_Alhadra._ I thank thee, Heaven! thou hast ordain'd it wisely, That still extremes bring their own cure. That point In misery which makes the oppressed man Regardless of his own life, makes him too 310 Lord of the oppressor's! Knew I an hundred men Despairing, but not palsied by despair, This arm should shake the kingdoms of this world; The deep foundations of iniquity Should sink away, earth groaning from beneath them; 315 The strong holds of the cruel men should fall, Their temples and their mountainous towers should fall; Till desolation seem'd a beautiful thing, And all that were and had the spirit of life Sang a new song to him who had gone forth 320 Conquering and still to conquer! THE END[597:1] FOOTNOTES: [596:1] In _MS. II_ 'worm' has the place of 'slave', which is the word in _MS. I_. [597:1] On a blank page of _MS. III_ some one, probably Bowles, has written:--'Upon the whole a very masterly production, and with judicious contractments might be rendered an interesting Drama on the stage.' LINENOTES: [1-106] om. Remorse. [39] The hanging] Yon pendent Corr. in MS. III. [41] hanging] { pendent { flowerlike Corr. in MS. III. [45] that] this Corr. in MS. III. [Affixed to 57] _Naomi, the second in command to Isidore, enters in haste._ MS. III erased. [After 61] stage-direction erased MS. III. [62] _Moorish Seaman_] _Naomi_ Corr. in MS. III. [100-106] Erased MS. III. [107 foll.] _vide ante_, 'The Dungeon,' p. 185. [121] steaming] steam and Corr. in MS. III, Remorse. [125] ever more] _evermore_ Remorse. [After 136] I am chill and weary! Yon rude bench of stone, In that dark angle, the sole resting-place! But the self-approving mind is its own light, And Life's best warmth still radiates from the heart Where love sits brooding, and an honest purpose. _Enter TERESA._ [_Retires out of sight._ Corr. in MS. III, Remorse. Stage-direction affixed to 136 and 136-9 erased in MS. III: om. Remorse. [Between 136 and 137:] I am chill and weary, &c. . . . honest purpose. _Enter TERESA with a taper._ _Teresa._ It has chilled my very life--my own voice scares me; Yet when I hear it not I seem to lose The substance of my being--my strongest grasp Sends inwards but weak witness that I am. I seek to cheat the echo.--How the half sounds Blend with this strangled light! Is he not here-- [_Looking round._ O for one human face here--but to see One human face here to sustain me.--Courage! It is but my own fear! The life within me, It sinks and wavers like this cone of flame, Beyond which I scarce dare look onward! Oh! If I faint? If this inhuman den should be At once my death-bed and my burial vault? [_Faintly screams as ALVAR emerges from the recess._