Page:Sebastian of Portugal.pdf/4

A sudden darkness?—All things seem to float
Obscurely round me!—Now 'tis past. The streets
Are blazing with strange fire. Go, quench those lamps;
They glare upon me, till my very brain
Grows dizzy, and doth whirl. How dar'd ye thus
Light up your shrines for him?

Gon.—Away, away!
This is no time, no scene.

Seb.—Philip of Spain!
How name ye this fair land?–Why, is it not
The free, the chivalrous Portugal?—The land,
By the proud ransom of heroic blood,
Won from the Moor of old?–Did that red stream
Sink to the earth, and leave no fiery current
I' the veins of noble men, that so its tide,
Full swelling at the sound of hostile steps,
Might be a kingdom's barrier?

2d Cit.—That high blood
Which should have been our strength, profusely shed
By the rash King Sebastian, bath'd the plain
Of fatal Alcazar. Our monarch's guilt
Hath brought this ruin down.

Seb. Must this be heard,
And borne, and unchastis'd?—Man! dar'st thou stand
Before me face to face, and thus arraign
Thy sovereign?

Zam. (to Sebastian.)—Shall I liſt the sword, my prince,
Against thy foes?

Gon.—Be still, or all is lost.

2d Cit.—I dare speak that which all men think and know.
'Tis to Sebastian, and his waste of life,
And power, and treasure, that we owe these bonds.

3d Cit.—Talk not of bonds!—May our new monarch rule
The weary land in peace!—But who art thou?
Whence cam'st thou, haughty stranger, that these things,
Known to all nations, should be new to thee?

Seb, (wildly.)—I come from regions where the cities lie
In ruins, not in chains!
[Exit Sebastian with Zamor and Gonzalez.

2d Cit.—He wears the mien
Of one that hath commanded, yet his looks
And words were strangely wild.

1st Cit.—Mark'd you his fierce
And haughty gesture, and the flash that broke