ELEAZ. I care not, I can swallow more sour

wrongs.

ALV. If they triumph o'er thee, they'll spurn me

down.

ELEAZ. Look!--[He motions with his foot.] spurn · again.

ALV. What ice hath cool'd that fire,

Which sometimes made thy thoughts to heaven aspire? This patience had not wont to dwell with thee. Enter FERNANDO and MARIA.

ELEAZ. 'Tis right, but now the world's chang'd you

see;

Though I seem dead to you, here lives a fire-
No more! here comes the king and my Maria:
The Spaniard loves my wife; she swears to me
She's chaste as the white moon; well, if she be;
Well too if she be not, I care not, I;

I'll climb up by that love to dignity.

FERN. [To Maria.] Thou woo'st me to revenge thy husband's wrong,

I woo thy fair self not to wrong thyself;
Swear but to love me, and to thee I'll swear
To crown thy husband with a diadem.

MARIA. Such love as I dare yield, I'll not deny.
FERN. When in the golden arms of majesty-
I am broke of;-yonder thy husband stands;
I'll set him free if thou unite my bands;
So much for that-Durst then the cardinal
Put on such insolence? tell me, fair madam,

Where's your most valiant husband?

ELEAZ. He sees me, and yet inquires for me.
MARIA. Yonder, my lord.

FERN. Eleazar, I have in my breast writ down,
From her report, your late receiv'd disgrace;

My father lov'd you dearly, so will I.

ELEAZ. True, for my wife's sake.

FERN. This indignity

Will I have interest in; for being your king,
You shall perceive I'll curb my underling.
This morning is our coronation,

And father's funeral solemnized;

Be present, step into your wonted place,
We'll gild your dim disgraces with our grace.

[Aside.

[Exeunt Fernando and Maria. ELEAZ. I thank my sovereign, that you love my

wife;

I thank thee, wife, that thou wilt lock my head
In such strong armour, to bear off all blows;

Who dare say such wives are their husband's foes?
Let's see now, by her falling I must rise;

Cardinal, you die if the king bid me live;

Philip, you die, for railing at me; proud lords, you

die,

That with Mendoza cry'd, banish the Moor,
And you, my loving liege, you're best sit fast,
If all these live not, you must die at st.

[Exit.

VOL, II.

15

ACT THE SECOND.

SCENE I.

Enter two LORDS, PHILIP, MENDOZA; ELEAZAR, and with him the KING, crowned; QUEEN MoTHER, ALVERO, ZARACK, BALTAZAR, and AT

TENDANTS.

MEND. Why stares this devil thus, as if pale death

Had made his eyes the dreadful messengers

To

carry black destruction to the world?

Was he not banish'd Spain?

PHIL. Your sacred mouth

Pronounc'd the sentence of his banishment:
Then spurn the villain forth.

ELEAZ. Who spurns the Moor,

Were better set his foot upon the devil.

Do, spurn me, and this confounding arm of wrath Shall, like a thunderbolt breaking the clouds, Divide his body from his soul! Stand back! Spurn Eleazar!

ROD. Shall we bear this pride?

ALV. Why not? he underwent much injury. MEND. What injury have we perform'd, proud lord? ELEAZ. Proud cardinal! my unjust banishment. MEND. 'Twas we that did it, and our words are laws.

KING. 'Twas we repeal'd him, and our words are

laws.

ZAR. BALT. If not, these are.

[All the Moors draw. PHIL. How! threaten'd and out-dar'd! KING. Shall we give arm to hostile violence? Sheath your swords, sheath them, it's we command. ELEAZ. Grant Eleazar justice, my dread liege. MEND. Eleazar hath had justice from our hands, And he stands banish'd from the court of Spain. KING. Have you done justice? Why, Lord Cardinal,

From whom do you derive authority

To banish him the court without our leave?

MEND. From this, the staff of our protectorship; From this, which the last will of your dead father Committed to our trust; from this high place, Which lifts Mendoza's spirits beyond the pitch Of ordinary honour, and from this

[The King takes the staff from Mendoza, and gives

it to Eleazar.

KING. Which too much over-weening insolence Hath quite ta'en from thee. Eleazar, up!

And from us, sway this staff of regency.

ALL. How's this!

PHIL. Dare sons presume to break their father's will?

KING. Dare subjects counter-check their sove

reign's will?

'Tis done, and who gainsays it is a traitor.

PHIL. I do, Fernando, yet am I no traitor.

MEND. Fernando, I am wrong'd; by Peter's chair,

Mendoza vows revenge. I'll lay aside

My cardinal's hat, and in a wall of steel,
The glorious livery of a soldier,

Fight for my late lost honour.

KING. Cardinal!

MEND. King! thou shalt be no king for wronging

me.

The Pope shall send his bulls through all thy realm,
And pull obedience from thy subjects' hearts,
To put on armour of the Mother Church.
Curses shall fall like lightnings on thy head,
Bell, book, and candle, holy water, prayers,
Shall all chime vengeance to the court of Spain,
Till they have power to conjure down that fiend,
That damn'd Moor, that devil, that Lucifer,
That dares aspire the staff the card'nal sway'd.
ELEAZ. Ha! ha! ha! I laugh yet, that the car-
dinal's vext.

PHIL. Laugh'st thou, base slave! the wrinkles of

that scorn,

Thine own heart's blood shall fill. Brother, fare

well;

Since you disprove the will our father left,

For base lust of a loathed concubine..

ELEAZ. Ha! concubine! who does prince Philip mean?

t

PHIL. [To Eleaz.] Thy wife.-[To Alv.] Thy daughter, base aspiring lords;

Who to buy honour are content to sell

Your names to infamy, your souls to hell.