The Ladies of Castile/Act IV

by Mercy Otis Warren

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)