whom, my child?

Thou know'st not what these know, what these declare.

I am an old man, as thou seest have done With life; and what should move me but the truth?

Art thou the only fond one of thy tribe? "T is I interpret for thy tribe !

Kha. Oh, this Is the expected Nuncio! Druses, hear Endure ye this? Unworthy to partake The glory Hakeem gains you! While I speak, The ships touch land: who makes for Lebanon ? They plant the wingèd lion in these halls!

Nuncio. [Aside.] If it be true! Venice? Oh, never true!

Yet Venice would so gladly thwart our Knights, So fain get footing here, stand close by Rhodes! Oh, to be duped this way!

Kha. Ere he appear And lead you gloriously, repent, I say! Nuncio. [Aside.] Nor any way to stretch the arch-wizard stark

Ere the Venetians come? Cut off the head, The trunk were easily stilled. [To the Druses.] He? Bring him forth!

Since so you needs will have it, I assent! You'd judge him, say you, on the spot ? confound

Where is the glory? Show us all the glory! Kha. You dare not so insult him! What, not see

(I tell thee, Nuncio, these are uninstructed, Untrusted-they know nothing of our Khalif !) - Not see that if he lets a doubt arise

'T is but to give yourselves the chance of seeming

To have some influence in your own return!
That all may say ye would have trusted him
Without the all-convincing glory - ay,

And did! Embrace the occasion, friends! For, think

What wonder when his change takes place ?
But now

For your sakes, he should not reveal himself.
No could I ask and have, I would not ask
The change yet!

(Enter DJABAL and LOYS.)

Spite of all, reveal thyself! I had said, pardon them for me for Anael For our sakes pardon these besotted men Ay, for thine own they hurt not thee! Yet

now

One thought swells in me and keeps down all else.

This Nuncio couples shame with thee, has called Imposture thy whole course, all bitter things

Hakeem nay, I must call thee Hakeem nowReveal thyself! See! Where is Anael? See! Loys. [To DJA.] Here are thy people! Keep thy word to me!

Dja. Who of my people hath accused me ?
Nuncio.
So!

So this is Djabal, Hakeem, and what not?
A fit deed, Loys, for thy first Knight's day!
May it be augury of thy after-life!
Ever prove truncheon of the Church as now
That, Nuncio of the Patriarch, having charge
Of the Isle here, I claim thee [turning to DJA.]
as these bid me,

Forfeit for murder done thy lawful prince,
Thou conjurer that peep'st and mutterest!
Why should I hold thee from their hands?
(Spells, children?

But hear how I dispose of all his spells!) Thou art a prophet? - wouldst entice thy tribe

From me? - thou workest miracles? (Attend! Let him but move me with his spells!) I, Nuncio

Dja.... Which how thou camest to be, I say not now,

Though I have also been at Stamboul, Luke! Ply thee with spells, forsooth! What need of spells?

If Venice, in her Admiral's person, stoop
To ratify thy compact with her foe,
The Hospitallers, for this Isle - withdraw
Her warrant of the deed which reinstates
My people in their freedom, tricked away
By him I slew, - refuse to convoy us
To Lebanon and keep the Isle we leave-
Then will be time to try what spells can do!
Dost thou dispute the Republic's power?
Nuncio.
Lo ye!

He tempts me too, the wily exorcist!
No! The renowned Republic was and is
The Patriarch's friend: 't is not for courting
Venice

That I that these implore thy blood of me!
Lo ye, the subtle miscreant! Ha, so subtle ?
Ye Druses, hear him! Will ye be deceived?
How he evades me! Where 's the miracle
He works? I bid him to the proof-fish up
Your galley full of bezants that he sank!
That were a miracle! One miracle!
Enough of trifling, for it chafes my years.
I am the Nuncio, Druses! I stand forth
To save you from the good Republic's rage
When she shall find her fleet was summoned here
To aid the mummeries of a knave like this!

[As the Druses hesitate, his Attendants whisper.
Ah, well suggested! Why, we hold the while
One who, his close confederate till now,
Confesses Djabal at the last a cheat,
And every miracle a cheat! Who throws me
His head? I make three offers, once I offer, -
And twice
Dja.

Let who moves perish at my foot! Kha. Thanks, Hakeem, thanks! Oh, Anael, Maani,

All the brow lightens as he lifts his arm!
Look not at me! It was not I!

Dja.
What Druse
Accused me, as he saith? I bid each bone
Crumble within that Druse! None, Loys, none
Of my own people, as thou said'st, have raised
A voice against me.

Nuncio. [Aside.] Venice to come! Death! Dja. [Continuing.] Confess and go unscathed, however false !

Seest thou my Druses, Luke? I would submit To thy pure malice did one Druse confess! How said I, Loys?

Nuncio. [Tohis Attendants who whisper.] Ah, ye counsel so?

[Aloud.] Bring in the witness, then, who, first

of all,

One,

Befooled by Djabal, even as yourselves,

But who hath voluntarily proposed

To expiate, by confessing thus, the fault
Of having trusted him.

[They bring in a veiled Druse. Loys. Now, Djabal, now! Nuncio. Friend, Djabal fronts thee! Make a ring, sons. Speak!

Expose this Djabal-what he was, and how;
The wiles he used, the aims he cherished; all,
Explicitly as late 't was spoken to these

My servants: I absolve and pardon thee.
Loys. Thou hast the dagger ready, Djabal?
Dja.
Recreant!

Druses. Stand back, fool! farther!

denly

Speak,

Sud

You shall see some huge serpent glide from under

The empty vest, or down will thunder crash! Back, Khalil!

Kha.

I go back? Thus go I back!

[To AN.] Unveil! Nay, thou shalt face the Khalif! Thus!

[He tears away ANAEL'S veil; DJABAL folds his arms and bows his head; the Druses fall back; Loys springs from the side of DJABAL and the NUNCIO. Loys. Then she was true-she only of them all!

True to her eyes-may keep those glorious

eyes,

Lies say but that he lies!
Dja.

Thou, Anael? Loys. Nay, Djabal, nay, one chance for me

the last!

Thou hast had every other; thou hast spoken Days, nights, what falsehood listed thee-let

My strong will might bestow real shape on them,
That I might see, with my own eyes, thy foot
Tread on their very neck! 'Tis not by gifts
I put aside this Djabal: we will stand
We do stand, see, two men! Djabal, stand
forth!

Who's worth her, I or thou? I-who for
Anael

Uprightly, purely kept my way, the long True way left thee each by-path, boldly lived Without the lies and blood, -or thou, or thou? Me! love me, Anael! Leave the blood and him!

[To DJA.] Now speak-now, quick on this that I have said,

Thou with the blood, speak if thou art a man! Dja. [To AN.] And was it thou betrayedst me? 'Tis well!

I have deserved this of thee, and submit.
Nor 't is much evil thou inflictest: life
Ends here. The cedars shall not wave for us:
For there was crime, and must be punishment.
See fate! By thee I was seduced, by thee
I perish: yet do I can I repent?

I with my Arab instinct, thwarted ever
By my
Frank policy, and with, in turn,
My Frank brain, thwarted by my Arab heart-
While these remained in equipoise, I lived

- Nothing; had either been predominant, As a Frank schemer or an Arab mystic,

I had been something; -now, each has destroyed

The other and behold, from out their crash, A third and better nature rises up

My mere man's-nature! And I yield to it:

I love thee, I who did not love before!
An. Djabal!

Dja. It seemed love, but it was not love:
How could I love while thou adoredst me?
Now thou despisest, art above me so
Immeasurably! Thou, no other, doomest
My death now; this my steel shall execute
Thy judgment; I shall feel thy hand in it!
Oh, luxury to worship, to submit,
Transcended, doomed to death by thee!
An.
My Djabal!
Dja. Dost hesitate? I force thee then!
Approach,

her for my sake!

She was already thine; she would have shared
To-day thine exaltation: think, this day
Her hair was plaited thus because of thee!
Yes, feel the soft bright hair- feel!

Nuncio. [Struggling with those who have seized him.] What, because

His leman dies for him? You think it hard To die? Oh, would you were at Rhodes, and choice

Of deaths should suit you!

Kha. [Bending over ANAEL's body.] Just restore her life!

So little does it! there the eyelids tremble! 'Twas not my breath that made them: and the lips

Move of themselves. I could restore her life!
Hakeem, we have forgotten - have presumed
On our free converse: we are better taught.
See, I kiss - how I kiss thy garment's hem
For her! She kisses it - Õh, take her deed
In mine! Thou dost believe now, Anael? –

See,
She smiles! Were her lips open o'er the teeth
Thus, when I spoke first? She believes in
thee!

Go not without her to the cedars, lord!
Or leave us both - I cannot go alone!
I have obeyed thee, if I dare so speak:
Hath Hakeem thus forgot all Djabal knew?
Thou feelest then my tears fall hot and fast
Upon thy hand, and yet thou speakest not?
Ere the Venetian trumpet sound -ere thou
Exalt thyself, O Hakeem! save thou her!
Nuncio. And the accursed Republic will

- Am I not Hakeem? And ye would have crawled

But yesterday within these impure courts Where now ye stand erect! Not grand enough?

What more could be conceded to such beasts As all of you, so sunk and base as you, Than a mere man? A man among such beasts Was miracle enough: yet him you doubt, Him you forsake, him fain would you destroy With the Venetians at your gate, the Nuncio Thus (see the baffled hypocrite!) and, best, The Prefect there! Druses. Nuncio. He lies

thrice he lies!

No, Hakeem, ever thine! and twice he lies - and

rant

Of all to do, requiring word of mine
To teach it now, thou hast all gifts in one,
With truth and purity go other gifts,
All gifts come clustering to that. Go, lead
My people home whate'er betide!

[Turning to the Druses.] Ye take
This Khalil for my delegate? To him
Bow as to me? He leads to Lebanon
Ye follow?

Druses. We follow! Now exalt thyself! Dja. [Raises Loys.] Then to thee, Loys! How I wronged thee, Loys!

Yet, wronged, no less thou shalt have full re

venge,

Fit for thy noble self, revenge - and thus.
Thou, loaded with such wrongs, the princely

soul,

The first sword of Christ's sepulchre - thou shalt

Guard Khalil and my Druses home again!
Justice, no less, God's justice and no more,
For those I leave! to seeking this, devote
Some few days out of thy Knight's brilliant
life:

And, this obtained them, leave their Lebanon,
My Druses' blessing in thine ears- (they shall
Bless thee with blessing sure to have its way)
One cedar-blossom in thy ducal cap,
One thought of Anael in thy heart, — perchance,

One thought of him who thus, to bid thee speed,

His last word to the living speaks! This done,
Resume thy course, and, first amidst the first
In Europe, take my heart along with thee!
Go boldly, go serenely, go augustly-
What shall withstand thee then?

[He bends over ANAEL.] And last to thee!
Ah, did I dream I was to have, this day,
Exalted thee? A vain dream: hast thou not
Won greater exaltation? What remains
But press to thee, exalt myself to thee?

SCENE I. The interior of a lodge in LORD TRESHAM'S park. Many Retainers crowded at the window, supposed to command a view of the entrance to his mansion. GERARD, the Warrener, his back to a table on which are flagons, etc.

1st Retainer. Ay, do! push, friends, and then you 'll push down me! What for? Does any hear a runner's foot Or a steed's trample or a coach-wheel's cry ? Is the Earl come or his least poursuivant? But there's no breeding in a man of you Save Gerard yonder: here's a half-place yet, Old Gerard!

Gerard. Save your courtesies, my friend. Here is my place.

2d Ret. Now, Gerard, out with it! What makes you sullen, this of all the days I' the year? To-day that young rich bountiful Handsome Earl Mertoun, whom alone they

match

but circumstances prevented it from being kept on the boards. It has, however, been reproduced both in England and in America, near the close of Browning's life and after his death. Helen Faucit, afterward Lady Martin, took the part of Mildred. The play was printed shortly after it first appeared, as No. V. of Bells and Pomegranates.

To ask our master's sister's hand?
Ger.
What then?
2d Ret. What then? Why, you, she speaks

to, if she meets

Your worship, smiles on as you hold apart
The boughs to let her through her forest walks,
You, always favorite for your no-deserts,
You've heard, these three days, how Earl Mer-

toun sues

To lay his heart and house and broad lands too
At Lady Mildred's feet: and while we squeeze
Ourselves into a mousehole lest we miss
One congee of the least page in his train,
You sit o' one side "there's the Earl," say

66

I

"What then?" say you!

3d Ret.

I'll wager he has let Both swans he tamed for Lady Mildred swim Over the falls and gain the river!

Ger.

Is not to-morrow my inspecting-day For you and for your hawks? 4th Ret.

Ralph,

Let Gerard be! He's coarse-grained, like his carved black cross-bow stock.

Ha, look now, while we squabble with him,

Our retainers look as fineThat's comfort. Lord, how Richard holds

himself

With his white staff! Will not a knave behind Prick him upright?

The logman for supporter, in his right
The bill-hook, in his left the brushwood-shears !
3d Ret.
Out on you, crab! What next,

what next? The Earl!

1st Ret. Oh Walter, groom, our horses, do they match

The Earl's? Alas, that first pair of the six They paw the ground- Ah, Walter! and that brute

Just on his haunches by the wheel! 6th Ret.

Ay - Ay! You, Philip, are a special hand, I hear, At soups and sauces: what's a horse to you? D'ye mark that beast they've slid into the midst

So cunningly?-then, Philip, mark this further;

No leg has he to stand on!

1st Ret. No? That's comfort. 2d Ret. Peace, Cook! The Earl descends. Well, Gerard, see

The Earl at least! Come, there's a proper

thy

Sure to get tangled in his ribbon-ties,

And Peter's cursed rosette 's a-coming off!)
-At last I see our lord's back and his friend's;
And the whole beautiful bright company
Close round them: in they go! [Jumping down

from the window-bench, and making for the table and its jugs.] Good health, long life Great joy to our Lord Tresham and his House! 6th Ret. My father drove his father first to court,

After his marriage-day-ay, did he ! 2d Ret.

God bless

Lord Tresham, Lady Mildred, and the Earl!
Here, Gerard, reach your beaker!
Ger.
Drink, my boys!
Don't mind me all's not right about me
drink!

2d Ret. [Aside.] He's vexed, now, that he let the show escape!

[To GER.] Remember that the Earl returns this way.

Ger. That way?

2d Ret.

Ger.

2d Ret.

Just so.

Then my way 's here. [Goes. Old Gerard Will die soon mind, I said it! He was used To care about the pitifullest thing That touched the House's honor, not an eye But his could see wherein and on a cause Of scarce a quarter this importance, Gerard Fairly had fretted flesh and bone away

In cares that this was right, nor that was

Leave Frank alone for catching, at the door,
Some hint of how the parley goes inside!
Prosperity to the great House once more!
Here's the last drop!
1st Ret.

Have at you! Boys, hurrah!

L SCENE II. A saloon in the Mansion. Enter LORD TRESHAM, LORD MERTOUN, AUSTIN, and GUENDOLEN.

Tresham. I welcome you, Lord Mertoun, yet

To this ancestral roof of mine. Your name
Noble among the noblest in itself,
Yet taking in your person, fame avers,
New price and lustre, (as that gem you wear,
Transmitted from a hundred knightly breasts,
Fresh chased and set and fixed by its last lord,
Seems to rekindle at the core) - your name
Would win you welcome!

- But add to that, The worthiness and grace and dignity

Of your proposal for uniting both
Our Houses even closer than respect

Unites them now- add these, and you must