How many conquered kings have swelled his power!

Think, too, how lovely! how his brow becomes
This wreath of early glories!—Oh, my friend!
I talk not of a sceptre, which he gives me :
No-to be charmed with that were thanks too
humble!

Offensive tribute, and too poor for love!
'Twas Osman won my heart, not Osman's crown:
I love not in him aught besides himself.
Though think'st, perhaps, that these are starts of
passion :

But, had the will of Heaven, less bent to bless him,

Doomed Osman to my chains, and me to fill
The throne that Osman sits on-ruin and wretch-
edness

Catch and consume my wishes, but I would-
To raise me to myself, descend to him.

Sel. Hark! the wished music sounds-'Tis he-
he comes
[Exit Selima.
Zar. My heart prevented him, and found him

near :

Absent two long whole days, the slow-paced hour At last is come, and gives him to my wishes! [A grand march. Enter OSMAN, reading a paper, which he re-delivers to ORASMIN; with Attendants.

Osm. Wait my return-or, should there be a

cause

That may require my presence, do not fear
To enter; ever mindful, that my own

[Exit Oras. &c. Follows my people's happiness.-At length, Cares have released my heart—to love and Zara. Zar. 'Twas not in cruel absence, to deprive

me

Of your imperial image-every where
You reign triumphant: memory supplies
Reflection with your power; and you, like Hea-

ven,

Are always present-and are always gracious. Osm. The sultans, my great ancestors, bequeathed

Their empire to me, but their taste they gave

not;

Their laws, their lives, their loves, delight not me:
I know our prophet smiles on am'rous wishes,
And opens a wide field to vast desire;
I know, that at my will I might possess;
That, wasting tenderness in wild profusion,
I might look down to my surrounded feet,
And bless contending beauties. I might speak,
Serenely slothful, from within my palace,
And bid my pleasure be my people's law.
But, sweet as softness is, its end is cruel.
I can look round, and count a hundred kings,
Unconquered by themselves, and slaves to o-

thers:

Hence was Jerusalem to christians lost;
But Heaven, to blast that unbelieving race,

| Taught me to be a king, by thinking like one. Hence, from the distant Euxine to the Nile, The trumpet's voice has waked the world to war; Yet, amidst arms and death, thy power has reached me;

The jealousy, the faintness, the distrust,
The proud, superior coldness of the East.
I know to love you, Zara, with esteem;
To trust your virtue, and to court your soul.
Nobly confiding, I unveil my heart,
And dare inform you, that 'tis all your own:
My joys must all be yours: only my cares
Shall fie concealed within-and reach not Zara.
Zar. Obliged by this excess of tenderness,
How low, how wretched was the lot of Zara!
Too poor with aught, but thanks, to pay such
blessings!

Osm. Not so-I love-and would be loved again;

Let me confess it, I possess a soul,
That what it wishes, wishes ardently.
I should believe you hated, had you power
To love with moderation: 'tis my aim,
In every thing, to reach supreme perfection.
If, with an equal flame, I touch your heart,
Marriage attends your sinile-But know, 'twill
make

Me wretched, if it makes not Zara happy.

Zar. Ah, sir! if such a heart as generous Os

man's

Can, from my will, submit to take its bliss,
What mortal ever was decreed so happy!
Pardon the pride with which I own my joy,
Thus wholly to possess the man I love!
To know, and to confess his will my fate!
To be the happy work of his dear hands!
To be-

Enter ORASMIN.

Osm. Already interrupted! What? Who?-Whence?

Oras. This moment, sir, there is arrived That Christian slave, who, licensed on his faith, Went hence to France-and, now returned, prays audience.

Zar. [Aside.] Oh, Heaven!

Osm. Admit him-What ?-Why comes he not?

Oras. He waits without. No Christian dares approach

This place, long sacred to the sultan's privacies. Osm. Go--bring him with thee--monarchs, like the sun,

Shine but in vain, unwarming, if unseen; With forms and reverence, let the great ap.proach us;

Not the unhappy;-every place alike, Gives the distressed a privilege to enter. [Exit Oras. 1 think with horror on these dreadful maxims, Which harden kings insensibly to tyrants.

Re-enter ORASMIN with NEREstan, Ner. Imperial sultan! honoured, even by foes! See me returned, regardful of my vow, And punctual to discharge a Christian's duty. I bring the ransom of the captive Zara, Fair Selima, the partner of her fortune, And of ten Christian captives, prisoners here. You promised, sultan, if I should return, To grant their rated liberty :-Behold, I am returned, and they are yours no more. I would have stretched my purpose to myself, But fortune has denied it ;-my poor all Sufficed no further, and a noble poverty Is now my whole possession.-I redeem The promised Christians; for I taught them hope: But, for myself, I come again your slave, To wait the fuller hand of future charity.

Osm. Christian! I must confess thy courage charms me!

But let thy pride be taught, it treads too high,
When it presumes to climb above my mercy.
Go ransomless thyself, and carry back
Their unaccepted ransoms, joined with gifts,
Fit to reward thy purpose; instead of ten,
Demand a hundred Christians; they are thine:
Take them, and bid them teach their haughty

country,

They left some virtue among Saracens.— Be Lusignan alone excepted-He,

Have I not told thee, Christian, all my will? What if I praised thee !-This presumptuous virtue,

Compelling my esteem, provokes my pride;
Be gone-and when to-morrow's sun shall rise
On
my dominions, be not found-too near me.
[Exit Neresta n.
Zar. [Aside.] Assist him, Heaven!
Osm. Zara, retire a moment-
Assume, throughout my palace, sovereign empire,
While I give orders to prepare the pomp
That waits to crown thee mistress of my throne.
[Leads her out and returns.
Orasmin! didst thou mark the imperious slave!
What could he mean?-he sighed—and, as he

went,

Turned and looked back at Zara!—didst thou mark it?

Oras. Alas! my sovereign master ! let not jealousy

Strike high enough to reach your noble heart. Osm. Jealousy, said'st thou? I disdain it :

No!

Distrust is poor; and a misplaced suspicion
Invites and justifies the falsehood feared.—
Yet, as I love with warmth-so, I could hate!
But Zara is above disguise and art :-
My love is stronger, nobler, than my power.
Jealous!-I was not jealous! If I was,

claim

To my Jerusalem-that claim, his guilt!
Such is the law of states; had I been vanquished,
Thus had he said of me. I mourn his lot,
Who must in fetters, lost to day-light pine,
And sigh away old age in grief and pain.
For Zara-but to name her as a captive,
Were to dishonour language;-she's a prize
Above thy purchase --all the Christian realms,
With all their kings to guide them, would unite
In vain, to force her from me-Go, retire-

SCENE I.

NERESTAN, CHATILLON.

Go, and prepare for the approaching nuptials.
Zara to careful empire joins delight.

I must allot one hour to thoughts of state,
Then, all the siniling day is love and Zara's.
[Exit Orasmin.
Monarchs, by forms of pompous misery pressed,
In proud, unsocial misery, unblessed,
Would, but for love's soft influence, curse their
throne,

And, among crowded millions, live alone. [Exit.

Cha. MATCHLESS Nerestan! generous and great!

You, who have broke the chains of hopeless slaves!

You, Christian saviour! by a Saviour sent!
Appear, be known, enjoy your due delight;
The grateful weepers wait to clasp your knees,
They throng to kiss the happy hand that saved
them:

To execute, like you, that duty's call.
For us the relicks of abandoned war,
Forgot in France, and in Jerusalem,
Left to grow old in fetters,--Osman's father
Consigned us to the gloom of a damp dungeon,
Where, but for you, we must have groaned out
life,

And native France have blessed our eyes no

more.

Ner. The will of gracious Heaven, that softened Osman,

Inspired me for your sakes :-But, with our joy,

Flows, mixed, a bitter sadness--I had hoped
To save from their perversion a young beauty,
Who, in her infant innocence, with me,
Was made a slave by cruel Noradin;

Red with the blood of infidels cried out,
This way, ye faithful Christians! follow me.-
Ner. How full of glory was that brave retreat!
Chat. 'Twas Heaven, no doubt, that saved
and led him on;

Pointed his path, and marched our guardian guide:

We reached Cæsarea-there the general voice
Chose Lusignan, thenceforth to give us laws;
Alas! 'twas vain-Cæsarea could not stand
When Sion's self was fallen!-we were betrayed;
And Lusignan condemned to length of life,
In chains, in damps, and darkness and despair:
Yet great, amidst his miseries, he looked,
As if he could not feel his fate himself,
But as it reached his followers. And shall we,
For whom our generous leader suffered this,

own.

Ner. Oh, Sir, great Lusignan, so long their captive,

That last of an heroic race of kings! That warrior, whose past fame has filled the world!

Osman refuses to my sighs for ever!

Chat. Nay, then, we have been all redeemed in vain ;

Perish that soldier who would quit his chains,
And leave his noble chief behind in fetters.
Alas! you know him not as I have known him;
Thank Heaven, that placed your birth so far
removed

From those detested days of blood and woe:
But I, less happy, was condemned to see
Thy walls, Jerusalem, beat down-and all
Our pious fathers' labours lost in ruins!
Heaven! had you seen the very temple rifled!
The sacred sepulchre itself profaned!
Fathers with children mingled, flame together!
And our last king, oppressed with age and arms,
Murdered, and bleeding. o'er his murdered sons!
Then Lusignan, sole remnant of his race,
Rallying our fated few amidst the flames,
Fearless, beneath the crush of falling towers,
The conquerors and the conquered, groans and
death!

Dreadful—and, waving in his hand his sword,

vilely safe, and dare be blessed without him? Ner. Oh! I should hate the liberty he shared

not.

I knew too well the miseries you describe,
For I was born amidst them. Chains and death,
Caesarea lost, and Saracens triumphant,
Were the first objects which my eyes e'er looked on.
Hurried, an infant, among other infants,
Snatched from the bosom of their bleeding mo-

thers,

A temple saved us, till the slaughter ceased;
Then were we sent to this ill-fated city,
Here, in the palace of our former kings,
To learn, from Saracens, their hated faith,
And be completely wretched.-Zara, too,
Shared this captivity; we both grew up
So near each other, that a tender friendship
Endeared her to my wishes: My fond heart-
Pardon its weakness, bleeds to see her lost,
And, for a barbarous tyrant, quit her God!

Chat. Such is the Saracens' too fatal policy!
Watchful seducers, still, of infant weakness:
Happy that you, so young, escaped their hands!
But let us thinkMay not this Zara's interest,
Loving the sultan, and by him beloved,
For Lusignan procure some softer sentence?
The wise and just, with innocence, may draw
Their own advantage from the guilt of others.

Ner. How shall I gain admission to her presence? Osman has banished me-but that's a trifle; Will the seraglio's portals open to me? Or, could I find that easy to my hopes, What prospect of success from an apostate, On whom I cannot look without disdain, And who will read her shame upon my brow? The hardest trial of a generous mind, Is, to court favours from a hand it scorns. Chat. Think it is Lusignan we seek to serve. Ner. Well-it shall be attempted-Hark! who is this?

Are my eyes false; or, is it really she?

Enter ZARA.

Zar. Start not, my worthy friend! I come to seek you;