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The breath of vain report might build again
The throne which my just vengeance overthrew,

As in the Caliph and his captain's mind
Affect the opinion of my well-tried truth.
The tidings which thou givest me of my child
Touch me more vitally; bad though they be,
A secret apprehension of aught worse

Makes me with joy receive them.

Then the Count

To Abulcacem turned his speech, and said,

I pray thee, Chief, give me a messenger
By whom I may to this unhappy child
Dispatch a father's bidding, such as yet

May win her back. What I would say requires
No veil of privacy: before ye all

The errand shall be given.

Boldly he spake,

Yet wary in that show of open truth,

For well he knew what dangers girt him round
Amid the faithless race. Blind with revenge,

For them in madness had he sacrificed

His name, his baptism, and his native land,
To feel, still powerful as he was, that life

Hung on their jealous favour. But his heart

Approved him now, where love, too long restrained,
Resumed its healing influence, leading him
Right on with no misgiving. Chiefs, he said,
Hear me, and let your wisdom judge between
Me and Prince Orpas!... Known it is to all,
Too well, what mortal injury provoked

My spirit to that vengeance which your aid
So signally hath given. A covenant

We made when first our purpose we combined,
That he should have Florinda for his wife,

My only child, so should she be, I thought,
Revenged and honoured best. My word was given
Truly, nor did I cease to use all means
Of counsel or command, entreating her
Sometimes with tears, and oft with menaces
Of direst anger and a father's curse,
To lead her to obey. The Christian law,
She said, forbade, and she had vowed herself
A servant to the Lord. In vain I strove
To win her to the Prophet's saving faith,
Using, perhaps, a rigour to that end

Beyond permitted means, and to my heart,

Which loved her dearer than its own life-blood,

Abhorrent. Silently she suffered all,

Or when I urged her with most vehemence,
Only replied, I knew her fixed resolve,

And craved my patience but a little while
Till death should set her free. Touched as I was,
I yet persisted, till at length to escape
The ceaseless importunity, she fled;

And verily I feared until this hour,
My rigour to some fearfuller resolve

Than flight had driven my child. Chiefs, I appeal
To each and all, and, Orpas, to thyself
Especially, if, having thus essayed

All means that law and nature have allowed
To bend her will, I may not rightfully

Hold myself free, that promise being void
Which cannot be fulfilled.

Thou sayest then,

Orpas replied, that from her false belief

Her stubborn opposition drew its force.

I should have thought that from the ways corrupt Of these idolatrous Christians, little care

Might have sufficed to wean a duteous child,

The example of a parent so beloved

Leading the way; and yet I will not doubt
Thou didst enforce with all sincerity

And holy zeal upon thy daughter's mind

The truths of Islam.

Julian knit his brow,

And scowling on the insidious renegade,

He answered, By what reasoning my poor mind
Was from the old idolatry reclaimed,

None better knows than Seville's mitred chief,
Who first renouncing errors which he taught,

Led me his follower to the Prophet's pale.
Thy lessons I repeated as I could,

Of graven images, unnatural vows,

False records, fabling creeds, and juggling priests, Who making sanctity the cloak of sin,

Laughed at the fools on whose credulity

They fattened. To these arguments, whose worth
Prince Orpas, least of all men, should impeach,
I added, like a soldier bred in arms,

And to the subtleties of schools unused,

The flagrant fact, that Heaven with victory,
Where'er they turned, attested and approved

The chosen Prophet's arms. If thou wert still The mitred metropolitan, and I

Some wretch of Arian or of Hebrew race,

Thy proper business then might be to pry,

And question me for lurking flaws of faith.
We Musslemen, Prince Orpas, live beneath
A wiser law, which with the iniquities
Of thine old craft, hath abrogated this
Its foulest practice!

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As Count Julian ceased, From underneath his black and gathered brow There went a look, which with these wary words Bore to the heart of that false renegade Their whole envenomed meaning. Haughtily Withdrawing then his altered eyes, he said, Too much of this! return we to the sum Of my discourse. Let Abulcacem say, In whom the Caliph speaks, if with all faith Having essayed in vain all means to win

My child's consent, I may not hold henceforth

The covenant discharged.

The Moor replied,

Well hast thou said, and rightly may'st assure

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