Alv. (sighing).

Yes! he did so !

Ord. Why no! he was afraid of accidents, Of robberies, and shipwrecks, and the like, secrecy he gave it me to keep,

In

Till his return.

Alv.

What! he was your friend, then! Ord. (wounded and embarrassed). I was his friend.— Now that he gave it me

This lady knows not. You are a mighty wizard—
Can call the dead man up-he will not come-
He is in heaven then-there you have no influence:
Still there are tokens-and your imps may bring you
Something he wore about him when he died,

And when the smoke of the incense on the altar
Is pass'd, your spirits will have left this picture.
What say you now?

Alv. (after a pause). Ordonio, I will do it.

Ord. We'll hazard no delay. Be it to-night,
In the early evening. Ask for the Lord Valdez.
I will prepare him. Music too, and incense
(For I have arranged it—Music, Altar, Incense),
Here is this same picture,

All shall be ready.

And here, what you will value more, a purse.

Come early for your magic ceremonies.

Alv. I will not fail to meet you.

Ord. Till next we meet, farewell!

Exit Ordonio.

Alv. (alone, indignantly flings the purse away, and gazes passionately at the portrait).

And I did curse thee?

At midnight? on my knees? and I believed

Thee perjured, thee a traitress! Thee dishonoured? O blind and credulous fool! O guilt of folly! Should not thy inarticulate Fondness,

Thy Infant Loves-should not thy Maiden Vows Have come upon thy heart? And this sweet Image,

Tied round my neck with many a chaste endearment,
And thrilling hands, that made me weep and tremble-
Ah, coward dupe! to yield it to the miscreant,
Who spake pollution of thee! barter for Life
This farewell Pledge, which with impassion'd Vow
I had sworn that I would grasp-ev'n in my deathpang!
I am unworthy of thy love, Teresa,

Of that unearthly smile upon those lips,

Which ever smiled on me! Yet do not scorn me-
I lisp'd thy name, ere I had learnt my mother's.
Dear Portrait! rescued from a traitor's keeping,
I will not now profane thee, holy Image,

To a dark trick. That worst bad man shall find
A picture, which will wake the hell within him,
And rouse a fiery whirlwind in his conscience.

ACT III,

SCENE. I.—A Hall of Armory, with an Altar at the back of the Stage. Soft Music from an instrument of Glass or Steel.

VALDEZ, ORDONIO, and ALVAR in a Sorcerer's robe, are discovered.

Ord. This was two melancholy, father.
Val.

Nay,

My Alvar loved sad music from a child.
Once he was lost; and after weary search
We found him in an open place in the wood,
To which spot he had follow'd a blind boy,
Who breathed into a pipe of sycamore
Some strangely moving notes: and these, he said,
Were taught him in a dream, Him we first saw
Stretch'd on the broad top of a sunny heath-bank:
And lower down poor Alvar, fast asieer,

His head upon the blind boy's dog. It pleased me
To mark how he had fasten'd round the pipe
A silver toy his grandam had late given him.
Methinks I see him now as he then look’d—
Even so !-He had outgrown his infant dress,
Yet still he wore it.

Alv.

My tears must not flow!

I must not clasp his knees, and cry, My father!
Enter TERESA, and Attendants.

Ter. Lord Valdez, you have ask'd my presence here, And I submit; but (Heaven bear witness for me) My heart approves it not! 'tis mockery.

Ord. Believe you then no preternatural influence? Believe you not that spirits throng around us? Ter. Say rather that I have imagined it A possible thing: and it has soothed my soul As other fancies have; but ne'er seduced me To traffic with the black and frenzied hope That the dead hear the voice of witch or wizard.

(To Alvar.) Stranger, I mourn and blush to see you here On such employment! With far other thoughts

I left you,

Ord. (aside). Ha! he has been tampering with her! Alv. O high-soul'd maiden! and more dear to me Than suits the Stranger's name !—

I will uncover all concealed guilt.

I swear to thee

Doubt, but decide not! Stand ye from the altar. [Here a strain of music is heard from behind the

scene.

Alv. With no irreverent voice or uncouth charm

I call up the Departed!

Soul of Alvar !

Hear our soft suit, and heed my milder spell;
So may the Gates of Paradise, unbarr'd.

Cease thy swift toils! since haply thou art one
Of that innumerable company

Who in broad circle, lovelier than the rainbow,
Girdle this round earth in a dizzy motion,
With noise too vast and constant to be heard:
Fitliest unheard! For oh, ye numberless
And rapid travellers! What ear unstunn'd,
What sense unmadden'd, might bear up against
The rushing of your congregated wings? [Music.
Even now your living wheel turn o'er head!
my
[Music expressive of the movements and images
that follow.

Ye, as ye pass, toss high the desert sands,
That roar and whiten, like a burst of waters,
A sweet appearance, but a dread illusion

To the parched caravan that roams by night!
And build upon
the becalmed waves

ye

That whirling pillar, which from Earth to Heaven
Stands vast, and moves in blackness! Ye too split
The ice mount! and with fragments many and huge
Tempest the new-thaw'd sea, whose sudden gulfs
Suck in, perchance, some Lapland wizard skiff!
Then round and round the whirlpool's marge ye

dance,

Till from the blue swoln Corse the Soul toils out,
And joins your mighty Army.

[Here behind the scenes a voice sings the thres
words, Hear, sweet Spirit."

66

Soul of Alvar!

Hear the mild spell, and tempt no blacker Charm?

Bv sighs unquiet, and the sickly pang
Of a half dead, yet still undying Hope,
Pass visible before our mortal sense!

So shall the Church's cleansing rites be thae,
He knells and masses that redeem the Dead!

SONG,

Behind the Scenes, accompanied by the same Instru

ment as before,

Hear, sweet spirit, hear the spell,

Lest a blacker charm compel !

So shall the midnight breezes swell
With thy deep long-lingering knell.

And at evening evermore,

In a Chapel on the shore,

Shall the Chanters sad and saintly,
Yellow tapers burning faintly,
Doleful Masses chant for thee,

Miserere Domine !

Hark! the cadence dies away

On the yellow moonlight sea :

The boatmen rest their oars and say,

Miserere Domine!

[A long pause.

Ord. The innocent obey nor charm nor spell!

My brother is in heaven. Thou sainted spirit,
Burst on our sight, a passing visitant!

Once more to hear thy voice, once more to see thee,
O 't were a joy to me!

A joy to thee!

Alv. What if thou heard'st him now! What if his spirit, Re-enter'd its cold corse, and came upon thee With many a stab from many a murderer's poniard ? What if (his stedfast Eye still beaming Pity And Brother's love) he turn'd his head aside, Lest he should look at thee, and with one look Hurl thee beyond all power of Penitence? Val. These are unholy fancies!

Ord. (struggling with his feelings). Yes, my father, He is in Heaven!