_Naomi._ I mark'd it not, and in good truth the night-bird 35 Curdled my blood, even till it prick'd the heart. Its note comes dreariest in the fall of the year: [_Looking round impatiently._ Why don't they come? I will go forth and meet them. [_Exit NAOMI._ _Alhadra (alone)._ The hanging woods, that touch'd by autumn seem'd As they were blossoming hues of fire and gold, 40 The hanging woods, most lovely in decay, The many clouds, the sea, the rock, the sands, Lay in the silent moonshine; and the owl, (Strange! very strange!) the scritch owl only wak'd, Sole voice, sole eye of all that world of beauty! 45 Why such a thing am I! Where are these men? I need the sympathy of human faces To beat away this deep contempt for all things Which quenches my revenge. Oh!--would to Alla The raven and the sea-mew were appointed 50 To bring me food, or rather that my soul Could drink in life from the universal air! It were a lot divine in some small skiff, Along some ocean's boundless solitude, To float for ever with a careless course, 55 And think myself the only being alive! [_NAOMI re-enters._ _Naomi._ Thy children---- _Alhadra._ Children? _Whose_ children? [_A pause--then fiercely._ Son of Velez, This hath new-strung my arm! Thou coward tyrant, To stupify a woman's heart with anguish, 60 Till she forgot even that she was a mother! [_A noise--enter a part of the_ Morescoes; _and from the opposite side of the stage a_ Moorish Seaman. _Moorish Seaman._ The boat is on the shore, the vessel waits. Your wives and children are already stow'd; I left them prattling of the Barbary coast, Of Mosks, and minarets, and golden crescents. 65 Each had her separate dream; but all were gay, Dancing, in thought, to finger-beaten timbrels! [_Enter MAURICE and the rest of the_ Morescoes _dragging in FRANCESCO._ _Francesco._ O spare me, spare me! only spare my life! _An Old Man._ All hail, Alhadra! O that thou hadst heard him When first we dragg'd him forth! [_Then turning to the band._ Here! in her presence---- 70 [_He advances with his sword as about to kill him. MAURICE leaps in and stands with his drawn sword between FRANCESCO and the_ Morescoes. _Maurice._ Nay, but ye shall not! _Old Man._ Shall not? Hah? Shall not? _Maurice._ What, an unarm'd man? A man that never wore a sword? A priest? It is unsoldierly! I say, ye shall not!