The Ladies of Castile/Act IV

Scene I
(Don Juan and Don Francis in Chains, led by the Guards across the Stage.---Pass off)

(Don Velasco and Conde Haro)

CONDE HARO
 * To see my country bleed, distracts my soul;
 * But suffering virtue moves the gods themselves.
 * I must implore my father's lenient hand
 * To hold suspended yet the prisoner's fate,
 * Until the emperor himself arrives:---
 * His clemency may fix his royal power,
 * And make him worthy of the crown he wears,
 * A pardon granted to the good and brave
 * Will bind their faith by gratitude and grace.

DON VELASCO
 * The laws have fix'd their signet on their fate;
 * Nor wilI I pause, or hesitate between,
 * The wide extremes of pity and revenge.
 * Did conscience melt, and bid me spare their lives,
 * I'd spurn her back---bid the rude phantom fly,
 * And cease to check me in my fix'd design;
 * They die tomorrow ere the sun retires.

CONDE HARO
 * I plight my sword, my honour, faith and life,
 * Those sacred sanctions that bind men of worth,
 * That Francis' pardon, or Don Juan's life,
 * Shall not impede the glory of the king,
 * Nor cause new ruptures, or disturb the realm.

DON VELASCO
 * The block's prepar'd---by justice' hand they die.

CONDE HARO
 * Let pity touch thy breast---let innocence---
 * Let infant tears---let virgin sorrow plead---
 * And let the matron's grief torn bosom urge
 * A husband's cause:---O spare Padilla's life!---

DON VELASCO
 * And does my son---the glory of his house,
 * Stand half dissolv'd by pity's softening tear?

CONDE HARO
 * There is a secret cause I dare not name.
 * That yet might soften a fond father's heart.

DON VELASCO
 * This cursed cause---alas! too long conceal'd,
 * Unbends thy purpose, and unmans thy arm.
 * Louisa knows her secret guilt's betray'd;
 * Her trembling steps too weak to bear her there,
 * I yesterday confin'd her to her room;
 * Bade her prepare to pay her nuptial vows
 * To one I'd chosen for her rightful lord,
 * To save her honour from a wanton love.

CONDE HARO
 * Do not precipitate the lovely maid,
 * But gently lead with a paternal hand;
 * And let time heal her agitated breast.

DON VELASCO
 * Stay not to prattle here for pardoning grace.
 * Though weeping maids, or aged fires combin'd,
 * Or lisping infants join the matron's tears
 * To plead their cause, my resolution's fix'd:
 * These outcasts of the world shall be cut off,
 * As nature's shreds, and blotted out of time.

CONDE HARO
 * Then I repair to visit and console
 * Afflicted worth in its extreme distress.

DON VELASCO
 * Go, take thy leave---salute thy treacherous friends,
 * Ere my right hand shall send them to the shades.

(Exeunt)

Scene II
(Don Juan De Padilla, solus)

(in prison)

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * True dignity may acquiess in ills,
 * None can foresee, nor value can repel;
 * Meekness becomes the Christian and the man,
 * Not less the hero, when his God decrees,
 * The palm of victory to a stronger hand.
 * Here mimic justice rears his scaffold high---
 * I feel the knife already at my throat;
 * Death is the certain doom of all mankind---
 * To learn to die is an heroic work:---
 * But thus to die an ignominious death---
 * Without a trial, or the forms of law,
 * Pronounc'd a traitor---hurry'd from the stage---
 * Torn from existence as an useless worm,
 * By a base, vile, assassinating hand,
 * Fires all my soul with fury and revenge.
 * Had I have met my fate at Villabar,
 * And as a soldier fell, and mix'd my blood
 * With the rich stream that yesterday pour'd off,
 * (While freedom's genius stoop'd and drop'd a tear,
 * And held a golden urn in her right hand,
 * To catch the fluid from each gaping wound,
 * And rear'd her altar on the field of fame;)
 * I'd died content, and spurn'd this nether world,
 * And glori'd in the deathless name I left:---
 * But, though tomorrow severs me from time,
 * My soul is firm:---I view this little globe
 * Hung on a single, half extinguish'd point:---
 * That's not the sting which barbs the hand of death,
 * But my Maria---my lov'd, my virtuous wife:---
 * Oh! could oblivion wrap her from my thoughts
 * Until we meet where souls are free indeed.

(Enter Conde Haro)


 * Hah! who bends this way?---the Conde Haro---
 * Rank cowardice in guilt's gigantic garb!---
 * Has victory eras'd the noble flame
 * Of sympathy in thine heroic breast,
 * That thou can'st wish, mid'st glory and applause,
 * To taste the triumph of infernal minds,
 * And thus insult e'en in the pangs of death?---

CONDE HARO
 * Far other thoughts pervade my friendly breast.
 * Though in the field, the king commands my sword,
 * My heart I give to virtue in distress.
 * Though warmly urg'd thy pardon or reprieve,
 * Velasco's will, inexorably stern,
 * Has fix'd the moment that completes thy date.
 * What can I more---to sooth thy wounded mind?
 * Say---dost thou wish to see thy lov'd Maria?---
 * Or pour a blessing on the infant head
 * Of thy young son, and bid a last adieu?---
 * But if this tender scene's too big with grief,
 * Then write whate'er conjugal love inspires,
 * Or the paternal heart would wish to say:---
 * De haro's honour is the pledge of truth;
 * I'll sacredly transmit the precious charge,
 * Nor shall a mortal eye profane the seals.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Too generous De Haro!---my full heart,
 * In tears of blood, shall mark my gratitude;
 * And my last breath its benediction pour
 * On worth---on glory---dignify'd as thine,
 * With all that's noble in a human soul.
 * But ah!---too flattering to such a wretch---
 * To see Maria once, is fancy'd bliss
 * The Deity has plac'd beyond my reach.

CONDE HARO
 * A faithful friend shall lead thee safely on,
 * My sword---my vest---my helmet, thy defence;
 * If any curious prying eye purses,
 * Or asks thy errand, or demands thy name,
 * Pause not, nor speak, but shew De Haro's seal.
 * But on the moment that the midnight bell
 * Strikes its last note, and grates thy wounded ear,
 * With the severest pang thou yet hast felt,
 * Thou must return---and when we meet again,
 * Then say my friend
 * If one base thought has e'er deform'd my soul.

(Hurries off Don Juan in his own habit)

(Exeunt)

Scene III
(Don Velasco and Donna Louisa)

DON VELASCO
 * Presumptuous maid---how durst thou disobey,
 * And rush abroad, amid tumultuous scenes,
 * And risque the wrath of an offended sire?

DONNA LOUISA
 * Excuse, my lord, this hasty, bold intrusion;
 * The boon I ask admits of no delay.

DON VELASCO
 * What means this daring importuning girl?
 * What brought thee to the threshold of a jail?
 * Thy trembling gestures and thy frighted mein,
 * Are sad presages that relieve thy tongue
 * Ere it betrays some bold accurs'd request.

DONNA LOUISA
 * All gracious fire, whose goodness I adore,
 * Thus on my bended knee, my bleeding heart,
 * Swell'd with its gratitude, as if 'twould burst,
 * Intreats thee once to hear DON FRANCIS speak,
 * Ere thy lip dooms to death the bravest man.

DON VELASCO
 * What int'rest hast thou in a rebel life,
 * That thus in tears---in agonies of grief---
 * In weeds of woe, thou pleadest for DON FRANCIS?

DONNA LOUISA
 * The first impression of my early youth,
 * Thine own injunction, and my insant heart,
 * Taught me to love---whate'er Maria lov'd---
 * Her brother.

DON VELASCO
 * --dies, as her husband shall;
 * Nor will thy tears retard the blow
 * Due to a traitor's crimes.

DONNA LOUISA
 * Oh! grant an audience ere his fate is seal'd.

DON VELASCO
 * Think not I am deceiv'd, audacious maid!
 * 'Tis not a childish fondness for Maria
 * Wakes up a zeal that misbecomes thy sex---
 * 'Tis baser passions foster'd in thy soul;
 * DON FRANCIS is the object of thy love:---
 * Thy quick blood flows, and loose desires now play
 * About thy heart, and wanton in thy eye;
 * Yet sense of shame, still burns thy redden'd cheek,
 * And cinders the smooth blush of innocence;
 * But I've the means to cool thy hot brain'd flame,
 * And from disgrace my family retrieve.

DONNA LOUISA
 * Oh! spare Louisa---save thy hapless child !

DON VELASCO
 * Think not to melt my rigid purpose down;
 * Forbear to practise hackney'd female arts,
 * Thy sex's tears have ruin'd half mankind.
 * My heart near bursts whene'er I bend my eye
 * On such a worthless fragment of my house:
 * But for Zelinda's image on thy brow
 * I'd spurn at once from my indignant soul
 * The lying semblance of so fair a form.

DONNA LOUISA
 * By the dear mem'ry of that sainted name
 * Forgive her daughter's agony of soul.
 * Zelinda, oh!---compassionate my woes---
 * Look down, bless'd saint, from thy divine abode,
 * And teach my sire to pity thy Louisa.

DON VELASCO
 * While guilt hangs on thy base degen'rate lip,
 * Durst thou appeal to purity itself?---

DONNA LOUISA
 * This keen reproach distracts my tortur'd soul---
 * A thoght unworthy of Zelinda's self,
 * Ne'er found a place in this my spotless heart.

(Enter Don Pedro)

DON VELASCO
 * Then will I now bestow thee caste and pure,
 * And bless the noble Pedro with thy hand;
 * Thou art his bride---bound by my solemn oath,
 * A just reward for loyalty and faith.

DONNA LOUISA
 * Now all ye powers of earth and heaven, save
 * From this last stroke---this worst of human ills!---

DON PEDRO GHIRON
 * I am too bless'd, by such an heavenly gift.

DONNA LOUISA
 * Revoke thy sentence---snatch me from perdition---
 * Or let me die with him my heart adores.

(sinks on her knee before her father, and faints)

DON VELASCO
 * I've gone too far---yet there's some curs'd design,
 * Some mystery conceal'd---that neither she,
 * Nor yet De Haro's bold and dauntless tongue,
 * Dare ope before an injur'd father's eye.
 * Poor lifeless maid---sure she's not dead;---

(Lays his hand on her forehead)


 * She almost wakes compassion in my breast:
 * But let my ear be deaf---my heart be fear'd
 * To every soft sensation of the soul,
 * 'Till infamy is wip'd from off my house.

DON PEDRO GHIRON
 * Spare her awhile, and let the storm subside;
 * The mind that's soften'd thus by love and grief,
 * Must, like the babe of innocence, be lull'd
 * And gently sooth'd, and fondled into peace.

(Raises, and holds Louisa in his arms)


 * See, she revives---speak soft and kindly
 * To the charming maid.-

DONNA LOUISA
 * The tardy hand of death still lengthens out
 * A life of woe--Hah! where am I---

(Opens her eyes and finds herself in Pedro's arms---shricks, and starts from him)


 * On earth---the grave---in hades---or in hell?---
 * Art thou the fiend chain'd to my frighted soul,
 * To add new tortures to the shades below?---

DON VELASCO
 * Be calm, thou frantic girl---

(Stops, and holds her)


 * Nor thus enrag'd fly from thy husband's arms.

DONNA LOUISA
 * Was I the price, for which at Villabar,
 * That perjur'd wight, betray'd and sold his friends!
 * Go, minion! traitor! hide thy guilty head,
 * Thy country blushes that she gave thee birth.

DON VELASCO
 * Respect becomes thy lip---he is thy lord.--

DONNA LOUISA
 * As much as does my soul abhor his name,
 * If possible, I more despise than hate,
 * The infamous---the cowardly Don Pedro.

DON VELASCO
 * Pedro, retire---I'll bend her to thy will---
 * She shall be thine---thou art my son---
 * By all the saints and angels I adore,
 * This eve shall solemnize the nuptial rights;
 * Ere Francis dies---let consummation crown
 * Don Pedro's wish, and wake full vengeance up.

(Exit Pedro)

DONNA LOUISA
 * Alas! my sire---Oh! let religion plead:---
 * Forgive thy child, and bless me ere I die.
 * Pardon the purpose of my daring soul:
 * But ere I yield, I'll bare my filial breast,
 * Meet the drawn dagger's point, and kiss the poignard
 * In my father's hand---uplift in wrath,
 * Its edge to bury in this spotless breast---
 * A breast replete with duty and respect---
 * With every sentiment that heaven requires,
 * Or to paternal or conjugal love---
 * From thy fond daughter, or Don Francis' wife.

DON VELASCO
 * Don Francis' wife!---Heaven blast my cars!---

DONNA LOUISA
 * His wife---his wedded wife---
 * Nor let the grave, the sacred tie dissolve:
 * By the same sanction let us perish both,
 * Or both be bless'd, and by thy pardon live.

DON VELASCO
 * Could my Louisa prostitute her fame;
 * In a mad fit of wanton love, entail
 * Disgrace eternal, on the illustrious name
 * Of Don Velasco!---abandon'd girl!---
 * Then take my sword, and use it as ye list;
 * Thy paramour this moment meets the death
 * Thy perfidy extorts and his deserves.

(Exit Velasco)

Scene IV
Street before Don Juan's House

(Don Juan De Padilla and Don Francis)

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Friend of my early youth---my brave DON FRANCIS---
 * Unlike the world---a friend in fortune's wane;
 * Thou hast a soul that dares to mix with grief,
 * And kindly seek'st thy wretched sister out
 * To sooth the anguish of extreme distress.
 * But how did'st thou escape thy gloomy cell?---
 * Or by what means elude the watchful guard?---

DON FRANCIS
 * In sables clad, my face bedew'd with tears,
 * The guards suppos'd I was thy noble sire,
 * Who had permission to embrace his son,
 * Ere death had seal'd an heirless father's woe.
 * But on parole, I have De Haro's leave
 * To fly to Charles, and in Velasco's name,
 * To sue for pardon from the emperor's hand,
 * And claim my bride by his Zelinda's ring:---
 * He gave me both his signet and command,
 * And bade me on the moment haste away;
 * The next he said perhaps betray'd to death.
 * I caught the letters with a rapturous hand,
 * And kiss'd the seals, and dropt a grateful tear;
 * I've waited but to bid my friend adieu,
 * But not to see thy wife till I return.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Ah!---if thou can'st retrieve so brave a life,
 * Protect Maria, and her infant son;
 * Let them not languish in a servile land,
 * To watch the nod of some imperious lord.
 * Then tell the gazing citizens, who o'er
 * My breathless corpse, before the morrow close,
 * Will weep, and sigh, and curse my hapless fate,
 * That they have cherish'd many valiant sons,
 * Who amply may avenge my early death,
 * And teach the world that fortune ne'er stands still:---
 * In the routine of her uncertain wheel,
 * She soon may jilt her fondled, favour'd sons.
 * The sycophant and prince may both be taught,
 * A sceptre's but the plaything of a day.
 * Then let my father, noble Lopez, know
 * Don Juan died, as Lopez' son should die,
 * A dauntless martyr in his country's cause.

DON FRANCIS
 * Thy orders shall be punctually obey'd.
 * I with my blood will seal the sacred charge;
 * Though I could willing leave so base a world,
 * And share with thee, the glory of thy death;
 * Yet, for Louisa's sake, I wish to live.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Thou must away---'tis death to linger here---
 * 'Tis rashness in extreme---thou can't escape
 * The prying eyes that lurk for human blood:---
 * Thy mein and aspect cannot be conceal'd---
 * Thy soul shines through, and virtue's here a crime.

(Exeunt)

Scene V
Don Juan's house

(Donna Maria looking pensively into a garden from her apartment---thunder and lightning)

DONNA MARIA
 * Those solemn groves---those spacious, shaded walks,
 * Whose lofty tops salute the skirted clouds,
 * And speak the grandeur of their ancient lords,
 * Bend down their heads, responsive, to the skies,
 * Which murmur thunders o'er Hesperia's fall.
 * Sure nature joins to bend my spirits down,
 * And rive the bolts through my distracted soul,
 * That distant thunders shake the trembling dome,
 * And storms irruptive tear the shatter'd skies.

(Enter Juan in the armour and habit of a royal Officer.--- Maria starting, accosts him)


 * Hah!---dar'st thou come alone, thou miscreant slave!
 * Think'st thou that mine is such a dastard soul
 * To yield at sight of one of Charles's band?---
 * My single arm shall be a match for thine.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * This interview---this moment is my own-

(Approaching)

DONNA MARIA
 * Off, ruffian, off!---or by the powers above,
 * The next shall fix a dagger in thy heart.

(Draws a poignard from under her robe)

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * On this last night that thy Padilla lives,
 * Oh I let me clasp thee to my faithful breast.

(Throws off his disguise)

DONNA MARIA
 * Immortal powers!---Say, do my eyes behold
 * The injur'd ghost of my deceased lord?
 * Or does my husband---my Don Juan live?---

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * He lives indeed---this one short hour he lives.
 * When through the sharpest storms of life he sees
 * Thee firmly stand---by fortitude secur'd,
 * 'Tis worth a world to sold thee to my heart.

DONNA MARIA
 * Did not my lord---my lov'd Padilla fall,
 * Amidst the carnage of the noon tide rout?---

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * The faithful Socia reported thus,
 * Left thou should'st perish in some rash attempt
 * To see thy Juan, and neglect thy son.
 * But a severer doom awaits my fate;
 * I, on the morrow, as a traitor die.

DONNA MARIA
 * Jehovah stoop, and lend thy potent arm,
 * To snatch the virtuous from so vile a fate;
 * Or let these curling fires, which, from the North,
 * Emblazon nature's face from pole to pole,
 * In mantling flames, in one devouring wreck,
 * Sweep down the stars and crush this nether world.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * The Deity enwraps his dark decrees
 * Beyond the ken of man's presumptuous eye:---
 * Yet souls sublime, serenely look abroad,
 * And bid the howling tempests rage in vain.
 * Though livid lightnings blaze from north to south,
 * The tempests of this last tremendous night
 * Are as the breeze that wafts the gentle bark
 * Down the still tide, when every gale is hush'd---
 * If my Maria's mind supports its poise,
 * And smiles, superiour to the shocks of fate,
 * They cannot reach the soul that spurns the world---
 * Its tinsel'd toys---its titles, and its wealth.
 * The tribute of a life, I hold but small,
 * Could it repurchase liberty to Spain:---
 * Yet he is free---and he alone is free---
 * Who conquers passion, and subjects his will,
 * When his misfortunes thicken in the skies.

DONNA MARIA
 * No more, my lord---the test is too severe---
 * I feel my boasted fortitude will fail.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Oh! spare my heart-
 * The plaintive accents of thy voice restrain,
 * Nor sharpen, by thy tears, the pangs of death.
 * My heart I leave---nought else can I bestow,
 * And once ye thought the world could give no more.

DONNA MARIA
 * Ah!---every tender pang that woe can paint,
 * Or for my country---or my much lov'd lord,
 * Distracts and wounds my agitated breast.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Forbear to pain my tortur'd soul afresh;
 * Exert thyself---magnanimously stand,
 * And save thy son---the city, and thyself.
 * Protect and guard the lovely smiling boy,
 * The only pledge of our unspotted loves,
 * 'Till he, enraptur'd, hangs upon thy lip;
 * While his bright eyeballs swim in filial tears,
 * To hear the accents of his dying sire,
 * Tenfold enhanc'd by thy descriptive tongue.

DONNA MARIA
 * Maternal softness weakens my resolve,
 * And wakes new fears---thou dearst, best of men,
 * Torn from thy side, I'm levell'd with my sex.
 * The wife---the mother---make me less than woman.

(Maria opens an adjacent apartment, and shews the infant in the arms of his nurse)

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Let angel innocence lie soft and still,
 * Nor call the dew drops to the infant eye
 * By sympathetic, fond, parental tears.
 * Tell him, the last bequest his father gave,
 * The only legacy that heaven has lent,
 * Was this strict charge, breath'd in his latest sigh,
 * Be good, and just, as thou art nobly born,
 * Nor yield thy liberty but with thy life.

(Juan wipes off a tear, and attempts to withdraw in silence)

DONNA MARIA
 * Oh! leave me not, thus wretched and forlorn!---

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * How like a thief has time stol'n on my wish!---

(Clock strikes one)


 * Must I away---hah!---this is death---
 * The bitterness of death.-

DONNA MARIA
 * Wilt thou return, and on the scaffold bare
 * Thy yielding neck, and as a traitor die?

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Though tottering on the margin of the grave,
 * For Charles's fortune balanc'd in the scale,
 * Or all the gold in Montezuma's realm,
 * I'd not exchange my probity of soul,
 * Unsulli'd honour, and unblasted fame.

DONNA MARIA
 * Is sentence past---irrevocably past---
 * Then try the courage of a female heart,
 * And let me die with thee---the treasons I avow---
 * The crime is mine:---I can as bravely die,
 * As e'er a Grecian, or a Roman dame---
 * And smile at Portia's celebrated feat,
 * Who drew her blood to worm a secret out:---
 * I'll kiss the glittering ax and hug the shroud
 * That wraps me ever from a servile world.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * Retard me not---but bid me haste away.
 * Thy virtue's rais'd so far above thy sex,
 * Come plight thy vow, thy sacred, faithful vow,
 * That fortune's roughest blasts, blight not thy fame.
 * This moment, by appointment, is my friend's,
 * It is the last that time has lent to love;---
 * My honour calls---her voice I must obey.

(Going)

DONNA MARIA
 * Oh stay!---Oh stay!---'twas not the midnight toll---
 * One hour more let envious time bestow.

DON JUAN DE PADILLA
 * My throbbing heart from guile was ever free:
 * No breach of faith shall mark me for a knave.
 * Thou dost not wish---not ev'n to purchase life,
 * To stain my honour by a fraudful deed:---
 * No---when I'm shrouded in my peaceful tomb,
 * No impious, servile tongue shall e'er reproach
 * My name---my memory---my life, or fame.
 * Adieu! my love---Adieu! to life and time---
 * One last embrace, and I am gone---forever.

(Embraces, and retires hastily)

DONNA MARIA
 * Oh! harsh and cruel sound---adieu!---forever---
 * He's gone
 * And heav'n's broad eye beholds the fatal stroke,
 * And thunders vengeance from the louring skies.

(A solemn pause)


 * When his great soul ascends the broad expanse,
 * Let angels guard him through the widen'd dome.
 * But shall Maria shroud herself in grief,
 * And sink beneath life's disappointed hopes,
 * A feeble victim to her own despair?---
 * A soul, inspir'd by freedom's genial warmth,
 * Expands---grows firm---and by resistance, strong:
 * The most successful prince that offers life,
 * And bids me live upon ignoble terms,
 * Shall learn from me that virtue seldom fears.---
 * Death kindly opes a thousand friendly gates,
 * And freedom waits to guard her votaries through.

(Exit)