Enter ZARA and SELIMA.

Zara. Sooth me no longer with this vain desire;
To a recluse like me, who dares henceforth
Presume admission!-The seraglio is shut;
Barr'd and impassable, as death to time!
My brother ne'er must hope to see me more.-
How now! what unknown slave accosts us here?

Enter MELIDOR.

Mel. This letter, trusted to my hands, receive, In secret witness I am wholly yours.

[Zara reads the Letter. Sel. Thou everlasting Ruler of the world! Shed thy wish'd mercy on our hopeless tears; Redeem us from the hands of hated infidels, And save my princess from the breast of Osman.

[Aside. Zara. I wish, my friend, the comfort of your counsel. Sel. Retire-you shall be call'd-wait near-go, leave [Exit Melidor.

us.

Zara. Read this, and tell me what I ought to answer: For I would gladly hear my brother's voice.

Sel. Say rather you would hear the voice of heaven. 'Tis not your brother calls you, but your God. Zara. I know it, nor resist his awful will;

Thou know'st that I have bound my soul by oath;
But can 1, ought I, to engage myself,

My brother, and the Christians, in this danger?
Sel. 'Tis not their danger that alarms your fears;
Your love speaks loudest to your shrinking soul.
This tiger, savage in his tenderness,

Courts with contempt, and threatens amidst softness;
Yet cannot your neglected heart efface

His fated, fix'd impression!

Zara. What reproach

Can I with justice make bim?—I indeed
Have given him cause to hate me!

Was not his throne, was not his temple ready?
Did he not court his slave to be a queen,
And have not I declin'd it?—I who ought
To tremble, conscious of affronted power!
Have not I triumph'd o'er his pride and love?
Seen him submit his own high will to mine,
And sacrifice his wishes to my weakness?

Sel. Talk we no more of this unhappy passion :
What resolution will your virtue take?

Zara. All things combine to sink me to despair:
From the seraglio death alone will free me.
I long to see the Christians' happy climes;
Yet in the moment while I form that prayer,
I sigh a secret wish to languish here.
How sad a state is mine! my restless soul
All ignorant what to do, or what to wish:
My only perfect sense is that of pain.

Oh, guardian heaven! protect my brother's life,
For I will meet him, and fulfil his prayer:
Then, when from Solyma's unfriendly walls,
His absence shall unbind his sister's tongue,
Osınan sball learn the secret of my birth,
My faith unshaken, and my deathless love;

He will approve my choice, and pity me.
I'll send iny brother word he may expect me.
Call in the faithful slave. God of my fathers!

Let thy hand save me, and thy will direct.

[Exit Selimu.

Re-enter MELIDOR, with SELIMA.

Go-tell the Christian who intrusted thee,
That Zara's heart is fix'd, nor shrinks at danger;
And that my faithful friend will, at the hour,
Expect and introduce him to his wish.

Away-the sultan comes; he must not find us.

[Exeunt Zara and Selima.

Enter OSMAN and ORASMIN.

Osman. Swifter, ye hours, move on; my fury glows Impatient, and would push the wheels of time. How now? What message dost thou bring? Speak boldly. What answer gave she to the letter sent her? [paus'd; Mel. She blush'd, and trembled, and grew pale, and Then blush'd, and read it, and again grew pale; And wept, and smil'd, and doubted, and resolv'd: For after all this race of varied passions, When she had sent me out, and call'd me back, Tell him (she cried) who has intrusted thee, That Zara's heart is fix'd, nor shrinks at danger; And that my faithful friend will, at the hour, Expect and introduce him to his wish.

Osman. Enough; be gone! I have no ear for more.

[To the Slave. Leave me, thou too, Orasmin. Leave me, life, ·For ev'ry mortal aspect moves my hate: [To Orasmin. Leave me to my distraction. [Exit Orusmin. Who am I? Heav'n! Who am I? What resolve I? Zara! Nerestan! sound these words like names Decreed to join? Why pause I? Perish ZaraWould I could tear her image from my heart. Re-enter OR ASMIN.

Orasmin! Friend! return, I cannot bear
This absence from thy reasou: 'twas unkind,

'Twas cruel to obey me, thus distress'd,

And wanting power to think, when I had lost thee. How goes the hour? Has he appear'd, this rival? Perish the shameful sound. This villain Christian! Has he appear'd below?

Oras. Silent and dark

Th' unbreathing world is bush'd, as if it heard
And listen'd to your sorrows.

Osman. Oh, treach'rous night!

Thou lend'st thy ready veil to ev'ry treason,
And teeming mischiefs thrive beneath thy shade.
Hark! Heard'st thou nothing?

Oras. My lord.

Osman. A voice, like dying groans!
Oras. I listen, but can hear nothing.
Osman. Again! look out-he comes-

Oras. Nor tread of mortal foot, nor voice 1 hear: The still seraglio lies, profoundly plung'd

In death-like silence! nothing stirs.-The air
Is soft, as infant sleep, no breathing wing
Steals through the shadows to awaken night.

[these,

Osman. Horrors a thousand times more dark than Benight my suff'ring soul. Thou dost not know To what excess of tenderness I lov'd her: I knew no happiness but what she gave me, Nor could have felt a mis'ry but for her! Pity this weakness-mine are tears, Orasmin, That fall not oft, nor lightly.

Oras. Tears! Oh, heaven!

Oh, my unhappy lord! I tremble for you

Osman. Do-tremble at my sufferings, at my love; At my revenge too, tremble--for 'tis due,

And will not be deluded.

Oras. Hark! I hear

The steps of men along the neighb'ring wall!

Osman. Fly! seize him! 'tis Nerestan! Wait no chains, But drag him down to my impatient eye. [Exit Oras. Enter ZARA and SELIMA, in the dark.

Zara. Where art thou, Selima? Give me thy hand.

It is so dark, I tremble as I step,

With fears and startings, never felt till now!

Osman. Damnation! 'tis her voice! the well-known

sound

That has so often charm'd me into baseness!'

[Draws a Dagger. Revenge, stand firm, and intercept his wishes! Revenge! On whom? No matter: earth and heaven Would blush, should I forbear: now, Zara, now!

[Drops the Dagger. I must not, cannot strike, the starting steel, Unwilling, flies my hand, and shuns to wound her. Zara. This is the private path; come nearer, lead me. Are we not notic'd, think'st thou ?

Sel. Fear not, madam;

It cannot now be long, ere we shall meet him.

Osman. That word has given me back my ebbing rage.

[Recovers the Dagger. Zara. I walk in terror, and my heart forebodes. Who's there? Nerestan! Is it you? O welcomeOsman. [Stabs her.] This to thy heart. "Tis not the traitor meets thee,

'Tis the betray'd, who writes it in thy blood.

Zara. Oh, gracious heaven! receive my parting soal, And take thy trembling servant to thy mercy.

Dies.
Osman. Soul! then revenge has reach'd thee. I will now
Haste from this fatal place: I cannot leave her!
Whom did I strike? Was this the act of love?
Swallow me, earth! She's silent! Zara's dead!
And should I live to see returning day,

"Twill show me but her blood! show me left joyless,
In a wide, empty world, with nothing round me,
But penitence and pain: and yet 'twas just.
Hark! Destiny has sent her lover to me,
To fill my vengeance, and restore my joy.

Re-enter ORASMIN, with NERESTAN. Approach, thou wretch! thou more than curs'd! come near!

Thou who, in gratitude for freedom gain'd,