough to shake
Me to a trembling penitence; a curse,
To make the horror of my suffering worse,
Sent in a father's name, like vengeance fell
From angry Heav'n, upon my head may dwell
In an eternal stain,-my honor'd name
With pale disgrace may languish,—busy fame
My reputation spot,-affection be

Term'd uncommanded lust,-sharp poverty,
That weed that kills the gentle flow'r of love,
As the result of all these ills, may prove
My greatest misery,-unless to find
Myself unpitied. Yet not so unkind.

Would I esteem this mercenary band,

As those far more malignant powers that stand,
Arm'd with dissuasions, to obstruct the way
Fancy directs; but let those souls obey

Their harsh commands, that stand in fear to shed
Repentant tears: I am resolved to tread

Those doubtful paths, through all the shades of fear
That now benights them. Love, with pity hear
Thy suppliant's prayer, and when my clouded eyes
Shall cease to weep, in smiles I'll sacrifice
To thee such offerings, that the utmost date
Of death's rough hands shall never violate.''

p. 86. end of b. 1.

Meanwhile the rebel Almanzor had been plotting trea

son against the princess, and

"Consultations did

Whisper rebellion in soft airs, forbid

To live in louder language, until like
Inevitable thunder, it could strike

As swift, as secret, and as sure as those
Heaven's anger hurls."-

"Time, treason's secret midwife, did produce
No birth like this."-

The gold of this ambitious subject had gained him more friends than his merit, and had a considerable effect upon Amphibia, one of the princess's ladies; but when joined with a certain jealousy, which she had conceived at the favour shewn to Florenza, (whom Pharonnida had taken into her service) it became too potent to be resisted, and she became his creature. A mask was concerted between them, and the scheme being ripe for execution, Almanzor and a party of maskers, disguised as Amazons, one night entered the palace of the princess, amidst antick harmony; and having completed the first part of the exhibition, a trumpet was sounded, and the false viragoes drew their swords, dispersed the guards, and carried off the princess and Florenza.

Pharonnida's attendants immediately roused the neighbouring villagers, whose confusion and dismay are very happily described. A party of those rusticks having met the coach in which Almanzor was carrying off the princess, fell upon the guards. The chieftain finding, after a desperate struggle, that further contest would only increase his danger, broke through the assailants, and left his attendants to their fury.

[blocks in formation]

"Sweet mercy's healing balm

Is the extraction of brave spirits, which

By innate valour rarefied, enrich

With that fair gem the triumphs of success,
Whilst cowards make the victors' glory less;
Their highest flame being but dull earth,
Fir'd into tyranny."

Almanzor now appeared in open rebellion, seconded by a considerable army, and surprised the castle of Alcithius, which however was soon retaken by the king, who conveyed thither his daughter and his treasures.

The two armies at length prepared for battle.

"Such variety

Presents the eye with, that whilst the sad thought
Beholds them but as falling branches brought
To the decay of time, their view did bring
In all the pleasures of the checquer'd spring,
Like a large field, where being confined unto
Their sev'ral squares, here blushing roses grow,
There purple hyacinths; and near to them

The yellow cowslip bends its slender stem."

The king made the first assault; and after those alternations of fortune which a field of battle usually displays, victory declared in favour of the rebel chief.

The king, under the obscurity of night,

"When dreadful shadows had the field o'erspread,

As darkness were a hearse-cloth for the dead,"

retreated to the castle of Alcithius to recruit his shattered forces, and obtain assistance from the Epirots. Almanzor pursued and invested the castle; and here he avowed his reasons for taking up arms, had at first been his love for Pharonnida; and since, in justice to his country, to prevent it from being enslaved by a foreign alliance. Provisions grew short in the garrison of Alcithius, and every hand was unnerved by want. In this extremity, the King assembling his brave band, advised them to consult their safety in Almanzor's clemency. They decidedly refused, and came to an heroical resolution to die in defence of their prince.

"The sluggish morning, sick

Of midnight surfeits, from her dewy bed

Pale and discolour'd rose.".

An alarm was sounded, but as the garrison were issuing from the portals of the castle, they met an advanced detach

ment of the Epirot army, under the command of Argalia, by whom the rebels had been driven from the field; their defeat was afterwards completed by the main body, but Almanzor escaped. The King and his army, accompanied by the Epirots, returned in triumph to Corinth, where all was joy and gaiety and pleasure. Zoranza was called away by domestic affairs, and the Princess retired to a mansion within sight of the walls of Corinth, but yet participating of all rural beauties. The landscape around the palace is designed with picturesque effect, and painted with rich and glowing colours. The scite on which it stood, was

"Divided from th' continent, by the wide

Arms of a spacious stream, whose wanton pride
In cataracts from the mountains broke, as glad
Of liberty to court the valley, had

Curl'd his proud waves, and stretch'd them to enclose

That type of paradise, whose crown-top rose

From that clear mirror, as the first light saw

Fair Eden 'midst the spring of Halilah.”

In this retreat, time stole away on downy feet-the cup of joy was full; but Amphibia, bent on the ruin of the two lovers, stepped in, and dashed it aside-by heightening Argalia's deserts with excessive praise, she contrived to infuse jealousy into the mind of the old King, who resolved to remove the cause of it. Pretending that he was invited by a friendly league to assist the Prince of Epirus, he conferred the command of his army on Argalia. Pharonnida having read the mandate, containing this intelligence,

"trembling fear

Plucks roses from her cheeks, which soon appear

Full blown again with anger, red and white,

Did in this conflict of her passions fight

For the pre-eminence."

Ignorant of the cause of her perturbation, Argalia endeavoured to soothe her. Here follows a scene, which, for dramatic effect, deep feeling, and tender sentiment, and for the uncontroulable and overwhelming energy of passion, cannot, we think, be exceeded in poetry. Pharonnida, after struggling with her grief for some time, exclaimed,

"Is thy abode

Become the parent of suspicion ? look

On this, Argalia, there hath poison took

Its lodging, underneath those flowers, whose force
Will blast our hopes-there, there, a sad divorce

"Twixt our poor loves is set, ere we more near
Than in desires have met."

Argalia, though conscious that it was but an honorable policy to get rid of him, replied,

"This honor, which

Your royal father pleases to enrich

peace

My worthless fortunes with, will but prepare
Our future happiness-the time we spare
From feeding on ambrosia, will increase
Our wealthy store, when the white wings of
Shall bear us back with victory; there may,
Through the dark chaos of my fate, display
Some beam of honor; though compar'd with thine
(That element of living flame) it shine

Dim as the pale-fac'd moon, when she lets fall
Through a dark grove her beams-thy virtues shall
Give an alarum to my sluggish soul,

Whene'er it droops-thy memory controul

The weakness of my passions.-When we strive
I' th' heat of glorious battle, I'll revive
My drooping spirits with that harmony

Thy name includes-thy name, whose memory
(Dear as those relicks a protecting saint

Sends humble vot'ries) mention'd, will acquaint

My thoughts with all that's good. Then calm again
This conflict of thy fears, I shall remain

Safe in the hail of death, if guarded by

Thy pious pray'rs-Fate's messengers, that fly

On wings invisible, will lose the way

Aim'd at my breast, if thou vouchsafe to pray
To heav'n for my protection.-

-But if we

Ne'er meet again-yet, Oh! yet let me be

Sometimes with pity thought on."

Both wept; and it was some time before Pharonnida recovered strength to utter the following lines:

"Wilt, O wilt thou do

Our infant love such injury, to leave

It ere full grown? When shall my

A comfortable smile to cherish it,

soul receive

When thou art gone?-They're but dull joys that sit
Enthron'd in fruitless wishes; yet I could

Part with a less expence of sorrow, would

Our rigid fortune only be content

With absence-but a greater punishment

« 上一頁繼續 »