The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 19

[296] Stage-direction om. Remorse.

[297] _Ordonio._ We'll hazard no delay. Be it to-night, Remorse.

[300-2]

(For I have arranged it--music, altar, incense) All shall be ready. Here is this same picture, And here, what you will value more, a purse.

Come early for your magic ceremonies.

Remorse.

[303] _Exit ORDONIO. ALVAR (alone, indignantly flings the purse away and gazes_, &c. Remorse.

[305] Thee perjur'd, thee a traitress! Thee dishonour'd! Remorse.

[Between 312 and 313:]

Who spake pollution of thee! barter for life This farewell pledge, which with impa.s.sioned vow I had sworn that I would grasp--ev'n in my death-pang!

Remorse.

Affixed to 318-19 omitted. (_Ali re-enters_).

Ali! new Hope, new joy! A life thrills thro' me As if renew'd from Heaven! Bring back that tablet Restor'd to me by a fortunate Star. This picture Of my a.s.sa.s.sination will I leave As the token of my Fate:-- Haste, for I yearn to tell thee what has pa.s.s'd [_Exit Ali._

MS. III.

[318-20] and stage-directions [_Maurice_, &c.; (_gazing_, &c.) om.

Remorse.

[321] image] portrait Remorse.

[324] shall] will Remorse.

ACT THE THIRD

SCENE THE FIRST.--_A hall of armory, with an altar in the part farthest from the stage._

_VELEZ, OSORIO, MARIA._

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

[_Here ALBERT enters in a sorcerer's robe._

_Maria (to Albert)._ Stranger! I mourn and blush to see _you_ here On such employments! With far other thoughts 5 I left you.

_Osorio (aside)._ Ha! he has been tampering with her!

_Albert._ O high-soul'd maiden, and more dear to me Than suits the stranger's name, I swear to thee, I will uncover all concealed things!

Doubt, but decide not!

Stand from off the altar. 10

[_Here a strain of music is heard from behind the scenes, from an instrument of gla.s.s or steel--the harmonica or Celestina stop, or Clagget's metallic organ._

_Albert._ With no irreverent voice or uncouth charm I call up the departed. Soul of Albert!

Hear our soft suit, and heed my milder spells: So may the gates of Paradise unbarr'd Cease thy swift toils, since haply thou art one 15 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, O ye numberless 20 And rapid travellers! what ear unstun'd, What sense unmadden'd, might bear up against The rus.h.i.+ng of your congregated wings?

Even now your living wheel turns o'er my head!

Ye, as ye pa.s.s, toss high the desart sands, 25 That roar and whiten, like a burst of waters, A sweet appearance, but a dread illusion, To the parch'd caravan that roams by night.

And ye build up on the becalmed waves That whirling pillar, which from earth to heaven 30 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 gulphs Suck in, perchance, some Lapland wizard's skiff.

Then round and round the whirlpool's marge ye dance, 35 Till from the blue-swoln corse the soul toils out, And joins your mighty army.

Soul of Albert!

Hear the mild spell and tempt no blacker charm.

By sighs unquiet and the sickly pang Of an half dead yet still undying hope, 40 Pa.s.s visible before our mortal sense; So shall the Church's cleansing rites be thine, Her knells and ma.s.ses that redeem the dead.

THE SONG

(_Sung behind the scenes, accompanied by the same instrument as before._)

Hear, sweet spirit! hear the spell Lest a blacker charm compel! 45 So shall the midnight breezes swell With thy deep long-lingering knell.

And at evening evermore In a chapel on the sh.o.r.e Shall the chanters sad and saintly, 50 Yellow tapers burning faintly, Doleful ma.s.ses chant for thee, Miserere, Domine!

Hark! the cadence dies away On the quiet moonlight sea, 55 The boatmen rest their oars, and say, Miserere, Domine! [_A long pause._

_Osorio._ This was too melancholy, father!

_Velez._ Nay!

My Albert lov'd sad music from a child.

Once he was lost; and after weary search 60 We found him in an open place of 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 65 Stretch'd on the broad top of a sunny heath-bank; And, lower down, poor Albert fast asleep, 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 grandmother had given him. 70 Methinks I see him now, as he then look'd.

His infant dress was grown too short for him, Yet still he wore it.

_Albert (aside)._ My tears must not flow-- I must not clasp his knees, and cry, my father!

_Osorio._ The innocent obey nor charm nor spell. 75 My brother is in heaven. Thou sainted spirit Burst on our sight, a pa.s.sing visitant!

Once more to hear thy voice, once more to see thee, O 'twere a joy to me.

_Albert (abruptly)._ A joy to thee!

What if thou heard'st him now? What if his spirit 80 Re-enter'd its cold corse, and came upon thee, With many a stab from many a murderer's poniard?

What if, his steadfast eye still beaming pity And brother's love, he turn'd his head aside, Lest he should look at thee, and with one look 85 Hurl thee beyond all power of penitence?

_Velez._ These are unholy fancies!

_Osorio (struggling with his feelings)._ Yes, my father!

He is in heaven!

_Albert (still to Osorio)._ But what if this same brother Had lived even so, that at his dying hour The name of heaven would have convuls'd his face 90 More than the death-pang?