_Men_. I will conduct you to ‘em.
_Phil_. Mother--and Moor, farewel,
I’ll visit you again; and if I do,
My black Infernal, I will conjure you.
[_Exeunt_.
ACT III.
SCENE I. _A Gallery in the Palace_.
_Enter_ Abdelazer _and_ Zarrack.
_Zar. Osmin_ (my Lord) by this has done his Task,
And _Philip_ is no more among the living:
Will you not rest to night?
_Abd_. Is this a time for Sleep and Idleness--dull Slaves?
_Zar_. The Bus’ness we have Order, Sir, to do,
We can without your Aid.
_Enter_ Osmin.
_Abd. Osmin_!
Thy ominous Looks presage an ill Success;
Thy Eyes no joyful News of Murders tell:
I thought I shou’d have seen thee drest in Blood--
Speak! Speak thy News--
Say that he lives, and let it be thy last.
_Osm_. Yes, Sir, he lives.
_Abd_. Lives! thou ly’st, base Coward--lives!--renounce thy Gods!
It were a Sin less dangerous--speak again.
_Osm_. Sir, _Philip_ lives.
_Abd_. Oh treacherous Slave!
_Osm_. Not by my Fault, by Heav’n!
_Abd_. By what curst Chance,
If not from thee, could he evade his Fate?
_Osm_. By some Intelligence from his good Angel.
_Abd_. From his good Devil!
Gods! must the Earth another Day at once
Bear him and me alive?
_Osm_. Another Day!--an Age for ought I know;
For, Sir, the Prince is fled, the Cardinal too.
_Abd_. Fled! fled--say’st thou?
Oh, I cou’d curse the Stars, that rule this Night:
’.is to the Camp they’re fled; the only Refuge
That Gods, or Men cou’d give ‘em--
Where got you this Intelligence?
_Osm_. My Lord, inquiring for the Prince
At the Apartment of the Cardinal, (whither he went)
His Pages answer’d me, he was at his Devotions:
A lucky time (I thought) to do the Deed;
And breaking in, found only their empty Habits,
And a poor sleepy Groom, who with much threatning,
Confess’d that they were fled, in holy Robes.
_Abd_. That Case of Sanctity was first ordain’d,
To cheat the honest World:
Twas an unlucky Chance--but we are idle--
Let’s see, how from this ill, we may advance a good--
[_Pauses_.
’.is now dead time of Night, when Rapes, and Murders
Are hid beneath the horrid Veil of Darkness--
I’ll ring thro all the Court, with doleful Sound
The sad Alarms of Murder--Murder--_Zarrack_,
Take up thy standing yonder--_Osmin_, thou
At the Queen’s Apartment--cry out, Murder:
Whilst I, like his ill Genius, do awake the King;
Perhaps in this Disorder I may kill him. [_Aside_.
--Treason--Murder--Murder--Treason.
_Enter_ Alonzo, _and Courtiers_.
_Alon_. What dismal Crys are these?--
_Abd_. Where is the King?--Treason--Murder!
Where--is the sleeping Queen?--Arise, arise.
_Osm_. The Devil taught him all his Arts of Falshood. [_Aside_.
_Enter_ King _in a Night-Gown, with Lights_.
_King_. Who frights our quiet Slumbers with this Noise?
_Enter_ Queen _and Women, with Lights_.
_Qu_. Was it a Dream, or did I hear the Sound
Of Treason, call me from my silent Griefs?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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