But that it draws dependencies of power
And earthly interest, which you long to sway;
Content you with monopolizing heaven,
And let this little hanging ball alone:
For, give you but a foot of conscience there,
And you, like Archimedes, toss the globe.
We know your thoughts of us that laymen are,
Lag souls, and rubbish of remaining clay,
Which heaven, grown weary of more perfect work,
Set upright with a little puff of breath,
And bid us pass for men.

Muf. I will not answer,

Base foul-mouthed renegade; but I'll pray for thee, To shew my charity.

[Exit MUFTI. Dor. Do; but forget not him who needs it most: Allow thyself some share. He's gone too soon; I had to tell him of his holy jugglings;

Things that would startle faith, and make us deem Not this, or that, but all religions false.

Bend. Our holy orator has lost the cause. [Aside. But I shall yet redeem it.-[To DORAX.] Let him go; For I have secret orders from the emperor,

Which none but you must hear: I must confess, I could have wished some other hand had brought them.

When did you see your prisoner, great Sebastian? Dor. You might as well have asked me, when I

saw

A crested dragon, or a basilisk;

Both are less poison to my eyes and nature.
He knows not I am I; nor shall he see me,
Till time has perfected a labouring thought,
That rolls within my breast.

Bend. Twas my mistake.

I guessed indeed that time, and his misfortunes,
And your returning duty, had effaced

The memory of past wrongs; they would in me,

And I judged you as tame, and as forgiving.
Dor. Forgive him! no: I left my foolish faith,
Because it would oblige me to forgiveness.

Bend. I can't but grieve to find you obstinate,
For you must see him; 'tis our emperor's will,
And strict command.

Dor. I laugh at that command.

Bend. You must do more than see; serve, and respect him.

Dor. See, serve him, and respect! and after all My yet uncancelled wrongs, I must do this!-But I forget myself.

Bend. Indeed you do.

Dor. The emperor is a stranger to my wrongs; I need but tell my story, to revoke

This hard commission.

Bend. Can you call me friend,

And think I could neglect to speak, at full,
The affronts you had from your ungrateful master?
Dor. And yet enjoined my service and attendance!
Bend. And yet enjoined them both: would that
were all !

He screwed his face into a hardened smile,
And said, Sebastian knew to govern slaves.

Dor. Slaves are the growth of Africk, not of
Europe.-

By heaven! I will not lay down my commission;
Not at his foot, I will not stoop so low:

But if there be a part in all his face

More sacred than the rest, I'll throw it there.

Bend. You may; but then you lose all future means Of vengeance on Sebastian, when no more Alcayde of this fort.

Dor. That thought escaped me.

Bend. Keep your command, and be revenged on

both:

Nor sooth yourself; you have no power to affront

him;

The emperor's love protects him from insults;
And he, who spoke that proud, ill-natured word,
Following the bent of his impetuous temper,
May force your reconcilement to Sebastian;
Nay, bid you kneel, and kiss the offending foot,
That kicked you from his presence.-

But think not to divide their punishment;
You cannot touch a hair of loathed Sebastian,
While Muley-Moluch lives.

Dor. What means this riddle?

Bend. 'Tis out;-there needs no Edipus to solve. it.

Our emperor is a tyrant, feared and hated;
I scarce remember, in his reign, one day
Pass guiltless o'er his execrable head.

He thinks the sun is lost, that sees not blood:
When none is shed, we count it holiday.

We, who are most in favour, cannot call

This hour our own. You know the younger brother,

Mild Muley-Zeydan?

Dor. Hold, and let me think.
Bend. The soldiers idolize you;

He trusts you with the castle,

The key of all his kingdom.

Dor. Well; and he trusts you too.
Bend. Else I were mad,

To hazard such a daring enterprize.

Dor. He trusts us both; mark that!-Shall we betray him;

A master, who reposes life and empire

On our fidelity-I grant he is a tyrant,
That hated name my nature most abhors:

More, as you say,—has loaded me with scorn, Even with the last contempt, to serve Sebastian; Yet more, I know he vacates my revenge, Which, but by this revolt, I cannot compass;

But, while he trusts me, 'twere so base a part,
To fawn, and yet betray,--I should be hissed,
And whooped in hell for that ingratitude.

Bend. Consider well what I have done for you.
Dor. Consider thou, what thou would'st have me

do.

Bend. You've too much honour for a renegade. Dor. And thou too little faith to be a favourite. Is not the bread thou eat'st, the robe thou wear'st, Thy wealth, and honours, all the pure indulgence Of him thou would'st destroy?

And would his creature, nay, his friend, betray him?
Why then no bond is left on human kind!
Distrusts, debates, immortal strifes ensue;
Children may murder parents, wives their husbands;
All must be rapine, wars, and desolation,
When trust and gratitude no longer bind.

Bend. Well have you argued in your own defence;
You, who have burst asunder all those bonds,
And turned a rebel to your native prince.

Dor. True, I rebelled: But when did I betray?-
Indignities, which man could not support,
Provoked my vengeance to this noble crime;
But he had stripped me first of my command,
Dismissed my service, and absolved my faith;
And, with disdainful language, dared my worst:
I but accepted war, which he denounced.
Else had you seen, not Dorax, but Alonzo,
With his couched lance, against your foremost Moors;
Perhaps, too, turned the fortune of the day,
Made Africk mourn, and Portugal triumph,
Bend. Let me embrace thee!
Dor. Stand off, sycophant,

And keep infection distant.
Bend. Brave and honest!

Dor. In spite of thy temptations,
Bend. Call them, trials;

They were no more. Thy faith was held in balance,
And nicely weighed by jealousy of power.
Vast was the trust of such a royal charge;
And our wise emperor might justly fear,
Sebastian might be freed and reconciled,
By new obligements, to thy former love.

Dor. I doubt thee still: Thy reasons were too strong,

And driven too near the head, to be but artifice: And, after all, I know thou art a statesman, Where truth is rarely found.

Bend. Behold the emperor:

Enter Emperor, SEBASTIAN, and ALMEYDA.
Ask him, I beg thee,-to be justified,-
If he employed me not to ford thy soul,
And try the footing, whether false or firm.

Dor. Death to my eyes, I see Sebastian with him!
Must he be served?-Avoid him: If we meet,
It must be like the crush of heaven and earth,
To involve us both in ruin.

[Exit. Bend. 'Twas a bare saving game I made with

Dorax ;

But better so than lost. He cannot hurt me;

That I precautioned: I must ruin him.

But now this love; ay, there's the gathering storm! The tyrant must not wed Almeyda: No! That ruins all the fabric I am raising. Yet, seeming to approve, it gave me time; And gaining time gains all. [Aside. [BENDUCAR goes and waits behind the Emperor. The Emperor, SEBASTIAN, and ALMEYDA, advance to the front of the stage: Guards and Attendants.

Emp. to Seb. I bade them serve you; and, if they obey not,

I keep my lions keen within their dens,

2