Count Alarcos; a Tragedy

V:3:1 ORAN. Reveal the future, lightnings! Then I’d hail That arrowy flash. O darker than the storm Cowed as the beasts now crouching in their caves, Is my sad soul. Impending o...

I:4:7 KING. I thought thou wert the Infanta of Castille, Heir to our realm, the paragon of Spain The Princess for whose smiles crowned Christendom Sends forth its sceptred rival...

II:4:4 LEON. O, Sir, your travellers Need fleeter steeds than we poor shambling folks Who stay at home. To my unskilful sense, Speed for the chase and vigour for the tilt, Mesee...

The Bishop of Ossuna: what would he? He scents the prosperous ever. Ay! they’ll cluster Round this new hive. But I’ll not house them yet. Marry, I know them all; but me they kno...

III:2:5 KING. Thou art too young to die, And yet may be too happy. Moody youth Toys in its talk with the dark thought of death, As if to die were but to change a robe. It is the...

Interior of a Posada frequented by BRAVOs, in an obscure quarter of Burgos. FLIX at the fire, frying eggs. Men seated at small tables drinking; others lying on benches. At the s...

I:2:14 ALAR. What should chafe me, child, And when should hearts be light, if mine be dull? Is not mine exile over? Is it nought To breathe in the same house where we were born,...

Interior of the Cathedral of Burgos. The High Altar illuminated; in the distance, various Chapels lighted, and in each of which Mass is celebrating: in all directions groups of...

II:3:1 SOL. I can but think my father will be just And see us righted. O ‘tis only honest, The hand that did this wrong should now supply The sovereign remedy, and balm the woun...

III:3:1 LEON. He has been sighing like a Sybarite These six weeks past, and now he sends to me To hire my bravo. Well, that smacks of manhood. He’ll pierce at least one heart, i...

IV:3:1 COUN. Is’t guilt, that I thus tremble? Why should I Feel like a sinner? I’ll not dare to meet His flashing eye. O, with what scorn, what hate His lightning glance will wi...

II:2:1 ALAR. ‘Tis circumstance makes conduct; life’s a ship, The sport of every wind. And yet men tack Against the adverse blast. How shall I steer, Who am the pilot of Necessit...

IV:2:6 COUN. He’s very changed. I would not own, no, not believe that change, I’ve given it every gloss that might confirm My sinking heart. Time and your tale agree; Alas! ‘tis...

V:2:35 KING. I am young again, Myself to-night. It quickens my old blood To see my nobles round me. This goes well. ‘Tis Courts like these that make a King feel proud. Thy futur...

II:1:2 LEON. What then? She but fulfils Her office as a woman. For to be A woman and not fair, is, in my creed, To be a thing unsexed.

IV:4:1 SOL. Didst ever see so fair a skin? Her bodice Should still be loosened. Bring the Moorish water, Griselda, you. They are the longest lashes! They hang upon her cheek. Do...

V:1:1 COUN. I would recall the days gone by, and live A moment in the past; if but to fly The dreary present pressing on my brain, Woe’s omened harbinger. In exiled love The sce...

I:1:6 2ND COURT. Most royally; nor seemed a man more fit To claim a kingdom for a dower. He looked Our Gadian Hercules, as the advancing peers Their homage paid. I followed in t...